Temp control with frontier lump


 
Dave O (Alaska)

Dave O (Alaska)

TVWBB Pro
I just picked up an 18.5 wsm along with wiviotts low and slow book. He swears that briquettes are evil so I picked up some frontier lump from lowes and tried three different smokes with it. It always starts out fine but after about an hour the temps begins to drop and I have had to resort to opening the door to get back up to temp. I had only done chx and ribs up to this point but I bought a brisket flat and didn't want to have my fire die early so I used a bag of Stubbs and it went flawlessly. Burned steady for nine hours and could have easily gotten two more. Why all the hype on lump?
 
My guess would be that you did not pack the lump in the ring and therefore it didn't get a good consistent burn. Frankly, the main thing I like about lump is the fact that it produces much less ash. So if you like the Stubbs, I wouldn't hesitate to use it. If you have some lump left or just want to try again, take a little time and pack the ring. You don't have to be a perfectionist, but get your hand in there and try to eliminate any large air gaps in the charcoal pile.
 
I will give that a try since I still have a could of bags left. So far I have just been dumping the lump in with little effort at compacting it. I have noticed that some areas are completely burned down while other still have a lot of coal after a while
 
Dave,

Frontier is terrible lump. I've tried it on the grill, and have a hard time keeping the temp up.

Get a bag of Royal Oak lump (red bag) from Wal Mart. It's MUCH better.
 
Matt and Jerry,

thanks for the advice. I still have a bag or two of frontier left and will probably just use it for chicken and grilling steaks as the bags i get have mostly very small and some large lumps in them. If i get a bag with more consistant sizes may try to use for ribs. thanks again for the input and will let you know how things go.

dave
 
will try the RO as I have seen a lot of good things about it on this board. I plan on doing a lot of smoking this winter and will need to stock up at the end of summer as charcoal becomes difficult to find during winter months in alaska.

thanks again.

dave
 
Dave,

I know there are many, many opinions on this site, and you have to filter out what you can use for your personal betterment.

Honestly, I have tried lump multiple times and always seem to swear I'll never use it in my WSM again. It starts out fine...but just cant hold the temps in the long haul. Others swear by lump, but its good in my kettle grill for searing steaks.

Briquettes are my friend in the WSM, and I will use them 10:1 over lump anyday. They are stable, and a 16 lb bag in my 22" will cook for 14-15 hours at 225*

I understand others may have varying opinions, and I respect them for their own thoughts.

Try them both and see what works for you.
 
Morrey,

I have only done one smoke with briquettes and was surprised by how much easier they were to work with than lump. That and the fact that briquettes are cheaper and easier to find up here will probably sway me to your camp on this one. However, it is fun to try different fuels and see what happens.

Dave
 
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