Charcoal ring for lump


 
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Dustin_G

TVWBB Member
I'm coming from the Big Green Egg, which used lump, and had a 20+hr burn time on low and slow cooks. I really like the hands off approach, and not needing to reload with fuel, no worries with getting it going and then going to bed, or off to the movies, or whatever.

So when I picked up an 18" WSM, since I'm not going to use the water pan there's a lot of empty space in the cooker that a taller fire ring could take advantage of. And, since I'm using lump instead of briquettes I wanted something that would keep the smaller pieces from falling out, but still breathe well. Expanded metal to the rescue! So here's my new charcoal ring. It's the same diameter as the stock ring, but it's 10" tall, whereas the stock ring is (if my memory is good) only 5" tall.

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Dustin Dorsey said:
Looks cool. Are you using any kind of diffuser in place of the water pan?
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The last smoke I did, which used the stock ring, I just used my drip pan as the diffuser. I'm going to find a terracotta pot base or something to use though.

Rusty James said:
Dustin, you think that setup would create too much heat?

Welcome to the forum by the way. :)
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Nope, control the heat with air flow. The fire can't be any bigger than the oxygen supply allows.
 
I use the terra-cotta saucer wrapped with foil sitting in the water pan per the Dahl technique. I think Enrico has shared that on some of his cooks too.
 
Enrico uses a pizza stone and no water pan I believe. I just wrap my pan with foil. I have a 22.5. I usually just dump a 18.5 lbs bag in and it works fine. I got 24 hrs out of the old Kingsford during the summer once. The new stuff burns faster but I haven't had to add more charcoal during long cooks yet. With your setup you should get some tremendous burn times!
 
Dustin_G said:
Why put a saucer inside the water pan? Why not just use one or the other?
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Because it's hard to find a saucer that will fit on the brackets alone. Most choose a 12" saucer that will slide down in the pan or some choose a 14" which will sit up higher.
IMO it's cheaper to use a saucer inside the pan instead of buying a stone that will fit , but whatever works for you:)

And to the OP, my bad, nice idea!:cool:

Tim
 
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Sorry to be so delinquent in responding but, the other Tim pretty much sums it up, it adds a small amount of mass (I think it's really negligible) but, it's easier to pick the (11") saucer out of the pan than get the pan itself out. I did a foiled pan the first time I fired the bullet and this is honestly much easier to clean up. Not that the other was difficult, just different.
It was a suggestion from Rich Dahl, I hold him in high regard. He has been very helpful with several projects where I felt like I bit off more than I could chew!
So far, I have done three smokes with it and I have no untoward issues using the technique. Worth a try in my opinion.
I think that garden centers use a bottom measurement on the saucers, since they called this 11" I bought it and on the way home I thought it might be too small. It's just the right size as it turns out.
 
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