Switching From Kingsford to Lump

[Bigmofo300lbs]

Well, the post "I'm a believer" thread inspired me to give lump a try. Cooking a shoulder, spares and 2 fatties this weekend. Any tips? Anything I should know?

[chad]

Buy more than you think you'll need and beware of the dust!! :D

[willkat98]

burns nice and hot.

preheat your flavoring wood, and you'll get instant ignition with little to no white smoke.

Best tip, wear shoes.

Lump lit looks like unlight lump.

hot food mod a couple times.

[jminion]

I'm new here so I'm not sure what you are cooking on, but the problem with cooking on lump in an offset style cooker is increasing the cost of your cook quite a bit. Using Kingsford in a charcoal basket and using lump to add instant heat if needed is much more cost effective.
Jim

[Bigmofo300lbs]

Best tip, wear shoes.

Lump lit looks like unlight lump.


Now that is info you just can't get anywhere else. Just so I understand, if I have hickory lump it will not give me any flavor? I need to add chips or something to get the flavor?

[willkat98]

add chunks, not chips.

[Bigmofo300lbs]

the problem with cooking on lump in an offset style cooker is increasing the cost of your cook quite a bit


That is good to know. I have an offset. An NB American Gourmet.

[brdbbq]

hot food mod a couple times


Food or Foot ???

[jminion]

The other problem with lump is keep a close eye on what is coming out of the bag, you can find some interesting items. Lump will not produce a lot of flavor, using chunks for flavor is still needed.
Jim

[Jorge]

hot food mod a couple times


Food or Foot ???

either/or, invented in Chicago.

[BBQchef33]

I find that kinsford will give you longer burns and more consistant temps. I use that for the initial burn and add logs to it. as my coalbed disappears, i add lump to retain coals and boost temps a little. A nice thing with lump is that since the imputrities are burned off already, it can be added to the fire unlit without imparting any nasties to the food. Cant do that with kinsford unless its in small doses. I use royal oak almost exclusively which is labeled "hardwood lump". Who knows whats in it.

Using just lump will give you a milder smoke than if you added some extra chunks of wood or a few logs, but even without supplementing, it is still going to give you smoke and a smoke ring and all the stuff we look for in BBQ. So as far as your hickory lump goes, all it is is prebuned hickory.

and Jims right... keep one eye opened for interesting stuff.. I find rocks in my bag or ash pan pretty regularly.

[kcquer]

Using Kingsford in a charcoal basket and using lump to add instant heat if needed is much more cost effective.

Bigmo, I've been using a modified Minion method in my horizontal and getting 3-4 hour unattended burns on a 3# coffe can of briq with a few wood chunks. Very convienent, very cost effective. I take advantage of the high heat output of lump for initial start up and the economy of briq for the duration of the cook.

[willkat98]

Foot

[Solidkick]

I dunno, Big MoFo, if you will like the results of using just lump. I agree with Jim, I use a bed of briquettes, and use lump to suppliment for heat. The last two cooks were I have done just briskets and butts, I have not used lump at all. When I do ribs and chicken, then I am more apt to use some lump as I like my temps a little hotter. And it will get hotter quick! Hell, maybe I just should have kept my mouth shut on this one. Experiment, but in small increments until you learn what lump will do.

[Bigmista]

Well, the post "I'm a believer" thread inspired me to give lump a try. Cooking a shoulder, spares and 2 fatties this weekend. Any tips? Anything I should know?

You should know that you need to invite me over!

Mista

[Bigdog]

I have found that lump lights much easier than reg. charcoal and is hotter, burns quicker, and has more hot and cold spots. I prefere using it to start fires and raising temps quickly in the beast. But for long (Minion) burns and even cooking while grilling, reg. hardwood charcoal (supplemented with wood chips) is best. IMHO.

[stlmike]

I have found in my Backwoods Party model that lump lights quicker, burns hotter, and leaves a whole lot less ash. With proper fire control I get 10 hour burns without touching the vents.
Mike

[trouserchili]

Don't use lump overnight, I can tell you that. Lump always seems to need more maintenance to keep temps constant in the smoke box. Last time I had to wake up every 2 hours or so.

[kameo3]

I JUST SWITCHED OVER TO LUMP ALSO FROM KINGSFORD, AND HAVE NOTICE A MUCH HOTTER FIRE. I PICKED SOME MAPLELEAF BRIQUETS, HAS ANYBODY EVER USED THAT BRAND B4?

