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Made a Long Burning Charcoal Basket for my Firebox
- Thread starter ski-freak
- Start date
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cromag
Smoking Fanatic
I've seen places online that sell baskets like this but with every one of them the dividers were doubled and each set of dividers were separated by about a half an inch. They say single divider walls could get the fuel hot on then other side and it could catch on fire before the actual fire makes it around the wall. Does this happen to yours?
ski-freak
Meat Mopper
Never had that happen once.
floyd
Smoke Blower
Ski-Freak,
You and ButtBurner have been my primary experts in helping me prepare for the arrival of my new Okie Joe. I notice your charcoal basket could be 4 or 6 inches wider to have more fuel. Would that restrict the air flow too much. How big do you thing we could make them? Thank you so much for all your posts. I will be a great MS before you and BB finish with me.
/s/ Floyd
You and ButtBurner have been my primary experts in helping me prepare for the arrival of my new Okie Joe. I notice your charcoal basket could be 4 or 6 inches wider to have more fuel. Would that restrict the air flow too much. How big do you thing we could make them? Thank you so much for all your posts. I will be a great MS before you and BB finish with me.
/s/ Floyd
floyd
Smoke Blower
That looks like it takes up ALL the area. Do you have any air flow problems?
ski-freak
Meat Mopper
I am happy with the 1 foot square by 1/2 foot deep charcoal basket. This is because I use my firebox for direct grilling/searing food with its 20 inch by 20 inch cooking grate as well as a firebox for smoked food in the main indirect 20 inch by 40 inch food chamber. My basket holds an ample 1/2 cubic foot of fuel and can be shifted almost all the way over to the right side of the firebox - right by the air intake giving it excellent air flow and allowing the 20 inch by 20 inch direct grilling/searing cooking grate to still be used and also have a grilling area partially OFF the direct heat. This allows the most flexibility for direct grilling and searing. For instance, if I'm searing a batch of chicken drumsticks I can move some that are getting done faster than the others over to the left indirect side of the grilling/searing cooking grate for more even results. Another example is grilled Asparagus which is a little fragile and cooks less rapidly and much more predictably on the indirect side of the firebox grilling/searing cooking grate while simultaneously searing steaks on the direct side. The 20 inch by 20 inch direct grilling/searing cooking grate is 400 square inches, which for reference is the same surface area as the classic 22.5 inch diameter Weber Kettle (actually 398 square inches - Pi R squared) which I have found is a very practical size for a direct grilling/searing cooking grate.
Often I find myself grilling/searing food in the firebox while I am smoking other food in the indirect food chamber. Also, with poultry I like to get it started with a sear, before slow smoking it, so that the skin comes out nice (though some other BBQ cooks prefer to do this the other way around and end with the sear). Also, I might be long smoking say a brisket or turkey for packaged meals for the next couple of days (taking say 5 hours of smoking time), and then dinner time comes along and I can still direct grill/sear that night's dinner without interrupting the smoke that's going on. This is the sort of flexibility that I think makes the OK Joe a great smoker/grill.
I often make a side dish of potatoes by cutting them into chunks and then putting them in a low sided oval Lodge cast iron skillet (fajita style pan) with oil and spices. I then put the low sided skillet full of potatoes on the hot side of the firebox cooking grate to brown them like hash-browns, before moving the whole skillet full of potatoes into the large indirect cooking chamber to become tender and smoky.
Remember too that after you "drop-in" your convection/diffuser plate you will lose that former hot spot at the firebox end of the 20 inch by 40 inch food chamber, and will have a large even temperature smoking area with no grilling/searing capability on that side - so you do need to use your firebox cooking grate for any grilling/searing, and your charcoal basket should be built with that in mind...
ski-freak
Meat Mopper
Underneath my Charcoal Basket I use the standard Charcoal Grate that comes with the OK Joe. Note how it is aligned/shifted to the right next to the air intake:
ski-freak
Meat Mopper
If you use your Firebox Cooking Grate a lot like I do you will appreciate this little tip, which makes it easier to take the Cooking Grate in and out when you have heat in your Firebox. I use an oven mitt or grate lifter, whichever is handy. The picture below is the stock Cooking Grate which has 6 little 1/2 inch tabs/rod-ends sticking out, and which often interfere with the ease in which you can put in and take out the Cooking Grate (especially when you're rushing due to the HEAT burning your oven mitt). My home-made cleanout tool is shown too (flat on one side and rounded to match the curve of the 20" cylinders of the OK Joe).
