How long does your charcoal burn?


 
M

mwhuffman

TVWBB Member
Hi! I recently got an 18.5 WSM and I'm on my second cook. The first was a turkey done HH as per Chris' instructions on this web site. I used the recommended amount of charcoal (Kingsford Blue). A couple of hours into the cook, I noticed the temps dropping and upon checking found the charcoal almost completely expended. I fired up the starter with a half chamber of coals, got the temps back up and finished the bird. The turkey turned out great and I was very pleased with the results.

This brings me to my second cook. Last night about 10pm, I put on a single butt weighing about six pounds. Outside temp about 34 degrees and a calm wind. Butt was prepared using the Mr. Brown recipe and the MM method for the charcoal. I'm once again using KB and added 50-60 lit coals over the unlit coals and smoke wood. Filled the pan with hot water and put on the meat. All vents were open until it hit 200 degrees, then closed the bottom vents to 25%. Two and a half hours later, I was still at 200 degrees, so I open the bottom vents a little more. In less than 30 minutes, it was over 280.
Kept monkeying with the vents until I got it stabilized at about 250. By now it's 3am.
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Went to bed. Got up at 7am and I got 175 and the charcoal is almost completely burned up. Meat is 165-170 internal, so I got a ways to go. Loaded up another half starter of hot coals, dumped those and I've got it kinda around 225-230. I'm not gonna mess with it further. Whenever it's done, it'll be done.

This begs the question, is it normal to chase temps with a new WSM (I think it is)? But more importantly, why is my charcoal burning up so quickly? I could almost understand on the HH turkey cook, but cooking at 225-250, a full ring, plus 50-60 briquets, plus smoke wood shouldn't be gone in nine hours.

Sorry for the long post, but suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for all the great info ya'll put out.
 
Huff - 50 - 60 briquettes is an awful lot for the Minion Method - I generally use 15 - 20, then leave the vents open until the smoker gets within 25 degrees or so of my target temperature - usually takes about 20 - 30 minutes, and then I cut down the vents. If I'm aiming for 250, I don't stoke out if its 20 degrees or so either way. One thing you don't want to do is to get into the routine of "chasing temps" to get the exact temp you want.

You didn't say how much unlit you started with. I fill the charcoal ring slam full and then some, then place the lit coals by dumping them from the chimney over the unlit and using long handled tongs to place the lit evenly over the unlit.

Next cook (good excuse for a next cook), try more unlit and less lit, then cut the vents by about half when you get within about 25 degrees of your target. Notice that there are a lot of "abouts" in there - smoking and bbq are NOT an exact science, no matter how hard we try to make it so!

Pat
 
Thanks for the reply, Pat. I started with a full to the brim ring of unlit. Once again using Chris' suggestion of 40-60 lit coals on top, I used 50 lit coals, evenly distributed.

I'm not that bummed out by the rollercoaster ride of trying to adjust temps, it's the fact of the charcoal burning up so quickly that has me puzzled. If the cooker was running way too hot, I could understand the short charcoal life. But with temps fluctuating from 200-225, that much charcoal shouldn't (I don't think) burn up so quickly.

I'll try your method on the next cook and see if I have better success. I'm not displeased with the results I'm getting, food wise. The butt looks great, smells great and I'm sure it'll taste great, too. I'm just not at the "set up your smoker and go to bed, it'll hold 240 all night" place yet. Once again, thanks for the suggestions.

Mike Huffman
 
I'm replying to myself to correct an earlier post. I stated Chris' suggestion was 40-60 lit coals on top. He actually suggests 20-40 lit on top. This was my mistake, 50 lit coals may be way too much.
 
A follow up to my own post...I removed the water pan entirely and the temps went up to 250. Meat temp is right at 190, so I'll be pulling it soon. Thanks again for the help. If I have time, I'll post some pics later.
 
I'm glad you figured out what were probably the major issues, Mike. You asked early if a new WSM may be part of the problem and, yes, it won't be as stable for the first few cooks as it is later. You also mentioned that you started with the lower vents open and shut them down as you approached temp. I think this will also cause your charcoal to burn off faster (as well as likely making the temps go up faster). Once they've started burning hard you then have the difficulty of slowing them down AND they have used a great deal of their BTU potential. I usually start with vents at 25 - 50% and either leave it or adjust if temps are climbing fast. I normally use tap hot water (despite the comments, it's not all THAT bad to clean up), so I'm not heating water with charcoal from a cold temp. And 9 - 10 hours on a full ring isn't bad. You can do things to increase it, but if you want to cook around 240 (as opposed to 225), it's going to burn faster.

