Charcoal question


 
T

Tom TheMadBombchu

New member
I got a WSM 22 for my birthday a few weeks ago. So far I’ve done ribs and a pork butt, which both came out really good. I’ve been having some problems with the charcoal though, which I’m sure has to do with my inexperience. With the ribs I know I just put too little charcoal in. But for the butt I did a bunch of reading to see how much I should be using and how long that should last. Most of what I read said to fill the fire ring with charcoal (I was using Kingford) and to use the minion method and I should get 6-8 hours. I did this and wound up getting only about 3 hours before it seemed like I needed to add more charcoal. It was probably in the mid to high 30s when I started (at 4 am) and got up to the mid 40 when the sun came up. It wasn’t windy and I was keeping a temp of 250. I did have a bit of a temp spike that went up to a little under 300 during a 1 hour period I went back to sleep early on.
As I’ve thought about it maybe my problem was that I lit too much in my chimney starter (I filled the whole thing). Otherwise I’m really not sure what I did to seemingly fall so short of the 6-8 hour mark.
Any advice? Up until the WSM I’ve only cooked with propane, so I’m trying to learn both the WSM and how to cook with charcoal at the same time.
Thanks in advance for any help!
 
I agree - too much lit to start off with. You’ll burn more charcoal in cold/cooler weather too. You can get an insulated cover or a welding blanket to help retain heat in the cold if it bothers you. My last cold weather cook was a couple of pork butts and I had to add charcoal twice. Temps were in the mid 20s to mid 30s with a slight breeze that day.
 
Thanks for the input! I was reading and saw some people talk about insulating in cold weather, but being that it wasn’t very windy and in the scheme of things not very cold for the bulk of the cook I figured I’d be ok in that aspect. On the plus side the warm weather is coming so I can remove that variable for my next attempts!
 
With a 22 you are going to use a lot of charcoal. The big box hardware stores usually have big sales on Memorial day (I don't think they did last year). But be sure and watch. It is usually about 1/2 price. That is the time to stock up. I got carried away and have enough for a couple years.
 
Good for you finding this site! I tend to think that “Too much lit” is the culprit. Having said that I don’t technically use the classic Minion method but, have adopted the Enrico Brandizzi method of the “Sidewinder” minion and modified that a little too. The sidewinder has you set your lit goods at the edge (I start nearest the door) and allow the fire to march across rather that from the center out. See how that works? Now, I have further simplified the method by not using any lit good at the outset. I simply load the basket as full as possible dispersing wood and charcoal all the way up then, I grab my trusty propane torch and fire the charcoal for about 3-5 minutes and button everything up. Watch thermometer until things settle in then I usually go to bed if it’s a brisket or, starting a butt early, go have a late breakfast, lunch and enjoy a frosty beverage until it’s time to pull and rest the thing.
I’m sure that’s got you scratching your head but, once you try it, it becomes pretty clear how it works.
Welcome aboard!
 
Tom TheMadBombchu said:
I got a WSM 22 for my birthday a few weeks ago. So far I’ve done ribs and a pork butt, which both came out really good. I’ve been having some problems with the charcoal though, which I’m sure has to do with my inexperience. With the ribs I know I just put too little charcoal in. But for the butt I did a bunch of reading to see how much I should be using and how long that should last. Most of what I read said to fill the fire ring with charcoal (I was using Kingford) and to use the minion method and I should get 6-8 hours. I did this and wound up getting only about 3 hours before it seemed like I needed to add more charcoal. It was probably in the mid to high 30s when I started (at 4 am) and got up to the mid 40 when the sun came up. It wasn’t windy and I was keeping a temp of 250. I did have a bit of a temp spike that went up to a little under 300 during a 1 hour period I went back to sleep early on.
As I’ve thought about it maybe my problem was that I lit too much in my chimney starter (I filled the whole thing). Otherwise I’m really not sure what I did to seemingly fall so short of the 6-8 hour mark.
Any advice? Up until the WSM I’ve only cooked with propane, so I’m trying to learn both the WSM and how to cook with charcoal at the same time.
Thanks in advance for any help!
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You don't mention the vents, how did you have them positioned?
 
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