Bar B Q tips please.?

Weve used a gas bar b q for years and decided to try a charcoal one for a change. Well we tried it last night and ended up eating about 4 hours later lol.Its a kettle type with the lid. How do we use it? Any expert bar b qers out there who can get me cooking without gas? How much charcoal do we use and how many firelighters? How do you know when your ready to cook? There are two racks, one right ontop of the charcoal, the other high up. Why? Please help.Bar B Q tips please.?
First- Place enough coals to cover the entire bottom of your grill flat. Once you have that amount then stack into a pyramid and soak with lighter fluid. Wait about 30 second then light coals in various spots. Leaving the grill grate off till fire dies down. You will want to wait till the flames have subsided and you start to get the white asked edges on al your briquettes. They using tongs spread white coals all round the bottom of grill to cover entire bottom. Then replace grill grate. Wait 5 minutes for grate to get hot then place you food on. If you cooking steaks, you want to leave lid open, closing the lid while cooking turns your grill into and oven,. and will also sweat out all the juices. The bottom rack is for grilling,the top or upper rack is Tobe able to move items p there when they are about done, or to move when you start to get flair ups, I also use it to place veggies on or buns for toasting. Cooking with charcoal should not take any more time to cook on than a gas grill once you have the coals white. The extra time it does take is the getting the coals hot, but the taste advantage is well worth that extra 30 minutes. Hope this helps...If you have any further questions please feel free to e-mail them...enjoyBar B Q tips please.?
read and heed.....
real charcoal is best!

it will take about 15 minutes before you want to cook.



Buy a bag of Kingsford, directions are right on the bag. You probably didn't get enough air for good heat ( the coals are actually burning when you light them and they need oxygen).



Check under the grill, there is probably a little hsndle that adjusts airflow. You don't need to get fancy, just open fully

when lighting or cooking.



Also: especially in KC, people will complain if you refer to grilling meat as BBQ, because a ';real BBQ'; is slow cooked meat, several hours in a low temp smoky cooker. But I just call it all BBQ too.
The prime time to cook with charcoal is when the charcoal has burned to the point that it is white/gray. It gives the most consistent temperature. The two racks are for faster (low rack) or slower (high rack) cooking since you don't have burner controls like on the gas grill. I used to be a charcoal guy, but now we use gas.
I have used charcoal BBQ's for years and found that if you use half the charcoal pack and one firelighter you can be cooking in 1 hour when the coal go white and dont forget to close the lid when shutting down when you have finished and close the vents at the bottom.
Sorry... I can't answer this question for 10 measly points...I can however refer you to a great resource:



http://busycooks.about.com/od/outdoorgri鈥?/a>



http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/con鈥?/a>



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grilling



Enjoy!