To make your life easier, just cut off those tabs/rod-ends as they do nothing but often get in the way:
Enjoy!
To make your life easier, just cut off those tabs/rod-ends as they do nothing but often get in the way:
Enjoy!
floyd
Smoke Blower
Ski,It's made from two 12" X 24" sheets of 18 Gauge Expanded Steel, each bent into a "U" and positioned with one sheet stting right on top of the other, but turned 90 degrees to each other so that there are 4 sides and a double thickness bottom (takes longer to burn through). The sides are 6 inches tall and the bottom is 1 foot square - 1/2 cubic foot. The Sheet Steel baffles are each 6" X 8", to form a labyrinth within the basket. Welding thin metal stock like this requires turning down welder's power dial way down, and making quick welds - but it's easy and fun. Took me about 45 minutes and used about $25 of steel (since I only buy metal in very small quantity).
I am so proud! I went to Lowes and bought two 12x24 18 gauge expanded metal 1/2" and made a lovely charcoal basket. I secured them with pig nose rings and I think it will work. I also bought 4 metal 6x18 plates for the diffuser and drilled varying sized holes in each one. I also bought a 12x18 sheet to make the baffle. Ny Okie Joe will be delivered on Thurs and I plan to be so ready! I also ordered the dual BBQ thermometer and two others to put on the grill. I also bought the sealant and door tape for the smoke chamber. All I need is smoker, a burn-off fire and a sealing burn and I'll be ready for teh pork butt and ribs! Thanks for all the help from you and Butburner.
ski-freak
Meat Mopper
Nice!!! I will be looking forward to hearing about your success Floyd!
finsfree
Smoke Blower
- Jun 6, 2013
- 138
- 39
Not at all. In fact, I think it works a little too well. I have to put less coals in to maintain a lower temp even with the intake closed. I can get 6hrs of burn time out of this ;-)
new2okiejoe
Newbie
- Aug 16, 2012
- 7
- 10
I'm curious to see if this basket helped you? Mine is 12"x12" and 6 inches deep, and man did it help me. Not only did it cut down some on the fuel usage, but also help to maintain the heat. I cooked 3 boston butts last week for 14 hours and used 2-20 lb bags of charcoal. of coarse I used some wood as well, but wood is cheap.
floyd
Smoke Blower
I agree, my fuel basket is super! It makes fire management a breeze and is easy to keep fired up and to shake off excess ash. I could done my 10LB pork butt, 2 racks of ribs, and a large turkey breast last weekend without it!
finsfree
Smoke Blower
- Jun 6, 2013
- 138
- 39
12x11x8 charcoal basket in my brinkmann tmle. Maintained 4 hours at 233 degrees with the minion method. Using royal oak lump. Holds 1 bag of RO.
If you use regular charcoal you'll get longer burn times. I get 6hrs using the minion method with Kingsford charcoal. Prefect for ribs!!!
everythingsmoke
Fire Starter
Wow...it seems like the OK Joe's require a lot more fuel for longer burns. I just purchased an OK Joe and I am gonna pick up some expanded steel to make charcoal basket and I guess an aluminum dryer vent to lower my exhaust to cooking grate. I'm doing two packer briskets and a rack of St. Louis ribs this weekend. The briskets r for my neighbor and I really would hate to screw them up but I couldn't talk him out of it. Sounds like I'm gonna need 20 lbs of Kingsford...is this about right or should I get an extra bag..and no I don't know how big the briskets will be but I'm betting he'll get them from Kroger's and I've yet to see one bigger than 8 lbs there.... Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys tks
james gordon
Fire Starter
Ski Freak,
Tried to copy your basket,think I pretty much got it.Got 2 12x24 expanded steel sheets from Lowes.Using the directions you posted I got it done.Took about 20 minutes. Me being somewhat mechanically challenged that was great.Can't weld or have access to welding so I used #3 hitch pin clips to tie the corners together.Not as neat as some but I think functional.Thinking about adding lift handles made from some kind of heavy wire,maybe wire coat hangers
.
Thanks for your help.
Tried to copy your basket,think I pretty much got it.Got 2 12x24 expanded steel sheets from Lowes.Using the directions you posted I got it done.Took about 20 minutes. Me being somewhat mechanically challenged that was great.Can't weld or have access to welding so I used #3 hitch pin clips to tie the corners together.Not as neat as some but I think functional.Thinking about adding lift handles made from some kind of heavy wire,maybe wire coat hangers
.
Thanks for your help.
Last edited:
5oclocksomewher
Smoking Fanatic
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