Yup, I am thinking you are absolutely right. And as an added bonus, the wife wont kill me if she ever found out what that Tec Infra-red grill would have cost me. How long does it take for a chimney of coals to be ready for grilling ? I do a 30 minute walk EVERY night after work and i do it before supper cause it sucks doing it on a full stomach lol. Could a person light the charcoal and then go for the 30 min walk and return to white hot coals possibly ? Assuming it would be safe to leave that unattended for 1/2 hour ( the wife could check it for me too i guess ). I am getting kinda interested in exploring charcoal cooking now. The Mak still cant be beat for stuff like butts, brisket etc due to the ease of use and precise temp control I am thinking though. Thanks for all your help. I do have grill grates modified to fit the little Weber Q2200, they are nice but the little grill struggles to get them up to temp sometimes - the stupid little holes in the burner always plug and it needs constant attention - part of the reason I am getting fed up with it a bit .
Just my opinion...based on my experiences. If you have 30 minutes to preheat a grill while going for a walk, I’d suggest using your MAK until you have at least a handful of cooks on your Weber. Charcoal is not “flip a switch, walk away for 30 mins and ‘guaranteed’ to have a perfect amount of properly burning charcoal in your chimney” process. There are to many variables. Is there a breeze outside (that’ll often times speed up the lighting process)? Did the charcoal properly light within the first 5 or so minutes (best to take a peek and verify)? Will you be using lump charcoal or briquettes (lump charcoal lights considerably faster). Another thing you need to be aware of is that you don’t wanna “over-light” your charcoal, letting it sit in the chimney for to long. You really want to pour it into the kettle a min or two after the flames start to really appear at the top of the charcoal chimney. If you wait much longer, you will quickly find yourself on the downside of the charcoal burn cycle (you won’t have the best/peak BTU output). There’s more I could say, but I hope you get my point...
Bottom line, if this is your first exposure to charcoal cooking, the last thing any of us want is for you to get frustrated and not find joy in it. Cooking with charcoal is a blast and the results can be fantastic! I am just suggesting that you start your adventure as time permits so that you can figure it out and get things dialed in while being present from start to finish for the first handful of cooks. Once you really know what to expect and how things work, perhaps you’ll be in a place to go the that 30 min walk while the charcoal is coming up to temp...
Oh yeah, you probably are well aware, but... YouTube will be a huge help in learning the ins/outs of charcoal cooking. Of course there are lots of very experienced charcoal junkies here to help as well... point being, you’ve got a HUGE amount of support should you decide to wander into the wonderful world of “live fire” charcoal cooking.
Keep us posted buddy!