Largest Charcoal Chimney Anyone?


 
J

Jon V

New member
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22.5 wsm – if firing off non-minion – does anyone know of a charcoal chimney that will get me close to lighting a full bag or at least ½ bag (10lbs) worth of briquettes? I have the standard large and rapid fire small weber chimneys. I’m now looking for a super large chimney. I’ve seen some very professional looking ones on a few bbq shows I watch so I feel they must be available commercially yet I can’t seem to find them via my searches.

Please point me in the direction if you know one!
 
Could be the ones you saw on TV are a custom made job. I had a similar SR one and that was a POS, barely lasted one year and the bottom fell out with a full load of hot coals while I was wearing sandals.:mad:
I bought an extra Weber one when I feel the need to light more coals.

Tim
 
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I'd try two Weber chimneys. That's 12 pounds of Kingsford.
 
Your charcoal ring.

No, seriously. Fire a chimney, dump it in the charcoal ring, dump the rest of the bag of unlit on top. Put the middle section of the smoker on. Exact same concept, you're using hot coals below to fire up unlit coals on top, with a big tube to create an air draft.
 
I also use two weber chimneys when I need to do high heat cooks like chicken or turkey. They just fit inside my 18.5 with the handles in opposite directions. I pile them high and after dumping them add some extra charcoal and that lets me run at least 3.5 hours above 325 even in 30 degree temps
 
Dave Alvarado said:
Your charcoal ring.

No, seriously. Fire a chimney, dump it in the charcoal ring, dump the rest of the bag of unlit on top. Put the middle section of the smoker on. Exact same concept, you're using hot coals below to fire up unlit coals on top, with a big tube to create an air draft.
Click to expand...

I like it!:cool:

Tim
 
Dave Alvarado said:
Your charcoal ring.

No, seriously. Fire a chimney, dump it in the charcoal ring, dump the rest of the bag of unlit on top. Put the middle section of the smoker on. Exact same concept, you're using hot coals below to fire up unlit coals on top, with a big tube to create an air draft.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. However, be careful, the reason I was thinking this is because a member on this site told a story about lighting his wsm as described here and walking away from it. Well, imagine a giant chimney. When he came back, the unit was cooking. Problem was that the unit was under a covered porch. I don't recall if he started a fire or just melted the vinyl siding but I do remember the story.
 
Jerry N. said:
Exactly what I was thinking. However, be careful, the reason I was thinking this is because a member on this site told a story about lighting his wsm as described here and walking away from it. Well, imagine a giant chimney. When he came back, the unit was cooking. Problem was that the unit was under a covered porch. I don't recall if he started a fire or just melted the vinyl siding but I do remember the story.
Click to expand...
A simple Phrase I like to use is " be smarter than the object you are working with"
Seems like a no-brainier, but some do have a hard time with it.

Tim
 
Wow- thanks for all the responses guys. Good point of 2 smalls burning up less than 1 large. Didn't think that all the way through. I'll pull the trigger and go with another weber large. So 2 large and the rapid fire should put me pretty close. And for those wondering why I want to ignite it all - my idea is to light all then choke down super low.

I'm planning on doing a full write up but, I'm 2 cooks in on the new 22.5 now but, in both cases I had a minion effect. Never black suity smoke but, I did have white not-great smelling smoke for the first 2-3 hours. Wasn't super pleased with the results so I figured for my 3rd cook I'd ignite a full ring worth, and choke down the vents near full close to try to get into the 225 range.

Is this an impossibility with that much charcoal lit at once? Reason I dont think so is that my last cook was spot on for temps and all charcoal seemed to be lit 3 hrs in. At a consumption rate of a lb an hour, that puts me at 17lbs of lit charcoal, vents at ~1/2 maintaining 225-250 with ease.

I could be missing something- I probably am. Feel free to hit me with the stupid stick! :D
 
Yeah, you're not going to choke down to 225 from a fully lit charcoal ring without making a bunch of nasty smoke.

What fuel are you using? If it's Kingsford blue bag, stop using that. Kingsford Competition and lump don't smell nasty when they're not burning clean. I use Kingsford Competition and the minion method every time in my 22" and I get thin blue smoke pretty much as soon as the smoker is up to temp and stabilized. I've found that I get up to temp the quickest by scattering a small amount of lit around on top of the unlit (instead of making a little pile in the middle) and the temps stabilize more quickly when I close down the bottom vents.

Also, never ever ever close the top vent while cooking. Ever. That gets you a buildup of that nasty smoke. If you have more exhaust flow than intake flow your smoker will burn clean.
 
Paul Pearson said:
I also use two weber chimneys when I need to do high heat cooks like chicken or turkey. They just fit inside my 18.5 with the handles in opposite directions. I pile them high and after dumping them add some extra charcoal and that lets me run at least 3.5 hours above 325 even in 30 degree temps
Click to expand...

+1
Two full or nearly-full chimneys of lit coals in the fire ring of my 22.5, with a single layer of unlit over the top, and I can keep it at 300+ for a couple hours even in sub-freezing temps.
 
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