Tips and Tricks for me, a Brand New Charcoal Griller?

If you are new to grilling, there is a Wealth of books out there to teach you. Couple of tips: Never oil the grates-it will build up-no matter how much you clean it. Rather, oil the meat. For steaks, add oiled steaks to a very hot grill. Wait 2 minutes and turn 1/4 turn for the black grill marks. 

Never cut meat open to see if it is done. Use a Meat thermometer. 

Cover the grill when not in use. Rain Will rust parts of it-particularly the burners. Buy any additional Warranty you can-it pays for itself in a few years when you need to replace the burners(found that out the hard way). 

First, get a charcoal lighter chimney. Stuff the bottom with newspaper and put a couple of handsfull of charcoal on top. Light the bottom and by the time the newspaper burns out, the charcoal is ready to use.

Use enough that will either provide a nice layer of briquettes or a few if you are just grilling 1 burger or 1 chicken breast.

Wait long enough that the briquettes have a nice grey ash layer on them.

Number of briquets depends on how long you need your grill hot.   You're going to need a much bigger pile to smoke pork ribs for four hours than grill a sockeye fillet for eight minutes.

The briquets are ready when they are covered in grey ash and they turn red when you blow on them.

Pour briquettes into the bottom of the grill should be one layer slight domed up in the middle. Then count the number or briquettes - or pour them into a charcoal chimney and note how far up the chimney it goes. Light the charcoal in the chimney let them burn until the top charcoals are gray with ash dump into grill and start grilling. 

It is not rocket surgery you will get a feel for how many you need and how they burn after using the grill for awhile.