Charcoal amounts?


 
D

Darryl Poley

New member
I'm just wondering how much charcoal everybody uses? and how many wood chunks?
For-
A. brisket & pork butt
B. ribs
C.chicken

I cooked brisket last weekend. I use 18 lbs of charcoal. I had hot coals for 2 days
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I did 2 side ribs last week and used 3/4 bag of Stubb's charcoal. Was almost completely out after half hour of ribs coming off. Cutting it a bit too close I know, but I love my Stubbs's and since it's not easy to get here, it would kill me to waste it.
Darn WSM and breezy back yard won't let me choke out the coals.
 
Darryl,I always fill the charcoal ring full. Doesn't matter if it's a long cook like butts or brisket or a shorter one like ribs. After the cook,you should be able to shut all of your vents and smother the coals. Then the remaining coals can be used again!
So far as smoke wood,I use more for butts and brisket,maybe 3-4 pieces. For ribs I'll put a couple in and for poultry,1 medium size piece. But your taste buds might vary and your tastes might want a stronger smoke flavor. And remember,smoke IS a flavor,just like salt or sugar. It can be bitter if something is oversmoked. HTH
 
Darryl I am on board with Phil but it depends on what wood you are using. I use maple mostly with apple for ribs and butts, about 7 fist sixed chunks for butts and 4 for ribs. Like he said its a personal thing, start with a bit less and work your way up. When I do butts I pretty much create a mountain of coals, load the ring up as much as it goes without falling off the pile. I have a later model 18.5 so I replaced my pan with a Brinkman pan to make this possible.
 
Ive never done brisket or pork butt. But for ribs I usually go low and slow with the minion method. So I go with about 1/2 to 3/4 ring of unlit RO Lump with 20 lit Stubbs coals on top. In the past I've used all RO but I found that in the beginning Stubbs is more stable temperature wise. I would probably do the same for brisket and butts only with more unlit since those would be much longer cooks. For chicken I like to go with high heat so I'll use 2 full chimneys of lit RO. I have 2 chimneys so I can light both at the same time. I just did 3 whole chickens about 5 lbs a piece with that method. Good thing about lump is, once I pull the meat off, I shut down the vents and kill the fire quickly and I can re-use the unburnt stuff.

As far as wood - I like to go with anywhere from 3 to 5 or 6 good fist-sized chunks...depending on what I'm cooking and the amount of meat.
 
Ribs, about 3/4 bags of Stubbs. I do 4 racks minimum and have enough at 250*.

I have yet to do a brisket but butts I just fill my 22.5 to the brim and it lasts me about 10-12 hours depending on the weather.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Phil Perrin:
Darryl,I always fill the charcoal ring full. Doesn't matter if it's a long cook like butts or brisket or a shorter one like ribs. After the cook,you should be able to shut all of your vents and smother the coals. Then the remaining coals can be used again!
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I shut off all the vents when I was all done. It was the first time I used it, So I'm thinkin that it has too many gaps yet to chock it off.
 
If you have a weber kettle you can take the top 2/3 of a WSM off and put the kettle lid on there. Coals go out in no time.

You can also just take out the middle section of the WSM and use the WSM lid to shut it down. Doesn't seem to work as well as the kettle lid though.
 
Great tip for saving even more charcoal, Josh! Thanks.

I'm not exactly sure how much I use for ribs and chicken, but I go ahead and try to load up a entire 15lb bag of Stubbs for brisket/butt cooks. It's usually overkill, but I've got the space with my ECB pan in place.
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For long cooks I filler her up to the top, on shorter cooks I usually go between half and two thirds. There always something left over, I save it for the next cook. With regards to wood I usually go 7 to 8 chunks, with ribs 4 to 5. I use hickory and apple.
 
Dom,

I used MAYBE a half bag of Stubbs last week on beef ribs, corn on the cob, and some baked apples. I had unburnt coal left in the ring after about 6 hours, and that was on a 22.5 WSM with a clay saucer and no water. I've done a 16ish hour cook with a whole bag of Stubbs, and still had some unburnt. It seems like your cooker is burning a lot more fuel than mine, even though mine's bigger.

Stan
 
Stan- any idea why your smoker uses less fuel? I am intrigued to see what kind of fuel usage I get out of my 22.5 wsm as I've heard varying stories of charcoal usage
 
Taylor:

I'm not 100% sure why I get good burn times. I know I start with a good amount of lit, pack it all tight, and regulate the airflow early. My WSM is also fairly tight.

Stan
 
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