Fire management

[ahakohda]

I tried to google it but can’t find exact answer.
Looked few videos on fire management In offset smoker like okj highland. Basically bed of briquettes and wood logs on top.

My question is can I substitute logs with large chunks of lump coals? I’m sure someone here must’ve tried it already. Pros, cons?

 

[bluewhisper]

Yes, you can. I'm running a Masterbuilt offset that's a bit smaller than yours, but just big enough that I can run an open fire in the firebox. Things tend to run hot and fast that way.

You can burn any combination of wood and charcoal. You just need to tinker and experiment and find what you prefer.

 

[pit of despair]

ahakohda,
I was taught charcoal for heat, wood for flavor. Remember lump burns hotter and quicker and I have seen dimentional lumber /pallets wood used in making lump.
Teddy

 

[bluewhisper]

Yeah sometimes commercial charcoal can be like dog food; you don't know exactly what's in it.

That's one nice thing about a stick burner, you can go gather actual sticks/logs etc., and then you know exactly what is going into your fire.

 

[skinnyj]

Yeah sometimes commercial charcoal can be like dog food; you don't know exactly what's in it.

That's one nice thing about a stick burner, you can go gather actual sticks/logs etc., and then you know exactly what is going into your fire.

Most briquette manufacturers should have an SDS sheet available for their products. I've found that the instant light stuff is what you want to avoid, where conventional briquettes have very innocuous ingredients; usually charcoal, wood dust, limestone (binder), Borax (mold release or mold prevention).

 

[skinnyj]

As to the original question...

I'm in the same boat. I'm using a Smoke Canyon and finding that, by using just splits, my fire control is all over the place. I've read that adding splits to charcoal can create a smoldering, dirty fire if they are too big. Then, once they get going, they can spike the temp on your smoker. I'm going to try making my splits smaller or using lump, which is basically pre-burnt wood.