Mixing lump and Kingsford


 
C

C. Moore

TVWBB Member
I often have both on hand and was wondering if anyone has every tried to do a long minion method cook using a mixture of the two. What did you do? How did it turn out?
 
If I have a bag of K around, I'll use it to start my lump minion. It's easier to guage how much lit your adding with briquetes then chunks of lump.

I'm sure you could also use lump/kingsford in a half/half mixture. You would probably get a slightly longer burn then lump alone. However, to me this is defeating the purpose of using lump in the first place.

The reason I use lump is for the great aroma it produces, and the minimal ash (I only dump ash every 4-5 cooks, instead of every cook.

I dont want to discourage you from trying a few cooks with the mix, but IMO, I'd stick with the lump only.

Brandon
 
I did a mix of briqs & lump this weekend and it went just fine.

I bought a few bags of briqs for real cheap (rancher natural briqs $3 for 20lbs.) and combined it with the remaining lump that I had.

I would have prefered to have added lump to my briqs because the lump is easier to salvage for future smokes than briqs, but i didn't have enough lump to pull that off.
 
The reason I use lump is for the great aroma it produces, and the minimal ash (I only dump ash every 4-5 cooks, instead of every cook.
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PHEW... i am happy i'm not the only one who doesn't dump my ash on each cook!! haha

I agree though... just use your Briq's to start and lump to cook. Even with butt's, I am EASILY able to get a full cook on one load of lump, so I don't really feel I need the longer burn of a briq.

I've been using a great natural briq to start all my cooks and I think I may try a butt or something using JUST those briq's to see how I like the end product. No question, handling briq's is MUCH easier... but i'm not about to lose quality for the sake of 5 more minutes on a 13 hr cook. This is similar to my beliefs on using GOOD quality charcoal... spending an extra 4 dollars on my fuel is not as big of a deal if you think that you can have 50-100 dollars worth of meat on your grill!!
 
Originally posted by Scooter B:
PHEW... i am happy i'm not the only one who doesn't dump my ash on each cook!! haha
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I 'spose I'm guilty on that, not that I have dumped it on every burn, but I like to...I use lump, but make sure to dump. I don't find it that bad to dump, the feet on the bottom make it fairly easy to dump the ash out, IMO, kinda like dumping handles...
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If I didnt have a roof over my WSM I may be more concerned about the ash getting wet and turning into cement. But since it is covered, I find it more convienent to let it build up a bit before dissasembling and hauling the bottom out to the ally to dump. Maybe I'm just lazy.

With two full rings of K, the bottom would be full up to the charcoal grates, it takes alot more, 4-5 full rings of lump to fill....

Brandon
 
I usually start with the Kingsford and then add lump throughout the cook. Especially if the temp starts to drop. I find the lump burns hotter and brings the temps back up faster. I've always dumped the ashes after every cook. Mostly because I was afraid that if I didn't the ash would build up to the point of choking the air flow. Plus if you start with no ashes every time it's one less variable to have to deal with.
 
This past weekend I cooked some fatties and ABTs on the WSM and I used K because it was all I had on hand when I started.

Later, I cooked some chicken breasts indirect on the kettle, and I had acquired some lump by then, so I put some behind my brick "firewall" then fished a lit briquette of the "K" out of the WSM and used it to minion the lump in the kettle.

Worked like a charm!
 
I have mixed. At first I was thinking I would get the best of both worlds, and then to conserve my little stockpile of good lump. I did not experience any significant problems or compensations during the cooks, but also can not recall any real significant benefit. If access were not an issue I would cook exclusively on quality lump.

Gary
 
Why the He!! would you want to go and ruin good lump with mixing K in there, I don't get it.
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Maybe it's just me but burning K has an oil smell to it that just makes me gag, this is why I disslike it so. I've noticed this year, that RO briqs have a faint smell of the same to them.
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Look at the RO briqs close and you'll see they are very shiney instead of the dull look they used to be. Might be the release agent from the molds, but something is very different with RO briqs that just started this year. JMO
 
on my last cook- had to use some kings in addition to my lump and didn't experience any problems- was a good smoke. I just can't see whereas' the k emits awful fumes. Either way- my wsm seems to handle lump or briquettes fairly well.
 
Originally posted by Bryan S:
Why the He!! would you want to go and ruin good lump with mixing K in there, I don't get it.
icon_confused.gif
Maybe it's just me but burning K has an oil smell to it that just makes me gag........ JMO
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There are times when my attempts to be clever are just plain dumb....... I try to avoid K when possible, but there are times when that is just not feasible.

Gary
 
Originally posted by Bryan S:
Why the He!! would you want to go and ruin good lump with mixing K in there, I don't get it.
icon_confused.gif
Maybe it's just me but burning K has an oil smell to it that just makes me gag, this is why I disslike it so. I've noticed this year, that RO briqs have a faint smell of the same to them.
icon_frown.gif
Look at the RO briqs close and you'll see they are very shiney instead of the dull look they used to be. Might be the release agent from the molds, but something is very different with RO briqs that just started this year. JMO
Click to expand...

Noticed a minor off smell (not nearly like K though) first time using RO lump a few weeks ago. First time with RO so can't compare, but there wasn't the "same as lump smell" I was used to with Humphrey's HW Briquettes I've used for minion starts, rotie cooks, etc up to this point. Smell seemed gone though after coals were red.
 
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