Too cold

[Steve Thomasson]

On the last two cooks I have had trouble getting charcoal lit and heating up. I fill ring and spread around 20-25 from chimney starter and reassemble. Give it 15 minutes then add meat. Using K competition. Unlit charcoal is not lighting off well to keep temp up. Any ideas

 

[Vincent Carrocci]

Instead of spreading the lit fuel around, try making a well in the center of the unlit and pouring all the lit in to the well when ready. Perhaps the lack of a concentrated center of heat is creating your problem.

 

[Jim Piesik]

Originally posted by Vincent Carrocci:
Instead of spreading the lit fuel around, try making a well in the center of the unlit and pouring all the lit in to the well when ready. Perhaps the lack of a concentrated center of heat is creating your problem.

1+

 

[Bob Sample]

Are you starting with all vents open? Is the top vent open? By saying the last 2 cooks it means it was ok before that, maybe you have damp charcoal.

 

[KevinJ]

I am going with Bob on this one. If you have spread them around before and had no problem then you can rule that out. Have you used the same bag of charcoal for both cooks? It sounds like a fuel or air flow issue.

 

[Russ Harris]

Originally posted by Vincent Carrocci:
Instead of spreading the lit fuel around, try making a well in the center of the unlit and pouring all the lit in to the well when ready. Perhaps the lack of a concentrated center of heat is creating your problem.

I agree with this. When I first started using my WSM I used to spread my lit coals out all over my unlit. Then one day I decided to concentrate them all in the center and I had better results. My WSM got up to the temp I wanted faster and stayed there more consistently. I would give that a shot.

 

[Steve Thomasson]

No my first cook was 245 at lid cooking beer can chicken. My last two I was trying to cook ribs at 275.

Thanks I will try the center method.