[jminion]

Mapleleaf is very good product if you can get it in your area I would recommend using it.
Jim

[stlmike]

Try the Wally-World brand of lump, it's pretty good as well.
Mike

[jminion]

That is Royal Oak and they do have a good reputation.
Jim

[Bigmofo300lbs]

So much info. Thanks fellahs! Will tell you how it turns out. Looks like I should use some sort of combo of lumb and kingsford/chucks. Will give you status reports of what I find.

Neil, you sure you wanna leave Hawthorne for hot ass Pasadena? :lol:

[Bigmofo300lbs]

Okay, here are the results. I had a tough time with the lump. But not scared off by any means. Just didn't know how much was too much vs. too little. So had to play around with the heat a bit. Stuff off the smoker and Q came out good. But looking forward to applying what I learned. Thanks for the info this weekend guys.

[stlmike]

Stay with the lump. Once you get past the learning curve, I don't think that you will go back to charcoal.
Mike

[Bigmista]

Neil, you sure you wanna leave Hawthorne for hot ass Pasadena? :lol:

If there is Q involved, just let me know where to be!

mista

[badger]

and Jims right... keep one eye opened for interesting stuff.. I find rocks in my bag or ash pan pretty regularly.

Do you find the rocks help with the smoke flavor? :roll:

[trouserchili]

Stay with the lump. Once you get past the learning curve, I don't think that you will go back to charcoal.
Mike


See that's kind of funny because I started with lump and moved to charcoal as I found I was a bit over my head with my new bandera. It was my first off-set smoker, first anything outside a Weber kettle really. So trying to learn it and learn lump at the same time was overwhelmingly difficult. My cooks came out ok, but only because I babysat the whole operation.

Now I've learned, for overnight cooks, charcoal is where it's at. Longer, cooler and more consistant cooks than lump. During the day though, when I can check up on it regularly, I've found lump provides better results.

[BigAl]

I'm new here so I'm not sure what you are cooking on, but the problem with cooking on lump in an offset style cooker is increasing the cost of your cook quite a bit. Using Kingsford in a charcoal basket and using lump to add instant heat if needed is much more cost effective.
Jim

Yep :!:

[stlmike]

Jim and AL are right. The Bandera needs a charcoal basket. Kingsford gives a longer burn, but leaves a ton of ash. Lump burns hoter with a whole lot less ash. Using straight lump comes down to fire control. If your firebox is air tight, the air intake can be adjusted to control the amount of air allowed in, extending the burn time considerbly. This results in the lump becoming a lot more cost effective as compared to charcoal. But, if one can extend the lump time through good fire control, one can extend the charcoal burn time a whole lot longer. I guess what I am saying is that a lot of the equation depends on personal preference. Where my burning straight lump is easier and more cost effective than charcoal, it may not be for others.
Mike

[BigAl]

When I have lump, I mix it in with Kingsford charcoal, you can see some in the middle divider in the pic on the left.

[parrothead]

When I have a lump I go have it biopsied.

[Bigmista]

When I have a lump, I add a little milk and stir my grits some more.

[SoCalCraigster]

I use lump exclusively for a couple of years. You can work with it pretty easily and it becomes quite predictable. I can keep the temp in the range of low and slow smokery.

There is no shortage of in in SoCal. I notice these 40lbs bags come from Mexico.I buy it from the only butcher/meat shop in my city.

SoCalCraigster

[shock]

burns nice and hot.

preheat your flavoring wood, and you'll get instant ignition with little to no white smoke.

Best tip, wear shoes.

Lump lit looks like unlight lump.

hot food mod a couple times.

I'm farging crying here - lump lit looks like unlight lump...

Oh **** that's hot mod...
Cold Beer can feels good mod...
Hope no one saw mod...
Hey Dave - grab that for lump charcol for me mod...
ROTFLMAO

I switched to lump only for my 'dera. I've tried to use the lump in my Weber, but I think I like the briquets better. However, I will use about 2 inches in the base of my chimney starter to get my briquets going quicker...

Also, the preheated wood is likely the most impressive bit of smoking information I've gotten from this group (i.e. easy to do, will NEVER forget). Not selling anything else short in any way, but everytime I smoke, the top rack is all wood. When I throw it in the fire box I am farging amazed at the beautiful blue. Like sipping a 20 year old Scotch on the rocks...