making own coals


 
J

Joe Tacoma

TVWBB Member
I have logs of red oak that I like to use for grilling, but I am thinking what it would be like if I burnt them down in my santa maria style pit and then once they break down a little to shovel them into my WSM 18.5 and use that as charcoal. Has anyone tried this? I would like to experiment. I usually use Kingsford briquettes, but would like try using real wood. When I smoke chicken in my weber I do not really like the taste the chicken has ended up with and I got to thinking if I use only wood if it would taste better.
 
A lot of work with little reward, uneven temps, etc. If you don't like the way your chicken tastes when using Kingsford (I assume original blue bag), try Kingsford Professional Briquets (just wood char, starch, and a press release) or Stubbs briquets or a good quality lump charcoal.
 
Yes it is a lot of work but I would try it at least once if I were you. There's nothing better then going authentic if you ask me. I am a stick burner and I like my bbq to require work. I'm not a set it and forget it guy.
 
Steve Whiting said:
Yes it is a lot of work but I would try it at least once if I were you. There's nothing better then going authentic if you ask me. I am a stick burner and I like my bbq to require work. I'm not a set it and forget it guy.
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THIS!!!!!!

Give it a go! It's incredibly satisfying to really put the work in for the 'mother fire' experience. I do it periodically when camping and we have a fire burning near constantly anyway.

You may find it a bit inconvenient with the WSM though due to design. Easier with a kettle, a drum, a temporary block pit or even a covered hole on the ground.

Playing with fire and learning to cook was a fundamental cornerstone of our evolution. It's genetically imprinted in all of us! My winter project is a backyard firepit for this very reason.
 
I've got a COS and I'm really enjoying stickburning lately. I'm to the point where I keep fantasizing about getting a really nice offset and have been researching them incessantly. I'm probably about 3 years out from that being a financial possibility. Before I was stickburning on it, I used to use lump charcoal, which I would light in chimneys every hour to an hour and half and dump in the fire box. I throw in some chunks for smoke. I doubt I'd go the whole shoveling coals route. You might try using lump and cooking without the water pan in the WSM like Chris's chicken recipe:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chicken4.html

The juices hitting the coals gives the chicken an unbelievable flavor.
 
Has anybody ever built the Big Baby double barrel stickburner from Vince Staten's book? I've always been intrigued by what one must be like in real life.
 
DarrenC said:
Has anybody ever built the Big Baby double barrel stickburner from Vince Staten's book? I've always been intrigued by what one must be like in real life.
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I see weird smokers like that driving around small towns in North Texas. You see some crazy rigs in people's back yards. I've seen some built from pipe with that design or the firebox connected by a tube in some way like that. It makes you realize that the horizontal steel pipe offset smoker is a relatively modern invention. If I were going to make a smoker from steel drums I'd probably just make a UDS.
 
I am after that authentic flavor. I love the flavor that red oak leaves on grilled beef and chicken and now I want to try this in a smoker. I don't have a stick burner so my WSM would the only option to try this on even though the WSM is not designed for this.

Steve, you have a Lang? Those things look like they have a great design.
 
Making your own lump charcoal is incredibly easy. I have a brief tutorial for making charcoal for fireworks but the process is exactly the same, just use larger chunks of wood. You can easily make Oak, Apple, cherry, or any wood you desire. One time I grabbed my Apple charcoal for some pork and discovered later I'd used Willow. Still yummy!
http://www.ihaveadotcom.com/Pyro/charcoal.htm

It can be done in a 50 gallon drum or a cookie tin. Just heat the wood until the gasses quit burning, plug the vents, and let it cool. There's a bit of smell at first so you won't want to do if you have "nosey" neighbors. :)
 
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