Briquettes Vs Lump with a Stoker/Guru?


 
M

Mike Weis

New member
Hi Folks.
There is nothing like a Brisket with Royal Oak Lump and lots of Red Oak. To get some sleep I have switched back to K but my Brisket just doesn't taste as good. I am hoping (and for competition sake) that I can get burn consistency equal to that of Kingsford using a stoker. My stoker is on its way. I ordered it with the hopes that it will solve the temp spike problems when using lump on a WSM. Has anybody out there compared lump vs briquettes with a stoker or guru system? I know burn time will be less but I'm only talking about spikes in temp.
Thanks for the help.
 
I've used a Guru with Wicked Good lump for three years and consistently have charcoal left after brisket or butts.

Dudley
 
Don't use the K. There are judges that can taste it. That is one of the things I learned last year. Just load up your unit with a good amount of lump and you should have plenty for the smoke. I bought a pallet of Wicked Good and so far have had excellent results this season:

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I use lump with my Stoker (and occasionally without). I haven't burned a briquette in about 4 years. The Stoker will hold a consistent temperature with the lump, no problem. The only temperature spike I've had in a long time was this past weekend, when I left the lid off too long while foiling and unfoiling some ribs. The temp climbed to about 275 (not a big spike) and took quite a while to come down, but that was my fault, not the Stoker's.
 
Thanks guys. I realy appreciate it. I can definatly taste the K when cookin a briskit, and ribs. I can't taste it with a shoulder though. My team mate uses a BGE for ribs and he can definatly taste when I use K vs lump. I also learned but haven tried to strategically stack the the same size lump, that seems too time consuming. I like to focus on prep and catching up with the neighboring teams.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike Weis:
I also learned but haven tried to strategically stack the the same size lump, that seems too time consuming. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't bother with trying to carefully stack the lump. I just dump it into the charcoal ring. Then I get in there with both hands and push it toward one side of the ring, working it back and forth to get it to pack together as tightly as possible, while at the same time creating a hole at one side. That's where I dump my lit charcoal. I normally create this hole on the side where the Stoker fan is attached, so that the unlit lump is "downwind" of the lit. The fire progresses through the pile very evenly in my experience.
 
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