Charcoal grilling info

[Sloughfoot]

This is what I get locally, https://www.chefstore.com/p/lazzari-mesquite-charcoal_1803287/ , it's especially good for smoking because it has a lot more large pieces than the 20lb bags at Ace Hardware and the price is right.

Does it hold a consistent temperature on long cooks? One problem I've been having with the El Diablo is the temp spiking at about 1 1/2 hours from around 275 to over 300 in about 15 minutes if I'm not watching. My smoker may do that with any brand, don't know.

 

[fredx]

Another tip would be - cheap / off brand charcoal doesn't last as long as the quality stuff. I dont like lump for grilling personally- smoking its OK.
Some folks make their own lump charcoal- plenty of videos out there on that

 

[old saw fixer]

I use Rockwood lump in my Big Green Eggs (Large and Small size). I cook pork butts @250° in the large one, and a full load of Rockford lump is only ½ gone after 12 hours. It takes that long to finish a large butt to 205° internal.

 

[Sloughfoot]

I use Rockwood lump in my Big Green Eggs (Large and Small size). I cook pork butts @250° in the large one, and a full load of Rockford lump is only ½ gone after 12 hours. It takes that long to finish a large butt to 205° internal.

About how much is a full load?

 

[old saw fixer]

About ½ to ¾ of a 20 pound bag. I've never measured, to be honest. The egg uses more fuel in cold, windy weather than in 90° July weather.

 

[Sloughfoot]

That's a big smoker. My little Kamado style smoker only holds about 1 1/2 pounds and will run about 6 to 8 hours. I typically add a couple of handfuls to what's in there and cook for 1 to 3 hours at 250-275.

 

[Mad Professor]

Is using real wood on the grill out of bounds here? Bagged charcoal nearly doubles the price of cooking a meal for me.

I have apple, cherry, maple and hickory for free. I overload the grill and when it burns down I have charcoal.

3lb sirloin

 

[Sloughfoot]

Is using real wood on the grill out of bounds here? Bagged charcoal nearly doubles the price of cooking a meal for me.

I have apple, cherry, maple and hickory for free. I overload the grill and when it burns down I have charcoal.

3lb sirloin

View attachment 479639

I'm gonna try that. Makes sense that you could make charcoal with a charcoal grill.

 

[fredx]

Is using real wood on the grill out of bounds here? Bagged charcoal nearly doubles the price of cooking a meal for me.

I have apple, cherry, maple and hickory for free. I overload the grill and when it burns down I have charcoal.

3lb sirloin

View attachment 479639

use it if you can get it- its better than charcoal

 

[MtnHaul]

Does it hold a consistent temperature on long cooks? One problem I've been having with the El Diablo is the temp spiking at about 1 1/2 hours from around 275 to over 300 in about 15 minutes if I'm not watching. My smoker may do that with any brand, don't know.

Sometimes it's just perfect and others I'll get a spike. I'm not sure if it's just an error on my part or a shift in the wind. I think I get best results with a densely loaded charcoal ring at the bottom of the WSM so there are no empty pockets. I'm usually trying to maintain 225 to 235 degrees. I have a dual probe thermometer setup from Thermoworks--one probe sits just above the grill and one probe in the meat. The temp gauge on the WSM is always reading higher than the grill probe.

 

[fredx]

get a flame boss pit controller and you wont get any spikes

 

[Wilhelm]

...
I like that idea. Back in the days when we got the newspaper I never had a problem lighting off the charcoal chimney, but now it seems that whatever free local papers I can find are composed of some blend that discourages burning and they just smolder. Old newspaper was the best.

Modern "paper" tends to be coated both sides in plastic like shiny ink so it looks prettier to the consumer.
That stuff won't burn without a lot of air, some times not even then.
I have one supermarket that still utilizes non shiny matte paper for their catalogues and it is very good for starting fires.

Is using real wood on the grill out of bounds here? Bagged charcoal nearly doubles the price of cooking a meal for me.

I have apple, cherry, maple and hickory for free. I overload the grill and when it burns down I have charcoal.

