Backwoods Users
 

I'm interested in determining how long I can run a Gater (modified Fatboy) on a full load of charcoal at 225 - 250 degrees. I've become quite used to my Big Green Egg and UDS, both of which allow me to load up the charcoal basket and then run for 12 - 14 hours without adding charcoal. I set things up, program the Stoker, add meat, and go to sleep without worrying about refueling or running out of charcoal during the middle of the night.

I'm really interested in a cabinet smoker for the extra capacity vs. the Egg, but I don't want to be stuck with 6 hour burn times. This would force me to alter my cooking schedule or worse, get out of bed in the middle of the night!

Is there a way to expand the capacity of the Gater's charcoal basket or any other technique to get a 12 hour burn time?

Thanks!

yes. see my custom gater that just got. will let you know the capacity and burn time this weekend.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ighlight=gater

I've had no problems getting 12-14 hr burns on my Fatboy.

What type of charcoal r u using on ur fatboy? 10 hrs. All i can get on mine and latley been about 8 to 9 hrs. Is all im getting. 225 using kingsford.

Andy,

Do you have the results of your burn test? I'm interested in how it went.

Thanks!

I have a party I'm testing out and I got 10hrs out of it with packing it in tight and mounding it up. And there was still charcoal left to burn, but I went to bed.

Lump or briquettes? What brand? What temp?

8 hours with a full load of humpheys lump with no guru, 11 with guru on a fatboy with no heat deflector your mileage may vary

We can get about 12-14 hours on a full load of kingsford at approx 225-250. But we have a Competitor with heat deflector and Guru so not sure if that correlates well to the Gator. If you are using a Guru I would think you could get a similar length of cook.

Who needs details :-P? Blue Kingsford running at 250.

Also here is the thread that give a blow by blow brisket cook and shows multiple pictures of the charcoal from how much I loaded it to what was left burning after the 10hrs.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=137006

I booboo'd and let the smoker get hot. It ran up to 300....I was making breakfast and it got away!! I said screw it. Pulled the diverter out and put the butts on. Went to church. That was at 10am. Got home at 2, still sitting on 300. Water was just running out and the butts were at 200. Pulled the butts and added some water. There was still about 15% of the coal left so I let it run out. At 5 the coal was out but the cooker was still at 275. Modified basket held about 14lbs of lump. So at 300 it went 8 hrs including start up time. At 250 it should do an easy 12-14 hrs.

Sounds great.

Thanks Andy!

What is the grate size of the gator and what spacing is between each grate? I know the Fatboy has 4 - 19 1/2 square shelf 4 inches apart.

What is the atmospheric pressure in your back yard?







j/K

14.7 lb/in to the 2nd power... Comes to mind for some reason but I have been out of school for a long time.