Rich
 
Thanks, Rich. I started out with the water pan full of hot tap water, as you said. I may try the next butt with no water and see how that does. As you and Pat both agree, nothing is set in stone and everything is "about this much" or "about that long" at "about that temperature". The end result is an awesome looking hunk of meat foiled in the cooler. This is going to be fun finding what works best for my WSM under my personal conditions. Thanks, again.
 
Hey mw,
Welcome to the best forum on the 'net!
I always say "Howdy" to folk from Tennessee, and they's several of us'n around.

Soon as your WSM gets a good coat of gunk on th' insides, it's gonna cook a lot more consistent.
icon_cool.gif
 
Hey Charles! Looks like we have a few Tennesseans on the board. Kinda feels like I'm right at home. I have a daughter in your fair city attending Union, so it's a miracle I have any money left to buy charcoal, meat, etc. Here are a couple of pics of the first butt on my new WSM.

Just before I pulled if off. Lost a hunk of bark when I flipped it...
mrbrownsmall.jpg


After pulling...
pulledporksmall.jpg


It tasted awesome and wow, what a great smoky aroma. Thanks to everyone on this site for the help and moral support.

I see a few racks of baby backs in my near future.

Mike
 
Different question about charcoal but same topic. On my 18.5 I can get about 18 hours @ 225 from one load of charcoal. On my 22 also @ 225 most I can get is 14 hours. Is that about right?
 
I cooked on my new 18.5" WSM yesterday for the first time and I actually didn't have hardly any problems with keeping the temps fairly steady. I filled the charcoal ring to the top with unlit and than added 30 lit and spread them around. I had all of the vents open at first and then closed the bottom ones about 1/2 way when the temps approached 225. The outside temps were 43 and slightly windy.

The highest the temp went was 265 and for the majority of the cook the temps stayed between 230-255. I had to occasionally mess with the vents but not much.

I only cooked two racks of ribs and foiled the water pan with no water in it. The cook lasted about six hours and I still had a lot of coals left when I pulled the ribs off.

I shut all of the vents off but the coals must have still burned because this morning before I went to work, I checked the coals, and they were all gone. I know that my WSM is not air tight because the main body slightly rocks in the base. The base is slightly warped.

All in all, I was pretty impressed how steady my temps were for my first cook on a WSM and a new one at that. Mine is a 2007 model that I bought from the local Ace Hardware that was a display model that they had on clearance.

Hopefully your next cook will be better as far as the temps go.

Wayne
 
Steve and Wayne,
Thanks for the input, guys. I'm keeping a log of my cooks and the conditions, temps, etc. Hopefully I will stumble upon the right combination of factors where I can get more stable temps for a longer period. I guess I'll just have to eat all my experiments.
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Mike
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mwhuffman:
Steve and Wayne,
Thanks for the input, guys. I'm keeping a log of my cooks and the conditions, temps, etc. Hopefully I will stumble upon the right combination of factors where I can get more stable temps for a longer period. I guess I'll just have to eat all my experiments.
icon_biggrin.gif


Mike </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Mike, We at TVWB are nothing if not accomodating. Please feel free to let us help you dispose of what you call "all my experiments". If you PM me, I'll send you my land address -- shipping frozen meat to NC can't be all that expensive. (And if I can't hide it from my fellow North Carolinians, I'll be "happy" to share.)
icon_biggrin.gif


Rich
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Charles Howse:
Hey mw,
Welcome to the best forum on the 'net!
I always say "Howdy" to folk from Tennessee, and they's several of us'n around.

Soon as your WSM gets a good coat of gunk on th' insides, it's gonna cook a lot more consistent.
icon_cool.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am enjoing the process of building up the gunk.

What is my family of three going to do with 9# of pulled pork. I guess we'll figure it out.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HE Etheredge:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Charles Howse:
Hey mw,
Welcome to the best forum on the 'net!
I always say "Howdy" to folk from Tennessee, and they's several of us'n around.

Soon as your WSM gets a good coat of gunk on th' insides, it's gonna cook a lot more consistent.
icon_cool.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am enjoing the process of building up the gunk.

