New way to arrange coals in Smokey Joe - works great for me.


 

Lew

TVWBB All-Star
I know a lot of you have no trouble with your Smokey Joe Silvers, but I was having 2 problems with mine: one, there was a hot spot in the middle, and two, the coals on the outside would barely smolder with the lid on.

I've found a way to arrange the coals to fix both of these problems and thought I would share. I pour in half a chimney of coals and arrange them evenly around a hockey-puck-sized hole in the center, kind of like a donut. I get even heat (even over the "donut hole") with all the coals glowing, even with the top on. YMMV but it works for me.

Last night it was 28 degrees with 20 MPH winds. I cooked burgers on the SJS with no problems. Love my SJS!
 
Very neat idea, and I see how it could work. I'll be giving this a try next time I get mine out.
 
Lew, the wife got me a SJS for Christmas. Beforew I used it I read this post. For some reason I thought you were suggesting a real donut around the hole. Well I had an extra water heater vent pipe shield. It is a cone that sits on top of the water heater that the roof vent pipe fits into. Well I set it on the coal grate and put the hot coals all around. !st cook was great. No hot center spot and the outside coals were good. Yesterday I tried again tho I believe I didn't use enough coals. The center was cooler than around the edges and overal the temps were lower that I wanted. Back to the drawing board.

Mark
 
Other than piling the coals up on side, and this donut method, how else is there to build the fire?

This donut method is great because it allows the air up the center of the fire, and the ash falls around the air holes on the bottom.

jay
 
I'm glad it's working for you guys. I've cooked on the SJS several times since my post and I'm getting consistent results. Mark, I experimented some before I got it dialed in. When you find the sweet spot you'll really enjoy that Christmas present.
 
well, i like my furnace spot in the middle. i sear there and if its to much i move the meat to the side. i also use my can method over the vent if its to much.
 
Alton used a similar method on his 22" kettle for cooking a whole chicken cut up into different parts. I use this method when I am cooking a lot of wings on my performer as it allows a lot of direct heat around the edges to crisp them up then I can throw them on the center to cook through without having to worry about the direct heat causing flare ups. You still get a good amount of heat in the middle. Easiest way for me to cook wings is this method.
 

 

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