Hey everyone,
Was thinking about a post I saw here earlier about how long your charcoal lasts and wanted to get some advice. I’m based in London, and did my last cook in the high 40s°F to low 50s°F with some light rain; see attached Fireboard2 Drive graph for context. I use a knockoff KickAsh basket (Onlyfire) and fill my Egg with Big Green Egg brand Oak and Hickory lump, right up to just below the fire ring.
I start the Egg and aim for 250°F. I usually let it get to 220°F before I turn on my Fireboard G3 blower fan to help get it the rest of the way. Once at temp, I put a hot water pan in, let it settle back to 250°F, then put on a pork butt for smoking.
Everything’s smooth until about 9 hours in when the fire starts struggling. When I add more charcoal, I notice some of the charcoal on the edges never lights, and the lit charcoal seems to tunnel down the middle, leaving unlit bits on the sides.
I light my charcoal in a chimney starter, then dump it into a well I dig in the firebox. I’m guessing that’s causing the tunneling? I don’t mind having to add charcoal mid-cook, but I want to hear how you all keep your fires burning longer and avoid tunneling.
Would appreciate any tips.
by szkoda22
13 Comments
Don’t create the well and just pour the lit charcoal on top of the unlit charcoal.
Are you using briquettes or lump? For longer cooks try to use more medium to larger size chunks or wood chunks. That way it burns slower.
I don’t know how to help you with the second problem because I’ve never had the first.
I’ve never needed to add charcoal even on 16 hour cooks. I don’t use a chimney starter, I just put a starter in the middle and bring everything up to temp together. I also use a smobot for the longer cooks, which works differently than the fan at the bottom that I assume you are using. Maybe that is the culprit. Replacing charcoal at 9 hours seems really early to me.
I’ve not experienced issues running for 12-13 hrs… I don’t use chimney starter though, I have one of those electric heating elements that is a loop like oven heating element. I tend to lite on just top layer of lump but in two spots opposite of each other on left and right. Probably takes a bit longer to get up to temp than your approach but fire hasn’t let me down so far!
Also, I’ve now moved to an XL and it holds so much lump that it doesn’t even cross my mind anymore!
Skip the water pan, wrap it at the stall instead.
pork butt is fine at 300F, that will save you hours.
Start your fire with a small flame in the center instead of dumping a chimney. Or maybe don’t do a full chimney, just enough for two handfuls of coals.
I get much longer times with my SmoBot than I ever got with a blower controller.
I never get a tunnel, nor have I ever had to refill.
what brand and style lump are you using? Fogo gold will last me up to 18-20 hours on a full basket in my large egg.
I’m no professional so I’m sure someone will come with better info. In my experience, for long cooks, I light the coals with a starter that’ll run for about 5 minutes. After I get the center coals well lit and the starter runs out, I somewhat stir the coals to make sure the edges have a few lit coals. Have yet to experience needing to add charcoal at any point in my 10-12 hour cooks.
Given you are in London, I would get the rain cap for the top vent. I use all the time and don’t get new as much rain as you do, and I have noticed it really helps during rain.snow.
What size cooker do you use? I ran out of coal in my small a couple of times. I now have a large and it is never a problem even for really long cooks.
Also, how are your vents set and do you have air leaks? The fan on my controller is often inactive or at 0 for an hour or more during a cook. It looks like your fan is constantly running as if it’s having a hard time keeping the temp up.
I bet you can dial in your vent settings and make sure you have good air seal and it will help. Once the interior temp and all the ceramic is up to temp, you should need very little fire in the coals to keep it at 250.
For long cooks I clean out all the charcoal and start with fresh lump. I’ve found over the years if I use the old stuff it tends to be smaller pieces which ends up choking the air flow causing issues maintaining temperatures. I’ve been using a flame boss for a while now but still start with fresh lump to make sure I don’t have issues on long cooks.
1) change to lump charcoal, at least 90% carbonized.
Fill to the fire ring
2) dump the fire chimney. Use a paper towel soaked in cooking oil, light it under some of the lump.
3) start your device as per usual for you.
4) Dump the water pan, brine your pork butt. Use a spicy rub, then slather a fruit preserve of your choice (I use peach) over entire pork butt. The char is amazing hits all the flavors; sweet, spicy, Smokey, savory….melts in your mouth.
5) do not open the lid until the cook is done.
5) pull and serve.
For a long burn, I just make a small fire on the surface in the middle using a handheld propane torch. I blast the small area until an open flame persists then close the top.
I suggest that you make a smaller fire/use less charcoal in the chimney and empty it into a smaller well to see if that slows your burn rate.
I’ve had the best luck with my fires lasting, after starting the fire on one side and letting them creep across the grill, as opposed to starting it in the middle, which allows the fire to spread in all directions.