Charcoal holders vs. Charcoal dividers?


 
C

ChadVKealey

TVWBB Pro
Aside from the physical differences, what differentiates the half-oval-shaped "charcoal holders" from the bent-wire "charcoal separators? Are there different purposes for which they're used, or just two ways to do the same thing? I'd think the separators, being wide open on the one side, wouldn't do much to actually contain charcoal (except maybe large pieces of lump), unless you used them in conjunction with another piece of solid or perforated metal (wire mesh or expanded steel, for example).

I'm asking out of pure curiosity. I recently bought a set of the holders as they were on clearance for $7. I've used them a few times for short cooks and found them somewhat useful (at least $7 worth of useful). However, given that they only seem to hold one lit chimney between the two, they wouldn't be appropriate for longer cooks.
 
I have the bent wire separators in my 18 OTG. It's just right for a small chimney to do poppers indirect. The larger half oval ones are great for cooking indirect on my Performer. Like you said they hold a large chimneys worth of charcoal, and I get at least 3 hours of indirect cooking at 350.
The nice thing about the half oval ones is you can slide them around to do different configurations of heat. I've done them to form a 90 degree heat. This worked great when I was using my larger Dutch Oven making baked beans.
 
I use the char-baskets to move my charcoal towards or away from what I'm cooking. They are pretty handy when I cook with cast iron to fry or boil vs simmer or saute especially when in the same recipe.
 
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I use the charcoal baskets everytime I use the Performer or Jumbo Joe, doesn't matter if I'm cooking direct or indirect. Can't say I've ever placed charcoal directly on the grates. I use lump and too much falls through, and not easy to move the charcoal around. I've always seen the separators, but thought they were a silly design for the reasons you mentioned above. Maybe I'm not envisioning the proper use?
 
I use the baskets both ways, for holding the charcoal inside the baskets and also as separators. It all depends on what I'm doing with my 26.75" and how I configure everything. If I want 2 baskets of charcoal all on 1 side of the kettle I use the baskets as separators since it's easier to add coal to the cook if needed without trying to get it into the baskets. The empty baskets are used just to keep the coal from spreading across the coal grate too much. But if I want charcoal on both sides of the cooking area I use the baskets as baskets and am able to add coal if needed to either basket as it's needed through the hinged sides of the cooking grate.
 
I have the rails and use them often. The nice thing about the rails is you can also used them side by side towards the center of the charcoal grate to get coals on one half and a drip pan on the other half, as well as at each side for two smaller banks of coals with the pan in the middle.
 
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I have both types and don't use them at all anymore. I went to fire brings in there place awhile ago and that's all I use now. I like the fire bricks as I can add more coals for the longer cooks and it contains any size briket or lump coal.
 
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