How hot do charcoal grills get

charcoalgrillingheattemperature

As a college student, I am working with limited cooking equipment. There are several outdoor charcoal grills however, which students sometimes have cookouts on. How hot do can these grills get? I have literally no idea how hot they get, but would like to find something in the 700 degree area.

Best Answer

Charcoal can get to 700 degrees F but in normal use you're more likely to be in the 500F range. In order to get to the higher end of charcoal's abilities there are a couple things you can do:

  1. Use natural lump charcoal, not briquettes.

  2. Lower the grill grate to within 1" of the hot coals

  3. If 1&2 don't get you enough heat, consider using the Alton Brown chimney approach (Setup starts around the 8 minute mark)