New WSM, first chicken and homemade charcoal

[cgaengineer]

New to WSM but not new to Webers, smoking, grilling or bbq...did not get to use my homemade lump in my smoker as I was making it while chicken was smoking...chicken turned out very well.

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[hambone1950]

Very handsome chicken! Perfect color. How about posting some more details on making charcoal. (Pretty ambitious!) I'm curious how this is done and especially what wood you started with.

 

[cgaengineer]

Very handsome chicken! Perfect color. How about posting some more details on making charcoal. (Pretty ambitious!) I'm curious how this is done and especially what wood you started with.

Thank you for the compliment!

For the charcoal I started with a 55 gallon drum and a smaller drum inside, I have not found a 30 gallin oil drum yet so I tried it with a 5 gallon paint thinner drum. The inner drum has to be sealed except for a small hole in the top. I filled the inner drum with oak blocks cut with chainsaw from a large tree I limbed up (3- 6" diameter pieces), since we are building a couple houses I have plenty of kiln dried 2x4's and other natural wood pieces (branches, lawn debris) to burn in my outter barrel. The first batch I did last night burned ft or about 2 hours and was ready (dry oak), the second batch was still green and did not finish all the way through.

With a 30 gallon oil drum you will get more charcoal from a batch with not much more time burning.

The was just an experiment and if I can find a 30 gallon drum or 18"steel casing I will continue to do it, lots of fun and its a great way to clean up around your property or get rid of construction scraps (if they are not pressure treated or contain glues or binders). If you design the system properly you can pipe the wood gas that comes from charcoal container and supercharge the fire that you burn to make the coals.

I won't be putting kingsford or royal oak out of business doing this, but the satisfaction of making your own coals, cleaning up the woods of fallen branches and saving some construction scraps from the landfill is worth it to me, plus im making it as im grilling or smoking meats so it passes time.

So try it, I think you will enjoy it and you will surely know what goes into making a batch. My yield in the small drum wad enough to cover the grate on mt 22" weber kettle and should last a about 4 hours.

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[cgaengineer]

Gonna invest in a stoker for wsm, held 225 nearly all day but a couple ups and downs...looking at Auber

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[smoking b]

Thank you for the compliment!

For the charcoal I started with a 55 gallon drum and a smaller drum inside, I have not found a 30 gallin oil drum yet so I tried it with a 5 gallon paint thinner drum. The inner drum has to be sealed except for a small hole in the top. I filled the inner drum with oak blocks cut with chainsaw from a large tree I limbed up (3- 6" diameter pieces), since we are building a couple houses I have plenty of kiln dried 2x4's and other natural wood pieces (branches, lawn debris) to burn in my outter barrel. The first batch I did last night burned ft or about 2 hours and was ready (dry oak), the second batch was still green and did not finish all the way through.

With a 30 gallon oil drum you will get more charcoal from a batch with not much more time burning.

The was just an experiment and if I can find a 30 gallon drum or 18"steel casing I will continue to do it, lots of fun and its a great way to clean up around your property or get rid of construction scraps (if they are not pressure treated or contain glues or binders). If you design the system properly you can pipe the wood gas that comes from charcoal container and supercharge the fire that you burn to make the coals.

 

Check any local factories or lube shops - I get mine from a local factory for free 

Your chicken looks really good!