Another Lump Question???


 
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It has been a long time since I have talked to you all and I have missed hearing everyones fine BBQ stories.....

Anyway, my last cook I tried the BRITU recipe and was not successful! To make a long story short the ribs were cooking fine at 230*, then about 3/4 way through the cook the temp jumped past 275* and burnt the you know what out of the ribs. I could not control it at all - all 3 vents were closed and still it read over 275*. The brown sugar in the Britu turned the ribs black! I probably should have taken them off, but they weren't done yet.

Should I have closed the top vent too??

I know this is going to sound wierd, but now I want to try lump charcoal which I know burns faster and hotter.

What suggestions do you all have when cooking with lump... Is there anything I should do different than I have with the Kingsford??????

Also, does anyone have a good site to buy lump from, and what brands should I stay away from?

BTW - Hey Ken Nelson, my WSM has been running great except for my Britu disaster. I did an overnighter with an 8lb Pork butt that took 18 hrs. to get to 185* - Boy was I tired after that! But it did turn out AWESOME!

Dave Garvey
 
Hey Dave! I would guess that you ran out of water in your water pan. I bought the two gallon ECB model which really helps those temp controls. Look under "mods" on this site for ordering info.

Some of the others will be along shortly with even more ideas. Good luck!
 
Hi, Dave.

Good to hear from you. I hadn’t seen any recent reports of entire neighborhoods in the Chi-land area burning down so I assumed any WSM disasters you may have had were on a relatively small scale; as with your last batch of BRITU.

I had a similar temperature spike happen once several hours into a cook that I can’t really explain. I want to think it was the combination of an increase or decrease in the wind or a change in its direction coupled with the mass of a full ring of fuel getting finally involved in the game. Or, maybe it was just the barbecue gods taunting me for not paying enough attention. Whatever the cause, it was maddening to so suddenly lose control of the temperature.

Shutting down the top vent most or all of the way is probably the right course of action to get the reins on the temperature when closing the bottom vents has no relatively immediate effect. Without any oxygen to feed them, the coals will eventually begin to die out but it will take a while to get back down to your desired temperature. A load of hot coals holds a lot of heat.

Most meats by themselves can handle 275 and higher for a while without any appreciable harm. But, if the rub has a high sugar content, as with the BRITU, I’d take the meat off the smoker and set it aside until the temperature gets back under control. The handles on the top grate make it easy to pick up when necessary. I keep an old pair on insulated leather gloves close by for handling hot items. With a sweet rub, being away from the heat for a period of time would be preferable to being exposed to too much heat.

Still, even with those occasional setbacks, there’s no better feeling than pulling a delicious hunk of meat off the smoker that 99% of all restaurants couldn’t duplicate at any price.

I’ve even enjoyed staying up most of the night during a few overnighters. It gives me a chance to flip on the overnight blues station, have a number of adult beverages appropriate to my mood, and maybe leisurely burn an Ashton 30 or two as I clean the garage or find some other way to fiddle around.

During one of those nights, a cop on patrol noticed my open garage door and the thin veil of smoke rising from an area where there’s usually no activity at 3:30 a.m. Luckily, he decided to investigate first before automatically calling in the fire department, the police helicopter, and every action news team in town. I had just pulled a couple of gobbler gams off the WSM to munch on before going to bed. I offered him one, which he happily accepted, and we spent the next 15 minutes or so talking barbecue. Out of that experience, I learned that my neighborhood is being patrolled and met a new acquaintance capable of giving me the benefit of the doubt should I ever need it in the wee hours of the morning someday.

As for the advantages and disadvantages of using lump, that’s almost right up there on the controversy scale with politics and religion. I like it, I use it and I’ve got a good supplier that’s about a 30-mile detour from my normal route whenever I visit my folks in northern Arkansas.

BTW - Their particular area of the state still largely believes that Hee Haw was a documentary!

I’ve rambled long enough. Besides, it’s well past quitting time. Glad to hear things are going pretty well. There are worse addictions!

Have a great weekend and get some smoke in your eyes!

Ken
 
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