Royal Oak Hardwood Charcoal


 
J

JDavis

New member
Does anyone use this in a WSM. I tried today and never could get temps up to 240 with all vents open. Never held a consistant temp. Varied from 190-240.
 
Many use it and seem to like it. Briquettes? How are you starting your fire? How much fuel, lit and unlit did you start with? You have the 18" WSM? What were you cooking and how much? Trouble with temps is usually not because of the brand of fuel. Some more info would be helpful
 
I was smokin 2 beer can chickens. I started fire with a chimney starter and added to cosls in base. No briquet's, wood chunks. I'm using a 22.5 WSM.
 
I use it all the time for long cooks. Always put in a really full ring of charcoal. Recently tried out Sams briquettes. Not bad but prefer Royal Oak. Actually would like my hands on some cheap Rancher again. Man, I love that stuff
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It's all I use. Love the stuff. I'm guessing there is another variable that was causing the low temps.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mitch Josey:
It's all I use. Love the stuff. I'm guessing there is another variable that was causing the low temps. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Same here. If anything I find that my temps seem to run a little hotter with lump than with briquettes.

Water in the pan? If you splashed or boiled over any onto your lit it could cause you to run low (been there, done that).
 
Maybe I just had a bad bag of RO. What was happening didn't make sense. It was cool and windy yesterday but when I added briquets, the temp. came up to 275. I am new to the WSM but have been smokin for alot of years now. It should have burned hotter than it did. I am still learnin the WSM and controlin temps, but loaded with RO and all vents wide open, what was going on? It just didn't make sense. Maybe I'll give it another try with a different bag of RO. Thanks for everyone's input on this.
 
Maybe for some reason you weren't getting enough air in to the coals. Crack the lid or pry open the door a hair and see if that works. It's possible could be a bad bag but try these and see if this helps
 
How much lit did you start with in the chimney. I'm guessing not enough coals were lit assuming it was loaded with a full ring of charcoal. If you have low temp problems in the future, flip the door upsidedown and prop it open a couple inches or just offset the lid bi about 3/8". She will start breathing better due to more air flow and it should bring the temps up.
 
I started by putting another coal grate in the bottom 90 degree's to the 1st on so the lump wouldn't fall thru. The filled the coal ring almost to the top. Lit a full starter full of lump and poured it over the top. Added wood. Put smoker together with a full water pan. Mever could get a hot consistant temp. I don't think my problem was air flow because when I changed to charcoal,the temps came up. I will get a new bag of RO and try again. I will change the door and prop it open to see if that helps if it won't get hotter. Thanks for the info. will let you know the results.
 
Also don't forget that the water pan in the 22 is EFFING HUGE!!

Don't fill it all the way. If you are cooking something short you probably only need it 1/4 to 1/3 full. It takes a LOT of heat energy to raise the temp of a gallon of water to 212.... and after that point you are still fighting the cooling effect of all that water.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Scooter B:
Also don't forget that the water pan in the 22 is EFFING HUGE!!

Don't fill it all the way. If you are cooking something short you probably only need it 1/4 to 1/3 full. It takes a LOT of heat energy to raise the temp of a gallon of water to 212.... and after that point you are still fighting the cooling effect of all that water. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My thoughts exactly. I usually do short cooks (4-6 hours) and I never fill pan more than 1/2 way and I only have the 18.5 inch WSM. Still with all the vents wide open I would expect the RO to eventually get pretty hot. My WSM spiked pretty hard anytime I took the lid off.
 
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