Charcoal basket in an offset

[kelbro]

I have a UDS that has a huge fire basket. Holds about 15# charcoal. With the stack wide open and the 1" ball valve about 1/2 open, that drum will run a clean 225-240 for 12 hrs or more straight and still have coals left over. I use sort of a Minion method with my weedburner getting the inner coals going and a few chunks of smoke wood buried in the coals. Very similar to how I run the WSM. Produces some very good Q. Of course, those are both very well sealed up.

My question is, how well would that fire basket idea work in an offset smoker? Nice size fire basket with a few chunks of smoke wood buried and fire up the center coals and let her go. I don't recall reading of anyone doing this. I see that OK Joe sells one. If it worked well, seems like I would have heard more about it since fire management is something that a lot of offset users struggle with.

I've fed splits to my offset for many years and love the Q that comes off it. Just thinking about a way to get some long heat with little maintenance. I already have a propane burner that I sometimes use in the firebox after I've wrapped the meat and only need to run steady BTUs for hours (and get some sleep).

 

[Bigtank]

I don't have any offset experience but I'm in for the ride.

 

[Fueling Around]

I had a very last of the Brinkmann line offset. Bought it to use a charcoal grill as it had a tray for the cook chamber.
I decided to give it a whirl as an offset. Cheaply built and leaky POS. I had to fabricate a charcoal basket to keep enough fuel in there to cook my meat.
The angle irons on the top were for a idea to make a wood chunk shelf, but decided to just just blend into the coals.

 

[Chasdev]

Problem with running mostly charcoal in an offset is that while you do get controlled heat over a longer time than when you burn sticks, you can't replicate the smoke profile in the meat.
Adding chunks will produce smoke but not the "clear blue" smoke that creates the best flavors in the meat.
Running with the air vents choked down in order to control heat and extend the life of the coals reduces the airflow that wood needs to burn clean.

 

[Smokin Okie]

What could you gain over your UDS or WSM ?

 

[kelbro]

What could you gain over your UDS or WSM ?

Capacity. Horizontal laminar heat versus vertical turbulent heat. Not sure that it would be a gain, just a variation in methods that I might use from time to time. I think that we prefer the wood flavor over the charcoal flavor but that may just be all in my head LOL.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Capacity. Horizontal laminar heat versus vertical turbulent heat. Not sure that it would be a gain, just a variation in methods that I might use from time to time. I think that we prefer the wood flavor over the charcoal flavor but that may just be all in my head LOL.

As C Chasdev said, there will be reduced air flow burning charcoal. Its questionable if you gain any convection over a vertical.

 

[kelbro]

As C Chasdev said, there will be reduced air flow burning charcoal. Its questionable if you gain any convection over a vertical.

Probably right. Most likely why it’s not become a standard method. I mostly use my offset for brisket or multiple butts. Wood is pretty cheap where I live. The fuel usage in a UDS is amazing and temperature control is child’s play. I grew up using an offset and it’s more traditional. I was thinking about how to get the best of both worlds. I’m probably going to try a hybrid approach. Regular wood fire until after the stall and then shovel the coals onto the top of a basket of charcoal for the finish. I usually wrap with butcher paper or foil so I just need BTUs.

Also, years of experience with the UDS and WSM has shown that I can get thin blue smoke from the coal basket when I mix the smoke wood chunks in with the charcoal and use the minion method. They get really hot and ignite well.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I used to do this based on bad advice from Amazing Ribs when I first started back in 2011. You can't really control the air flow in an offset well enough for minion method especially on a COS like a OK Joe. It's likely all the charcoal will light. I would dump a lit chimney of lump in every 45 minutes to an hour and throw on some chunks as needed back then. I got frustrated and went to a WSM. However, I eventually tried burning sticks and that was the key. You just have to cut them down into smaller pieces.

 

[kelbro]

I used to do this based on bad advice from Amazing Ribs when I first started back in 2011. You can't really control the air flow in an offset well enough for minion method especially on a COS like a OK Joe. It's likely all the charcoal will light. I would dump a lit chimney of lump in every 45 minutes to an hour and throw on some chunks as needed back then. I got frustrated and went to a WSM. However, I eventually tried burning sticks and that was the key. You just have to cut them down into smaller pieces.

Thanks. I expected that might be a challenge. Again, if it were a good idea, we would read more about it.