Charcoal won't stay lit!


 
E

Ed Bates

New member
OK, I have been all over these boards and the website, but can't find an answer that works. Followed recipe to smoke 2 chickens (whole-butterfly). The following has happened each time: Filled chimney starter as instructed. When coals were ready after about 20 minutes, dumped into WSM. Temp goes up to 350. Put on chicken, and over the next 30 minutes the temp falls and falls...all the way down to 180 or so (vents open). The instructions I used said to smoke at 300 to 325 for about 2 hours. I am not using water in the pan. I finally took the top off the smoker and blew a fan on the coals to get them going again.
The best it would do then was 225 then started falling again. All vents were open. I thought I may have had bad charcoal (using Kingsford), so bought some more...SAME THING HAPPENED NEXT TIME.

Additional info: After smoking, I left the vents open and the next morning the charcoal was not burned up...still small individual briquets...shouldn't it have been powder by then? Should I buy yet another bag of charcoal? Geesh!

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions...
 
Is this a 22.5 or 18.5 WSM? I really have no idea. I have a 18.5 and have never seen or heard this before. Are you using the charcoal ring in the WSM? Could you be dropping charcoal and blocking the vent? Are you going by the Lid Thermometer? Can you give us pictures of your setup?

Also are you doing standard method? Lighting a full chimney, dumping it into the Smoker, then dumping another unlit chimney on top of that, then letting the coals ash over before adding the food?

I usually do the minion method for everything but chicken. Standard method would be the way to go as you are going for higher temps right away.

My first guess is you are only using that 1 chimney in a 22.5 WSM. I have no experience with the 22.5 so this is just a guess.

I'm sure others will know more.
 
Thanks Big Mike...It's an 18.5. Yep, using the ring and no vent blockage. I am using the Maverick remote thermometer, but the lid is pretty much agreeing with it. Not home now, but can get pics. I only used 1 full chimney... didn't add unlit chimney on top. The instructions I followed said one chimney would be enough for the chicken...but maybe not!

Ed
 
What about foil? As an example, you did not foil the second lid, did you? If there is no foil in the system, other than in the water pan, which is no problem, I have no idea. I'd buy another bag of charcoal from another retailer and try once more.

With all vents open, there should be zero coals left the next morning.
 
Try placing the charcoal grate on an empty lower bowl, filling up the charcoal ring centered on the charcoal grate with unlit, and dump a whole chimney of lit on it. Give it a few minutes for the lit to start catching the unlit. Then add the mid section, place the water pan in its brackets, then the lower food grill, upper food grill. Wait 20 minutes or so to let the heat build and place the lid on. Leave all vents 100% open. You should be able to get to your target of 350* with an empty water pan this way for a long time. I hope this helps.
 
Totally agree with Dwain. Fill the charcoal ring with unlit charcoal then dump the lit on to the top of the unlit.
 
Thank ya'll for your replies. Foil only in empty water pan. As far as Dwain's suggestion, I will try it, but that seems like a lot of charcoal for a couple chickens!...don't know if it's cost effective.

BTW, both times I got my charcoal at HD...first Kingsford, then Embers. Maybe they left a couple pallets out in the rain!??!? I am also gonna get a bag from another place. What is that? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!

Ed
 
Ed Bates said:
Thank ya'll for your replies. Foil only in empty water pan. As far as Dwain's suggestion, I will try it, but that seems like a lot of charcoal for a couple chickens!...don't know if it's cost effective.
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I don't think you'd waste any fuel lighting more charcoal than you need. When you are finished cooking, you can smother the fire. Whatever charcoal wasn't required to get the chicken done will be available to you to use next time. In the long run, you will probably burn the same amount of fuel whether you use the exact right amount or twice as much as you need. But, it will be more than you have been using because it sounds like you may not be using enough.

Ed Bates said:
BTW, both times I got my charcoal at HD...first Kingsford, then Embers. Maybe they left a couple pallets out in the rain!??!? I am also gonna get a bag from another place. What is that? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!
Ed
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This was also something that I thought about. But, I'd try filling the ring as the others suggested with the same charcoal so that you can actually determine what was causing it.
 
Don't mean to question you but I have never had a full chimney light in 20 min. And when I rush it before the top is fully going thinking that when I dump that the unlit will be on the bottom and catch, always results in lower temps and all coals going grey instead of red hot coals
 
20 minutes for a completely full chimney is about right for me. The entire chimney is not fully lit at 20 min. But, when I pour it out, I give it another 5 min or so for the rest of the charcoal to get hot. But, I should also mention that I am referring to my kettle. I have only had my WSM long enough to cook on it twice.
 
Ed Bates said:
Thank ya'll for your replies. Foil only in empty water pan. As far as Dwain's suggestion, I will try it, but that seems like a lot of charcoal for a couple chickens!
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As others have said, You'll have more than you need for your cook and can snuff out the fire when you're done cooking. I just wanted to make sure you give it a chance to go the full cook.
 
It doesn't matter what I'm cooking or how long I anticipate the cook to be, I always use a base of unlit...most of which is left over from previous cooks.
I'll vary the amount of lit depending on what temps I'm looking for.
I don't see it as a waste of fuel, because once I shut all vents down, it extinguishes rather quickly, and most can be reused.

Of course if I know it's gonna be a long one, I'll go with a full ring of unlit.

And if I'm looking for higher temps, I'll prop open my stock door while mounted upside down.
 
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Just to make sure, cuz its been done. Your not putting the water pan directly on top of the coals right? Your placing it in the brackets on the body of the smoker, just under the lower grate?
 
Yes...on brackets...but I wonder if the aluminum foil hanging over the edge of the water pan (not by much) would affect air flow. Gonna trim that off next time.

Ed
 
I'm with the others that you're not using enough charcoal. I would however buy some charcoal from another place just to rule out what you said about improper storage. Two other things:
When you say all vents are open, I'm assuming the top vent on the lid is open? Don't want to insult, but just trying to rule out anything I can think of.
When you say chimney, do you mean a Weber chimney? The Weber chimney is very large - you're not using a small chimney are you?
 
Hey, no insult taken. After all I AM a newbie at this and appreciate any input. Yes, All vents were open and I am using the Weber chimney. Time permitting, I am going to try some suggestions this weekend.

Thanks,

Ed
 
Ed Bates said:
Hey, no insult taken. After all I AM a newbie at this and appreciate any input. Yes, All vents were open and I am using the Weber chimney. Time puermitting, I am going to try some suggestions this weekend.

Thanks,

Ed
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Great 'tude Ed. Before long you'll be giving a guy advice based on your experience. We look forward to your success.
 
What I have done, and I might get kicked off the forum for this, is I'll put about a chimney full of coal in the ring piled up and...put lighter fluid on it. I KNOW ITS A BBQ SIN, but I've done it okay, and I'll do it again. At the same time I'll light a full chimney. That way they're both lit at the same time. Its a faster standard method. That way your not waiting 40-50 min for your coals to be ready. This will get you some high temps fast. The only thing I can think of is not enough coal and or not fully engaged coal. It the one thing about the wsm, its going to take a fair amount of coal to heat that thing up.
 
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