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Maintaining temp!!

SmoothBoarBBQ said:
Before you spend money on something you don't need how about you give running the cooker another shot? Tons of great advice in here and I can almost guarantee you don't need that expanded metal for the firebox grill grate. Langs have been around for a long time and if those grates needed to have smaller holes they would have made that modification years ago to keep customers happy.
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I run it last night and it was doing fine until I added my last split. By that time most my coals had already fallen through and there wasnt enough of a coal bed it ignite the split I just added and the temp kept falling. I was adding a split or two when my temps would hit about 265ish that would bring it back up to 280-300. I would like to think that if I had enough coals on the grate that the temps would have come back up instead of continuing to fall. Just my reasoning for considering adding the second grate material.
 
Av8er said:
I run it last night and it was doing fine until I added my last split. By that time most my coals had already fallen through and there wasnt enough of a coal bed it ignite the split I just added and the temp kept falling. I was adding a split or two when my temps would hit about 265ish that would bring it back up to 280-300. I would like to think that if I had enough coals on the grate that the temps would have come back up instead of continuing to fall. Just my reasoning for considering adding the second grate material.
Click to expand...

Add it if you want. Just don't make it permanent until you're sure it's what you want.
Expanded metal is available at most home improvement stores and doesn't cost much.
 
SmoothBoarBBQ said:
Before you spend money on something you don't need how about you give running the cooker another shot? Tons of great advice in here and I can almost guarantee you don't need that expanded metal for the firebox grill grate. Langs have been around for a long time and if those grates needed to have smaller holes they would have made that modification years ago to keep customers happy.
Click to expand...

i think it is partly the kiln dried wood. it is burning up too fast and there are not enough bigger coals left at some point to light the next stick. but you are right about Ben Lang not letting that go if it was a problem.
 
I will get more wood and give it a go once I get it back from paint. It’s leaving here tomorrow morning and will be at the painter for a few weeks.
 
Av8er said:
I run it last night and it was doing fine until I added my last split. By that time most my coals had already fallen through and there wasnt enough of a coal bed it ignite the split I just added and the temp kept falling. I was adding a split or two when my temps would hit about 265ish that would bring it back up to 280-300. I would like to think that if I had enough coals on the grate that the temps would have come back up instead of continuing to fall. Just my reasoning for considering adding the second grate material.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you had it going pretty well. Different types of wood will leave a different bed of coals. In my region pecan and hickory burn down perfectly and leave a heaping bed of coals. White oak burns and then decays and gets soft, so not much for coals. So if I'm using the oak I'll layer it with some pecan to keep things going.

Others have suggested it's your kiln-dried wood and that could be an issue as well. It looks like you've got quite a bit of cherry and oak in your general area so I hope when you get some normally cured wood it all works out. I just didn't want you dropping money on something which had a potential to inhibit the airflow.
 
Av8er said:
I will get more wood and give it a go once I get it back from paint. It’s leaving here tomorrow morning and will be at the painter for a few weeks.
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also don't be afraid to add some prelit lump back in there if you start losing your coal bed.

The guy I sold my offset to does that and it works well for him
 
What do y’all use to add lump to the firebox? Even at startup I have a hard time getting that big chimney in and dumping it. A small firebox and a large chimney don’t mix.
 
WP_20180309_001.jpg

This is how I start, small splits and newspaper. If the coal bed starts to disappear I take a coke can size piece and split it into 3or4 pieces put them all on, they will burn down quickly(10-15 minutes ish) repeat 2or3 times and the coal bed is back in about the same amount of time it takes to get a chimney ready.
 
Av8er said:
I have one if those for my PBC but that’s what I used the first time to start and it didn’t give me enough coals. I would need two. Probably just get a weed burner and start the coals in the firebox.
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You can't go wrong with a $20 weed burner from Harbor Freight. A 20# propane tank will last forever if it's just used to light up the firebox.
 
JohnH12 said:
You can't go wrong with a $20 weed burner from Harbor Freight. A 20# propane tank will last forever if it's just used to light up the firebox.
Click to expand...
Yep. I'm going 3 years on my first tank. But I don't preheat the cook chamber.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Av8er said:
I have one if those for my PBC but that’s what I used the first time to start and it didn’t give me enough coals. I would need two. Probably just get a weed burner and start the coals in the firebox.
Click to expand...

You only need the hot charcoal to catch your "sacrificial splits" on fire and get them burning. Those initial splits will burn down and give you the coal bed you need to have a good fire. I have a 60" cooker with a massive firebox and I only light off a dust-pan of charcoal and use that to get the fire going. From there I do a "lincoln-log" stack with about 4-6 splits and that will burn down and give me a perfect coal bed.

Many ways to get everything going but that's how I do it.
 
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