Reusing Coals


 
JimS

JimS

TVWBB Member
Hi all,

I posted earlier this week about my first smoke with my WSM. In my post I mentioned that, since I only smoked 2 racks of ribs that took about 90 minutes, I had a lot of leftover coals. In the responses I got, I was told I could reuse the coals.

So this weekend I'm expecting to do my second smoke. My question is, how do I use the leftover coals from last week? If the instructions call for one full chimney starter of charcoal, do I simply dump my leftovers in and fill up the rest with new briquettes? Or, if told to put 1/2 a chimney starter of unlit coals on top of lit coals before assembling the WSM, can I use the unlit coals there.

I checked yesterday and I have about 1/2 of a chimney starter of partially burned briquettes of various sizes.

Thanks in advance for your input!!

Jim
 
Moi,

I would put first layer of brand new coals to chimney and then the used, if needed top it up new ones again.

This is the way I do it.
 
Well the used works just like the new with a shorter burn that is.

So it doesent matter,but if you have them in a chimney start the MM with them lit.

And its nice to know that you have new under the lit in terms of burn time.
 
Jim,just use them like regular K. And remember,it's better to start with too much fuel,than to try to chuck in a bunch more half way through the cook!
 
I usually try to use fresh coals on the bottom of the chimney. I find that the new charcoal lights/ashes faster than the used. I would attribute this to humidity from letting the coals extinguish and sit in the grill/smoker for a day or two. After the fire starts, the moisture will burn off the old charcoal. I would mix the used with the unlit, and light fresh charcoal for your MM in your smoker.

For grilling, I just knock the ash off the old, and leave it on the grate. Top the old with your new lit coals and let your grill come up to temp. The used coals will light as they dry out, and won't smoke like the new since they have been used previously.

Brad
 
Jim here is my process for using reusing the coals. I am using K. I completely fill the ring while allowing space for the minion coals and smoke wood. I perform the cook. I then put out the fire as soon as possible to save as much of the coals as possible. I store the WSM with the body upside down to prevent rain from getting to the coals. (maybe a couple of weeks between cooks) For the next cook I first shake the charcoal ring to get rid of ash and if required top off the charcoal (if the previous cook was a long one or there is a bunch of ash then I remove the coals, grate, and ring and dump the bowl). I then add minioned charcoal and smoke wood. I repeat this process and have never had off flavors or had issues getting the temp that I was looking for. I live outside of Houston so I have plenty of humidity and I have never had an issue with this method.

-Don
 
Thanks for the great responses, everyone!

@Don Dukes: I too put out the fire immediately after my first smoke on Saturday. It was late in the day so it wasn't cool enough for me to check out that day, and the next couple of days it rained like crazy here in NJ. Yesterday was the first sunny day, so I went out to check things out. I too flipped my mid-section upside down to prevent water getting in (read about that trick here, of course).

What I did was shake off the ash, remove the partially spent coals, put them in the chimney for storage (I have a waterproof box that I keep my supplies in), then dumped the ash in the bottom bowl out into a small galvanized steel trash can (again, something I read here). I cleaned washed and dried out the bottom bowl and reassembled everything.

It sounds from your description like you're not using a chimney starter. Is that correct?

Jim
 
Disclaimer...personal opinion below

That said...
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I will not re-use coals. Ever again. I tried it once for the same reasons you mentioned: I had done a few short high heat cooks (1hr, 300 degrees) and thought "hey, these look like they've got a lot of life left in em", so I figured I'd re-use. I "dusted them off" like people had suggested, but when I used them they put so much soot in the air that my roadside chicken was ruined. It tasted like I had dropped them in the sand at the beach. It was horrible. In addition to the grit, they had a nasty layer of the grime that ruined the flavor.

There may be perfectly valid reasons why I had this experience (maybe didn't dust enough, maybe roadside wasn't the best thing to do this with since you need to open the lid regularly to baste which sends the soot up in the air) but K is so cheap (i got two bags for $8 or something) that it's just simply not worth it. I'll probably try it with lump if I ever see the opportunity, but not with K.

Thanks
 
Jim -

I use a charcoal chimney and dump the coals from the chimney on top of the existing coals once flames are shooting out of the top (I usually light the chimney on the charcoal grate of my Weber OTS) and then add smoke wood before I assemble the WSM. For most of my cooks on the WSM (18") I fill the Weber chimney to the second row of holes with fresh charcoal. That works for me for most of my cooks as I try to cook between 250 and 275 deg F.

-Don
 
Two racks of ribs in 90 minutes, wow! Mine take upwards of 5 hours.

As for reusing briquettes, I do similar to Don's method. Works just fine.
 
I use 'leftover' charcoal on top of a load of fresh charcoal and in the chimney as starters for the next cook.
 
@John Mason:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Two racks of ribs in 90 minutes, wow! Mine take upwards of 5 hours. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I got the recipe here:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/rib3.html

Dry ribs...done in 60 to 90 minutes.
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Interesting recipe Jim.

I hadn't noticed it before, but I do remember watching a show about BBQ joints and seeing the Rendezvous and the pitmaster commenting that it took 90 minutes.

Course I shrugged that off as "Impossible. No way that's BBQ!"
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But, hey, "whaddo I know"? Or as some friends who know me might say, "Whadda wino!"
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