3lb sirloin

View attachment 479639

That is almost how we do it!
We burn wood then utilize the resulting coal & embers.
Traditionally elder households have wide fire pits in their yards.
For a simple BBQ active fire is being feed wood in one corner and the BBQ setup in the other corner being fed embers & coals from the active fire side.

Around here the fire pits tend to look like pictured below, intended for cooking whole pigs/lambs/sheep/goats.
This is just a small dual fire pit.
A good friend of mine has a big quad fire pit, he can cook up to 4 animals at once and his fire pit is taller & wider so he can fit bigger animals.



The trick to getting good coal is to feed the fire constantly with big pieces of wood so that they turn to coal rather than burn out - lots of heat, limited oxygen.

 

[Sloughfoot]

View attachment 479713

The trick to getting good coal is to feed the fire constantly with big pieces of wood so that they turn to coal rather than burn out - lots of heat, limited oxygen.

How do you go about limiting the oxygen?

 

[Wilhelm]

How do you go about limiting the oxygen?

Stack the wood high & deep, as the wood pyramid burns and collapses into itself, drop more firewood onto it, use big wood pieces.
The outer layer will burn, the center will turn into coal.

Take a shovel, extract the coal, repeat.

This is not a way to make coals for later use.
That is being done differently.

 

[Wilhelm]

I always wanted to try this method, but I never got around to it.
You can go bigger utilizing a barrel and a branch burn pile.

 

[Sloughfoot]

I always wanted to try this method, but I never got around to it.
You can go bigger utilizing a barrel and a branch burn pile.

View attachment 479730

May try some version of this.

 

[Mad Professor]

Modern "paper" tends to be coated both sides in plastic like shiny ink so it looks prettier to the consumer.
That stuff won't burn without a lot of air, some times not even then.
I have one supermarket that still utilizes non shiny matte paper for their catalogues and it is very good for starting fires.


That is almost how we do it!
We burn wood then utilize the resulting coal & embers.
Traditionally elder households have wide fire pits in their yards.
For a simple BBQ active fire is being feed wood in one corner and the BBQ setup in the other corner being fed embers & coals from the active fire side.

Around here the fire pits tend to look like pictured below, intended for cooking whole pigs/lambs/sheep/goats.
This is just a small dual fire pit.
A good friend of mine has a big quad fire pit, he can cook up to 4 animals at once and his fire pit is taller & wider so he can fit bigger animals.

View attachment 479713

The trick to getting good coal is to feed the fire constantly with big pieces of wood so that they turn to coal rather than burn out - lots of heat, limited oxygen.

I college days I lived with 4 other crazy students at a log home in the woods we rented. We had a big fire pit with two spits. Thanksgiving we ordered two of the biggest turkeys from a local farm, >30 lbs each. We stuffed them them and wrapped in bacon, then put them on the spits. Secured them with SS cable, wrapped them with HD foil, then another SS cable the hold the foil.

The pit was ~4' across and 3' deep. The day before we over filled it with 4' dry oak splits stacked high above the pit. Lit it ~ 5AM and it was burned down to coals by 10AM. That is when we put the turkeys on. We took turns watching and turning the turkeys. The spits were1 1/2" square steel stock, made it easy to turn 1/4 turn every 20 minutes. Added oak as needed.

Friends showed up about noon and we had kegs of good beer. Late afternoon the turkeys were ready, along with fixins we cooked in the house, and the beer had brought cheer. I wish I had pictures.......

The next morning various groggy and still drunk friends were camped/passed out in the house. Lots of debris from the feast, and 1/2 empty plastic cups of beer. We had a dog that liked beer. It sipped most of the leftover cups of beer and was staggering drunk those mornings........

Good memories.

 

[Wilhelm]

May try some version of this.

I like the drum within a drum aproach, would yield better use of the heat, more control over the fire and it should require less wood to burn.

How to Make Charcoal (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Lump charcoal, which is made by burning pieces of wood until all the impurities are gone and only the coal remains, is an excellent choice for outdoor grilling. It's expensive to buy lump charcoal at the store, but making your own is a...

www.wikihow.com