Just curious


 

Corey Elks

TVWBB All-Star
When you are done using your weber smoky mountain, do you sift through the remaining coals and use them for your next cook or in your kettle? Here’s what I do .... when I’m done with my cook, I empty all of the hot coals and Ash into a galvanized bucket that has a lid. When the fire is out in the bucket I strain out the ash and reuse the coals for my next cook. Am I being a cheap *** by not just throwing it away? Just curious What you all do. Happy memorial day
 
I let my coals cool down while in the WSM. After that, I'm not as methodical as you but I scoop up some of the decent-size coals and place them in one metal can for use at a later time and then discard all else in another metal can.
 
I save coals in both the WSM and in my kettles. Close all the vents and let them burn out. Never re-use in one of the WSM, but will reuse in the kettles. Typically I do half new in the bottom of the chimney and half used. I’m cheap if it doesn’t fall through the charcoal grate it goes in the reuse bucket for later.
 
I save coals in both the WSM and in my kettles. Close all the vents and let them burn out. Never re-use in one of the WSM, but will reuse in the kettles. Typically I do half new in the bottom of the chimney and half used. I’m cheap if it doesn’t fall through the charcoal grate it goes in the reuse bucket for later.

Thats exactly what I do,except i will use them in my WSM too. It's amazing how quick the fire goes out once you close the vents. No sense throwing away good 'fuel"
 
I let mine burn out in the kettle and wsm. Keeps them grease free. If I use water in the pan I dump it when I am done cooking. Maybe add a chunk or two of new wood under the pan so it flames up and burns off all the left over grease off. When it cools off knock the loose flakes off and call it good.

I also don't like using used coal. There isn't a lot of life / heat left in it. Especially by the time you re light it. It crumbles and falls apart too.

I get the twin wrapped packs and it's not really that expensive. If I was buying it a the small bag grocery store prices then I'd probably entertain the idea.
 
I also let my coals burn down in the WSM and/or kettle.
I do re-use them in either.
Pretty easy as mine's a 14", so easy to pick out the good coals. I use lump and in my opinion there is quite often still a lot of life left in them ;)
 
Smoke day we did a brisket on the 18.5 WSM and on Sunday I used the salvaged coals from the brisket cook to cook some pork chops on the JJ. Still have enough left to do tonight's burgers. Used coals are great for short cooks like burger and chops, brats etc. anything pushing an hour or more I use fresh coals.
When using the mini or the WSM I always use new coals. I also let the fire burn out and harvest the coals the next day when I clean up and cover up whatever I was using
When using used coals I do like Dustin, put a layer of new in the chimney so the smaller pieces don't fall out.

I know KBB on sale isn't that expensive, but when I started and wasn't recycling coals I was using about 30+ bags of 18.5 KBB between Memorial Day and Labor Day and now I'm using less than 25 for the past two years. That's a savings of about $50, that buys a few nice steaks.;)
 
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I know KBB on sale isn't that expensive, but when I started and wasn't recycling coals I was using about 30+ bags of 18.5 KBB between Memorial Day and Labor Day and now I'm using less than 25 for the past two years. That's a savings of about $50, that buys a few nice steaks.;)

Excellent food for thought. I don't save all my coals but when I do they are reasonably-sized and go in the use me later container.
 
I close the vents to put out the fire, when I need them, either for a grill cook or another smoke cook, I use them.
 
I extinguish the charcoal in the WSM after cooking and throw it away a couple of days later. I do not reuse any of the leftovers in the WSM or in the kettle.
 
I stopped doing that. I found that I was getting inconsistent temp control, more so when using the partially-spent coals, than when using all fresh briquettes. Also, I noticed a drop in max temp right from the beginning. As to cost savings, I alternate among my barbecue/grilling equipment -- charcoal, gas, pellet -- and there's just two of us; so, the cost savings are minimal and basically irrelevant.
 
It depends on what I’m cooking but, generally, I shut everything down, snuff the coals and, then re use the leftovers in kettles. Always fresh in the WSM but, I seem to have gotten things pretty well equalized, the “Smoke Day”/ John Wayne birthday smoke left me with no more than maybe two cups of useable size leftovers in the WSM. Since I’d used the double barreled kettle as well, I went through quite a bit of KBB. I think I have maybe one basket of used coals total that are re useable. I have always filled the chimney about halfway (+/-) with fresh and topped with the old. It seems to have worked well enough for me.
 
I'm not consistent on this. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Usually, I'll only reuse charcoal in the kettle for quick cooks. 15 or so new ones around the bottom of the chimney and fill the rest of the way with used ones. I did reuse some this weekend in my 18" WSM, but I added some new coals and was only cooking for about 5 hours or so. From here on out, I'll probably just continue to use only new in the 18".
 
I close off the vents until they burn out. Then I put them in a wire basket (1/4" squares) and sift the ash off.

Anything worth saving goes into a metal pale and is used in my next chimney burn. Whatever is left gets mixed in with the wood and charcoal (set up in the Minion Method) the next smoke session.
 
I smoke with lump charcoal. I let it burn out each time. Once the coals have cooled, I'll sift through and add the ash to my compost pile. Not sure if that is advised with briquettes that may contain any binders.
 

 

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