What is my family of three going to do with 9# of pulled pork. I guess we'll figure it out. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

First of all, don't worry about the amount -- send it to ME-E-E! Nah, even with just two of us, 9 lbs doesn't last long. First of all, you'll only end up with 4 - 5 lb max after all has rendered and cooked down. Put those pulled leftovers in 1 lb. portions packed tight in plastic bags with the air squeezed out. Take those 2 - 5 bags and seal them in a large freezer bag and into the freezer and use as desired. See, no effort!

Rich
 
It depends on several things like wind/cold exposure, amount of meat (and how cold when it goes in cooker), water or kind of heat sink used, and kind of fuel used.

I usually get fourteen hours+ w/out refueling in my little wsm with briquettes, both K blue or Stubbs, even with a full cooker and water in the pan....as long as wind/cold exposure is limited and the meat is allowed to sit out some while the rub "sweats".

Lump has to be packed and shaked, and I don't get as long cooks, but the little wsm is really easy to reload, especially if you don't use water in the pan.
 
I was kind of surprised by the burn time that I got on my first cook last weekend (WSM 22).

I used a 20lb. bag of Kingsford blue, started with a full ring of unlit, and about a 3/4 full weber chimney of lit at about 8 am. I added the small amount of unlit briquets that was left in the bag at about 2:15pm, maybe 10 to 12 briquettes or so, and by 4:30pm, virtually all of the fuel was spent and the temp fell below 200 after maintaining 240 to 265 for over 8 hours. I was going to see how long it would burn, expecting 10+ hours, but fell quite a bit short of that mark.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Andy Wasserman:
I was kind of surprised by the burn time that I got on my first cook last weekend (WSM 22).

I used a 20lb. bag of Kingsford blue, started with a full ring of unlit, and about a 3/4 full weber chimney of lit at about 8 am. I added the small amount of unlit briquets that was left in the bag at about 2:15pm, maybe 10 to 12 briquettes or so, and by 4:30pm, virtually all of the fuel was spent and the temp fell below 200 after maintaining 240 to 265 for over 8 hours. I was going to see how long it would burn, expecting 10+ hours, but fell quite a bit short of that mark. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

From what I've read about the big wsm, this experience isn't too unique. It shouldn't be such a fuel hog in nice bbq weather, though.
 
MW,

I cannot take credit for this but I am passing it along from another thread on here. I had a similar problem, my overnight cooks (WSM22) would run low on fuel in the middle of the night and I'd need to refuel.

The solution for me, as recommended by another TVWBB member, was to tightly pack the charcoal into the chamber, as if you were laying bricks or stacking firewood. Rather than pour a bag in there, lay them flat and staggered from the outer ring to the middle, packing them with the lest air between them as possible. Yes, its a royal PITA, but in the grand scheme of the entire pork butt process, its all part of the labor of love.

I ran a midnight cook last night... Four 8 lb butts and two 10 lb briskets all at once. Loaded and stacked a full 20 lb bag of K. Started her up at 9 PM, got settled at 250. Loaded the meat at 10 PM. Tinkered with the vents (almost completely closed) to get a nice 240 steady smoke before going to bed at midnight. Woke up at 6 AM, 225, perfect. Opened the vents a hair, up to 250/260 to finish up. Pulled the meat at 10 AM (12 hours exactly).

Its now ~2:30 PM, and the thing is still cranking at 250+. Running on 17 hours between 225 and 260 - no added fuel, just a wood chip or two for more smoke before I went to bed and when I woke up. God bless the inventor of the WSM, but also that tip of stacking the charcoal. While it is a hassle, it makes all the difference in longer smokes. Try it... works great for me.

Keep in mind, its 86 here in Irvine today and last night was mild, high 60s. YMMV.

Good luck.

/Dave
 
On a full rings at 225 using half a chimney with water and with my temperature control I get 16 hours easily and I usually get 4 more hours after I shut the vents while it chokes out and I still have K. I have a 22, I use water(I boil the water first while the chimney is being lit), I start a half a chimney and fill the charcoal ring and throw in 3-6 fist fulls of hickory. Once the K is ashed over I spread the k evenly over the unlit k. I put the WSM together and I poor in the boiling water. Water boils at 212, I usually cook at 225 I don't spend as much K get the water up to temp. I then hook up my Auber, set it and forget, and off I go....
 
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