Amount of Charcoal....


 
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Preston Davenport

TVWBB Fan
Hey another posting gave me pause to think regarding charcoal quantity usage...

In that post one of our WSM'rs mentioned he only used one row of briquettes with 20 lit briquettes on top for ribs and chicken.

Any rules of thumb in amounts and usage and rough expected temperatures?

In my inexperience I have been using either a 1/2 or a full ring of charcoal dependant of what I am cooking...but am thinking I may actually use less than that seeing what was posted...any ideas and suggestions?

Thanks!
PrestonD
 
Hi Preston!

For those of us who have to contend with wide temp differences, any rule of thumb is dangerous at best.

This week I cooked ribs for 2 large parties. The first one I caught a break, as the temp was in the mid to high 40's. I used about 1/2 full charcoal ring and had some unburnt coals still in the smoker.

The next one I did, just yesterday, was a whole nother story! Snowing, windy and temps in the upper 20's. I used the same 1/2 full charcoal ring, but by the end, I had no coals left and actually struggled to keep temps up when putting the finishing touches on the ribs.

So, the ambient weather can really play havoc with the amount of coals that are required to cook. Also, your internal cooking temps will impact the charcoal usage as well.

My longest cook has been in the summer with no wind..22 hours. I have not come even close to that length in the winter season.

The good news......you can use any leftover charcoal again as long as it doesn't rain, PLUS, as you get more uses under your belt, you will be able to finish a cook with almost no charcoal left.
 
Hi Kevin,

Yes it seems for me at least here in Florida is that the wind is the variable with the most impact on how my smoking is affected in either my electric Brinkmann or in my WSM.

Steve Bennett mentioned in another post that he gets by with one layer of briquettes with about 20 lit briquettes on top. I guess the more I do the more experience will add to my capability.

I guess I will keep using my either 1/2 or full ring dependant method upon what I am smoking.

Regards,
PrestonD
 
I did 4 slabs of Kansas City spares about two weeks ago and I figured I be smart and use a little less charcoal this time around. Well, the wind was around 16 mph that day and even though I had the WSM pretty well shielded, the wind plus the amount of meat forced me to fight the temps throughout the cook. I had to add about a half chimney twice during the cook.

So from now on I'm gonna use at least 2 chimneys for a small cook (say 2 slabs or a lone 'quick cooked' butt) and a full ring for a large cook (the afore mentioned 4 slabs or the 3 butts I'll be doing this weekend). I don't care how much charcoal I have left over. I don't normally use the Minion method but I will be giving it a shot this weekend
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MARK Auburn 17 'Bama 7 /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
I'm wondering-- now that I just bought a real Weber chimney over the weekend-- if it wouldn't be better to specify whether one has a generic or a Weber when they refer to how may chimney-fulls they are using. I say this because I calculate the Weber to have about 33-35% more capacity than the others on the market. The difference between two generic and two Weber chimney-fulls is, therefore, a significant amount of fuel, assuming all other factors to be equal. /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif
 
Mark, the Minion method is the key to long cooking times, even with smaller amounts of coals.

Steve
 
I'm planning to buy a WSM today and smoke a slab of ribs. I'm in Orlando and it is supposed to get up to the mid 60s today.

So, I would like to do whatever is easiest for my first try here. I like the idea of the Minion method and I'm thinking of sticking a bunch of unlit Kingsford charcoal in there and putting 20 or so lit ones on top. I guess if it doesn't get hot enough I can just take the door off and let it get a lot of air until it heats up.

Anyway, if you have any advice on what to start with that would be great.

- Bobby

Harvard 20 Yale 17 /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
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