Wood coals in the WSM

[Phil R.]

O.K., so I 've been doing a lot of tri-tips lately, and I've decided I'd like to try the autentico method by cooking the meat over "burnt down oak logs". I'm going to burn down some oak logs, then shovel them into the WSM.

My question to ya'll is: How many "normal" sized logs to you think I'll need to start with to provide enough coals to fill the charcoal chamber of the WSM? Looking for a ballpark number here. I was thinking about 5 or 6? I'm not trying to turn the WSM into a stickburber or anything, but I thought that for a short, high temp cook the wsm would work well.

Thoughts/ideas/advice?

 

[Susan Z]

I just put a whole bunch of oak chunks into my chimney when I fired it up. I suppose i could have filled the whole thing with them, but it would have used 'em all up...!

 

[Bryan S]

I would just put a couple of lit briqs or some lump in the bottom and place the oak logs in the WSM and burn them down that way. Once you have a nice pile of coals proceed with the cook. JMO

 

[Loren]

I don't know how much, but it sounds like you're just making your own lump. I have a friend who used this method on a large, brick pit. He burned logs and then put them in the pit.

Loren

 

[Phil R.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Susan Z:
I just put a whole bunch of oak chunks into my chimney when I fired it up. I suppose i could have filled the whole thing with them, but it would have used 'em all up...! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

C'mon Susan! You're taking away all the fun and authenticalliness of it! Problem is, I've used up all my oak chunks and my chainsaw blade is dull (which can make cutting oak *very* difficult). That, and I wanted to see if there would be much taste difference.

Now I think I'll head down and get a good Santa Maria Syrah to go with these babies. The pinquitos will have to wait until another time unfortunately.