Rookie Here

[leepgm]

Hi, I am new to this forum and new to smoking. I received a Royal Gourmet offset smoker as a Retirement gift and I am getting ready to to start out easy by smoking a rack of St.Louis pork ribs.
I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos to get the basics down, but I still have a question.
How much charcoal will I need per hour?
I will be using Kingsford Charcoal and Kingsford Hickory Mini Logs. Smoking about 3-4 lb rib rack.
I'm in Florida so it's Hot out. Lol
Thanks for your help!

 

[JC in GB]

It can be hard to estimate charcoal usage as so many variables can factor in to the combustion time. My general rule of thumb is about 1 - 1.5 pounds per hour. For a normal backyard sized rig. That number goes up as cooking space does.

One tip I will impart to you on the unit you have is to keep track of the smoke output. You want thin blueish colored smoke coming from the smoke stack 99% of the time.

I have seen that type of offset chugging out billowing clouds of white smoke. This will make your food taste bad. Not saying that you will have this happen, just be aware that it may.

Happy smoking....

JC

 

[Smokehouse Bob]

Check your Inbox... top right corner of screen.

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Welcome aboard and good luck with the new smoker.

 

[kruizer]

Welcome to SMF and congrats on your retirement.

 

[sawhorseray]

Gee, I can just copy this from a post I made five minutes ago. Why use charcoal at all? I used to use RO lump and 8-9 months back I stopped altogether. Now I like using no charcoal in my SQ36 stick burner. I make a little log cabin with 6-7 hickory or oak splits and light them with a weed torch, 45-50 minutes later a nice bed of red hot coals. When it's time for more heat toss on another split, that's why they're called stick burners. RAY

 

[Blues1]

Welcome from South Carolina

 

[flatbroke]

1st. Welcome to the forum
2nd Huge Congratulations on retirement
3rd I wasn’t sure what kind of grill you have but googled it
4th. I would start the fire with the coal chimney like you planned and dump in when they are white you will have a good coal base. The firebox Size and off set design will have flair ups when the wood catches and you want want to chase temps the logs although mini may need to be split even smaller to keep a constant but you will need to try it out and see

If you have a thermometer with two probes i would place one near the firebox and one near the nose end to see what the temps fluctuate and how even you can keep it from spiking too much. You do not want a bunch of deep gray white smoke and is usually what you get when wood is added before it catches on fire and is why would try smaller logs to get them to catch

you can also start another chimney of coal and 10 pieces or so to add in to help maintain a constant temp if the temp falls too low. Place the chimney on something other then the concrete or your grass. I use my weber kettle to do that if I need to keep long steady cooks that I’m trying to keep low temp let’s say under 170 for a long time. But my smoker is different then yours and what works for me many not work for you.
Good luck and welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing how the food comes out. You need a thermometer if you dotn have one already. Look at ink bird they are a site sponsor and are pretty reasonable In price and shipping was fast last time I received something. If you don’t have the time to wait your local ace hardware or Home Depot May have one in stock

 

[flatbroke]

Here is what meadow creek says to do for fire control if that helps. Yours is built differently but concept the same.

E
Edit. When wood is used as primary fuel source the bbq taste is a lot better in my opinion but you are gonna have to take time to get to know your bbq. How it runs, what temp it likes and doesn’t. Etc. we learn every cook

 

[smokin peachey]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your retirement. Looks like FB got you covered with some great info.
If you haven’t seen it yet there is a chat option on the forum where you can receive help or just chew the fat.
Now let’s see some smoke rolling out of that new smoker and some Qview.