First Cook with Lump


 
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Dan Shakesby

TVWBB Member
I had my first experience with Lump charcoal today. I was wondering if anyone could share some tips. I started off with a lit chimney full and topped off with a chimney full of unlit and with apple and cherry chunks. I did three racks of BRITU. This being my first attempt I was surprised at the bag contents: everything from golf ball size to softball sized chunks. Everything started off OK and i manged to settle in at a 230 degree temp for the ribs, however after 3 hours i was scrambling to get all the vents open to get the temp back up. Is there a method of chunk size selection and perhaps a few pointers as I was expecting the 2 chimney stash to last much longer than they actually did, I ended up pulling the ribs off the WSM and finishing them on the gas grill.
Thanks in advance to any suggestions or prior posts that might help.
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You didn't say which brand of lump you used. I use Royal Oak and it works very well and the lumps are usually a pretty good size but there is a lot of variation.

I would recommend that you try another cook doing the following: Fill the ring. As you fill the ring, stop a couple times and "pack" the lump. Don't get crazy, but try to get rid of any large gaps as you fill the ring. Add your wood chunks as you fill the ring unless you just want a couple chunks on the top of the ring. Then, light about a quarter chimney and put that on the top of the ring. If you haven't done so already, read up on the Minion Method here.

When I fill the ring and use the Minion Method I get 10 to 20 hours depending on conditions. Ribs should never be a problem, just some of the longer cooks.
 
Thanks for the tip. I will definitely try fitting/packing next time. The lump i bought was the Barbecues Galore store brand. Maybe i should look to another brand. The only other brand they had was the Big Green Egg at 50% higher cost.
 
Originally posted by Dan Shakesby:
I had my first experience with Lump charcoal today. I was wondering if anyone could share some tips. I started off with a lit chimney full and topped off with a chimney full of unlit and with apple and cherry chunks. I did three racks of BRITU. This being my first attempt I was surprised at the bag contents: everything from golf ball size to softball sized chunks. Everything started off OK and i manged to settle in at a 230 degree temp for the ribs, however after 3 hours i was scrambling to get all the vents open to get the temp back up. Is there a method of chunk size selection and perhaps a few pointers as I was expecting the 2 chimney stash to last much longer than they actually did, I ended up pulling the ribs off the WSM and finishing them on the gas grill.
Thanks in advance to any suggestions or prior posts that might help.
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1 Chimney of lit and one chimney of unlit = very little lump charcoal. Here's the thing you need to remember when using lump. It's light in weight (not very dense) compared to briqs, so keep that in mind. A Weber chimney full of the Old Kingsford is about 6 lbs. and 100 briqs. I know this for a fact cause i filled a Weber chimney, then counted it, and weighed the amount some years ago. Even with the best, most dense lump one can buy, the WSM charcoal bowl/ring will only hold 8 - 9 lbs of lump. I get about 16 - 18 hrs out of one full charcoal ring full of lump. So if you only used two chimney's full of lump (one lit and one unlit) that would explain the running out of charcoal.
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And just to let you know, Lump it's what i'm cooking over.
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Dan - big green egg lump is going to be worth the extra money over the brand you used. I'd use that next time. You'll make up the extra cost becuase you'll likely have less waste and longer burn times.

good luck.
 
Simply dumping the lump into the charcoal ring isn't going to produce the best results either.

Taking some time to fit and pack the charcoal ring as tightly as possible with the irregular lump pieces will produce a longer, more stable burn. The best (and longest) lump burns will come from a well-packed charcoal ring, started Minion style.

You don't need to get too carried away, but eliminating gaps and pockets is time well spent for consistent lump sessions.

Lump... it's what Bryan is cooking over.
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Ok... My Wally World has Royal Oak Lump galore. 10 lb. bags for 5.27 each. I am going to make a "lump leap"!
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I have an 8lb. butt and I am going to do brisket flat and probably some fatties. I will log and post my results.

Tony
 
I just found a bunch of Picnic brand lump charcoal at our local Brookshire's in McKinney TX. I had ordered 3 22# bags of Wicked Good Charcoal and receieved the shipment last Friday. Both of these lump charcoals are very highly rated on the Lump Charcoal Data base found on the nakedwhiz.com web site.
I will be trying a Butt smoke this coming weekend with the Wicked Good Weekend Warrior blend (the competition blend is no longer available). i look forward to another try at lump!!
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Any results using the Wicked Good Weekend Warrior blend for a butt smoke you mentioned Dan?

I'm going to give it a go tomorrow...
 
I didn't get around to it.... was looking forward tp it as i was going to try it with my new BBQ Guru set up Friday night.... but we had weather warnings all evening and through the night so i will need to postpone until next weekend.... arrrgggghhh!!
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I will let you know how it goes.... please let me know how things go with you and what you think...... I also have a 15lb bag of Picnic to try out as well.... I may just try both at the same time , one batch of each in the 2 WSM's I now have.
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FedEx delivered my order of Wicked Good yesterday morning. I was already well into my cook. I did add some just to see how it
burned. I cooked some wings on the kettle
for lunch with W/G and I do like this better than R/O. It is more dense, larger peices and does NOT spark like the R/O. Can't wait to do a whole cook with it.
 
Did you get weekend warrior or competition?

I've stockpiled a lot of the competition brand, but will be curious about the ww brand and it's use on long cooks.

Keep us posted.
 
Just a few notes:

a) I didn't get a chance to use the Weekend Warrior variety of Wicked Good this weekend either...not a weather issue...an in-law issue...worse...

b) I think the "Big Green Egg" variety of lump is actually supplied by Royal Oak...that's what is reported on the Nakedwhiz website...now, that might have changed but I think the site says that it's stated on the bag...it's the only access I have to "Royal Oak" and I'll try it sometime this year when I run out of all my Wicked Good...

c) I'd like to see a page on this site devoted to how to use lump appropriately with the WSM (packing the ring, lighting, you name it)...with pics of course...

Keep posting those lump results...I will...when I can get to it
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