Loading up the firebox of an offset

[ocean82]

What's your method?

Straight wood? Charcoal? 

Full chimney? Half? More?

Pile of charcoal and wood on top?

Pile of charcoal and wood on sides?

Mix and match? 

I find myself doing 3/4 chimney of blue bag, keeping it piled instead of spread out and I put 2-3 wood chunks on the perimeter. Works well in my Horizon 16 for 225-250 with TBS.

Tried lump, but don't like the hot and fast burns. Plus there's only two brands I've seen around me. Royal Oak, and Cowboy. Both of which have inconsistent and usually very small coals with lots of dust. 

All wood is difficult to manage for long smokes and I don't notice any flavor difference when I smoked with all hickory wood and kingsford+hickory chunks. 

 

[3montes]

I start a full chimney of charcoal. Not particular what kind. Once thats going good I spread it out in the fire box and start with about 4 splits of red oak on top of that. Once those splits are going good I throw 3 or 4 more on. Once I have a good bed of coals the dampers go to about half shut depending on the wind. Then I'm about ready to start cooking. Charcoal is used for starting the wood only. From there on out its all wood! 

 

[ocean82]

For whatever reason, I gotta go skimpy on the fuel. If I did that I'd be looking at 300* and that's with the damper closed. 

 

[mneeley490]

Haven't used my offset for about a year, since I completed my fridger conversion. But when I did, I filled my homemade charcoal holder to the brim with unlit coals, slipping in a chunk of smokewood here and there. In one corner I'd have a soup can with both ends missing that I kept empty, to add in about a dozen hot coals. Then simply slip the can out--and you have a Minion method going.