WSM 22" Charcoal Choice

[splendorlex]

I've had my WSM for about a year now and really have it dialed in from a temp standpoint. But at this point, I think I need to be more discerning in my fuel source. For the most part, I've been using Kingsford Blue, mostly because I'm a big fan of T-Roy Cooks channel and that's what he used for a long time in his WSM. I also just tried Royal Oak briquettes because they were on sale a couple weeks back. In both cases, I feel like I'm going through a LOT of charcoal.

For my cook today, for instance. I filled the ring to the top, which was about 80% of a full bag. It got through the 10 hour cook, but nearly all that fuel was spent by that point. I've had similar experiences with the Kingsford blue as well. It just isn't lasting as long as I expect. I've yet to try a long cook like for a brisket, but I fear I'd need to reload during the cook to do that. Granted, my WSM is still a little leaky, particularly with the door, but I have a gasket kit to install sometime soon to try to alleviate that and increase the efficiency.

Is it a fuel problem, or something else? What are people finding success with from a fuel standpoint? I should add when I FIRST got the smoker, I started with a big bag of royal oak hardwood, but I didn't really know what I was doing. I was thrown off a bit by the varying sizes of that stuff as you couldn't pile and arrange it as easily.

 

[noboundaries]

KBB is really designed for the grill. Kingsford has cut the mass in the last two reformulations so it doesn't last as long as it did previously.

Royal Oak Ridge is 25% heavier and lasts about 50% longer than than KBB (I've tested it head to head). That said, it can burn up pretty fast at higher chamber temps.

Are you using water in the water pan? That consumes a lot more fuel.

Are you treating Ridge like KBB by using the same number of hot briquettes to start? With Ridge you can cut the hot briquettes substantially. For a 225-250F chamber I use no more than 8-10 hot briquettes.

I can get up to 18 hours out of a load of Ridge (not including the 2 hour warmup) when I overfill the basket by a couple inches then add the hot briqs.

Anything that says Ridge on it, or has the Ridge flow-thru briquette picture, is Royal Oak. They do a lot of store brands.

 

[Chasdev]

The new Kingsford Pro Comp (purchased at Costco two months ago) is the best briquet I've used.
Burns very hot, lasts a long time and this new version has very low ash.

 

[BandCollector]

Haven't had a Smokey Mountain for quite some time now but I recall using the Minion Method and getting much longer burns than from just loading up the ring and igniting all the charcoal at once.

Perhaps someone will come by with some more sage advice.

John

 

[splendorlex]

KBB is really designed for the grill. Kingsford has cut the mass in the last two reformulations so it doesn't last as long as it did previously.

Royal Oak Ridge is 25% heavier and lasts about 50% longer than than KBB (I've tested it head to head). That said, it can burn up pretty fast at higher chamber temps.

Are you using water in the water pan? That consumes a lot more fuel.

Are you treating Ridge like KBB by using the same number of hot briquettes to start? With Ridge you can cut the hot briquettes substantially. For a 225-250F chamber I use no more than 8-10 hot briquettes.

I can get up to 18 hours out of a load of Ridge (not including the 2 hour warmup) when I overfill the basket by a couple inches then add the hot briqs.

Anything that says Ridge on it, or has the Ridge flow-thru briquette picture, is Royal Oak. They do a lot of store brands.

I do use a water pan. It was the only way I found to run the smoker at temps below 300. Perhaps now I could start to experiment some more as the smoker is much more broken in now than it was previously. But putting water in the pan has really helped temp consistency.

For set up, I put in a few chunks of wood, then pour in charcoal to fill the ring. I will then hollow out a bowl in the center. I use a charcoal chimney then that I usually fill about halfway with briquettes, and pour them in that bowl when they are good and hot. I'll try cutting the amount of lit briquettes as you suggest to see if that helps. I also saw your recommendation about "pre heating" to better control temps. I do usually use the method of having all vents open, then start to close them down as it gets over 200.

 

[noboundaries]

A half of a large chimney is about 32 hot briqs. Half a small chimney is about 16. That's quite a bit of heat for a low n slow fire with RO briqs. That much heat creates a "fast" fire.

When I started makin jerky at chamber temps of 150F-170F, I fired up only 4 briquettes to add to the cold pile and left all the bottom vents closed/top full open. Used RO briqs. I found a "slow" fire MUCH easier to control and it also preheated the wood buried in the cold charcoal giving a cleaner burn.

I started using that same bottom vent closed technique to start my low n slow 225-250F smokes, adding 8-10 hot briqs from a small chimney, and waiting a couple hours before adding the meat and setting my bottom vents (1/16" open). Chamber temp drops as the cold meat absorbs heat, but the fire is still burning at 200F. The chamber temp will climb to 225-250F as the meat warms with the new bottom vent settings that allow a little more air to the burn.

It's all the physics of heat and fire.

Edit: I dry smoke only; no water in the water pan.

 

[chewmeister]

Was wondering if it's possible or okay to use lump charcoal in a WSM.

 

[noboundaries]

Was wondering if it's possible or okay to use lump charcoal in a WSM.

ABSOLUTELY! Just don't expect low n slow. It will hold low temps for a little while, but then starts climbing up to 275F or higher. Works great for hot n fast and poultry.

 

[chewmeister]

ABSOLUTELY! Just don't expect low n slow. It will hold low temps for a little while, but then starts climbing up to 275F or higher. Works great for hot n fast and poultry.

Thanks for the reply. Was looking at getting the 18" and I have a whole bag of lump.

 

[JWFokker]

Weber briquettes are very nice, extra large and all natural no binders. Expensive though.

 

[noboundaries]

A layer of briquettes in your chimney before you add the lump keeps the smaller pieces from falling thru when firing the chimney.