After years of smoking exclusively w/ Kingsford (inc. the new Competition K) I decided to take the plunge w/ lump. I had read so many positive things on here, that when I saw bags of Royal Oak at the store, I had to give it a shot.
I followed the typical HH brisket plan with a Minion start. Filled the ring w/ RO and got it started w/ about 25 lit Kingsford briquettes. Added 5 small chunks of oak, thew on a 5.5 lb. flat (still can't find a packer in CT) and it was off to the races. The meat hit 160 about 2 hours in (maintaing around 350 at the lid), I threw it in a pan, foiled, and it was tender about 2 hours later.
The brisket was one of the, if not the very best one I've done. Very moist, not too smokey (I attribute that to the oak) and quite tasty.
A few things I noticed about using lump: 1) good thing I had read some previous posts, because the popping/crackling of the lump would have scared me otherwise; 2) no unwanted smoke odors; 3) ran nice and hot; had no problem keeping 350 temp w/ out cracking door or lid; 4) responded to vent changes very quickly; seemed more responsive than K.
Do you think the successful results had anything to do w/ the lump? In any case, it was fun trying something new and I'll definitely experiment more w/ future cooks.
I followed the typical HH brisket plan with a Minion start. Filled the ring w/ RO and got it started w/ about 25 lit Kingsford briquettes. Added 5 small chunks of oak, thew on a 5.5 lb. flat (still can't find a packer in CT) and it was off to the races. The meat hit 160 about 2 hours in (maintaing around 350 at the lid), I threw it in a pan, foiled, and it was tender about 2 hours later.
The brisket was one of the, if not the very best one I've done. Very moist, not too smokey (I attribute that to the oak) and quite tasty.
A few things I noticed about using lump: 1) good thing I had read some previous posts, because the popping/crackling of the lump would have scared me otherwise; 2) no unwanted smoke odors; 3) ran nice and hot; had no problem keeping 350 temp w/ out cracking door or lid; 4) responded to vent changes very quickly; seemed more responsive than K.
Do you think the successful results had anything to do w/ the lump? In any case, it was fun trying something new and I'll definitely experiment more w/ future cooks.