Lump questions

[John S.]

Monday evening I will be attempting my first cook using Royal Oak lump charcoal (2 butts and a brisket). In the years i've had my WSM, i've never tried anything other than old Kingsford and even though I happened upon a few 10 pound bags at Academy sports last week, i feel its time to start trying new things. I just have a few questions about lump. When I fill my ring, do I shake it around to "pack it" or just leave it as it falls? I'm planning on lighting with kingsford briqs and the temp should be around 90, how many should I use? About the same as with old K? In a pile or spread around? Also please let me know if there is anything else I should be aware of. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks, John

 

[Dan Shakesby]

I like to lay the lump by hand and pack it tight, that way i can secure a 19 hour burn no problem the lump i use Wicked Warrior weekend blend has large size chunks that takes a bit more work to lay in the ring. As for the amount of briquettes to light i would go with a little more than you usually do as lump is harder to get started at least IMHO. as for anything else to be aware of: i use lump to start my cooks and have no problems, but i guess that is a matter of choice.

 

[Ken Keating]

I've been using lump since March and I've had very good luck with it. If fact, I've used nothing else since I started using it. I typically use the the Minion Method with the BBQ Guru without water in the pan. I would recommend that you install a second grate in the Charcoal ring, otherwise a lot of the smaller pieces will fall thru. See http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/charcoalgrate.html for the mods. Another recommendation is breaking up the much larger pieces of lump into smaller pieces to match up with the majority of the lump. When using the MM, the large pieces just don't seem to start to burn in my WSM. There are only about 4 to 5 of these larger pieces for each charcoal ring full of lump.