Newb question

Hi All,

Brand spankin' new member here. I look forward to learning lots from you guys.

I have been smoking for a few years and I think I'm finally getting the hang of things, but I am still a huge work in progress.

One extremely basic question that I have involves charcoal. I have an 18" upright W and I am finally getting good at regulating temps, wood types, etc.

My question is how do I keep the charcoal from putting off so much smoke when I add it to the fire? I want my ribs to have flavor from the wood smoke, not the charcoal smoke. It seems to settle down after awhile, so I've learned that if I use my charcoal starter and get the coals going in there for about 20-30 min and then dump them into my smoker, that effect will be minimalized (is that even a word?). However, when I need to add new coals a couple of hours later to keep the temp up, the new coals start smoking again.

The charcoal smoke is overpowering the wood smoke.

Any help? I've got a guys only trip to the cottage this weekend and I plan to make 3 racks of baby backs as well as my first Boston Butt....I don't want to suffocate people with charcoal flavor. Thanks!

Mister Bob said:

First, make sure you're using lump charcoal, not briquettes. Next, get your charcoal going in the chimney every time you add it, not just the first. Unlit charcoal added to a fire will smoke for a while. Also, make sure you're keeping your charcoal in a dry place. Charcoal will absorb moisture from the air, and damp charcoal takes longer to ignite and smokes alot more than dry. Hope this helps...

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Thank you, this does help. Couple of follow ups.

1. Why lump vs. briquettes? Typically I just use the standard Kingston briquettes. No good?

2. Where can I get lump?

3. How do I add the next round of lit coals to the smoker after I get them going? I see the thread about it a few spots down....I've actually tried to add the hot coals from the chimney but there's no way you can "pour" them from the chimney onto the smoker without taking the entire barrel off of the Weber. One at a time with tongs?

Thanks again.

PCDoctor_1979 said:

I don't even buy K anymore. Used to save it for hamburgers and hot dogs. The manufacturing process adds a lot of stuff that needs to be burned off before use. Lump is a more pure fuel, creates less ash and a better flavor.

Go to your local hardware store and find an ash shovel. They are made for cleaning out fireplaces and are about 4-5 inches wide and 18 inches long or so. Fits perfectly through the door on the WSM for refueling.

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:thumb: Thank you, PC Doc.

14-16 hours? Daayum! I was planning on 8-10 hrs. My BB is about 7 lbs. Do I need to recalculate?

Ron_L said:

What type of smoker is a W? Do you mean WSM? If you use the Minion Method one the WSM you shouldn't have to refuel if you are cooking at 275 or below. If you are running higher then you may need to refuel. I've run my 18.5" WSM for 26 hours at 240 dome temp on one load of Rancher briquettes.

Look through this post that i did a while back on the Minion Method and fire control in a WSM...

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=948954&postcount=10

Is a W isn't a WSM, please ignore this :-D

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Yup, it is a WSM 18.5". I wasn't sure if I could post the manufacturer name here or not and hadn't quite picked up on the WSM acronym yet.

Thanks for the tips.

I actually just got back from Lowe's where I picked up a small shovel and some lump charcoal. I plan on getting the heat somewhere around 225. I take it from the post above that the minion method is NOT for lump charcoal and is for briquettes only? Anything else I should know about trying to hold steady at those temps with lump?

BTW thanks to all for the tips on the "minion method". I did a search on the site and a brief bit of reading and it answered a lot of questions.

As an aside, it's nice posting on a forum as a newb and not getting blasted with "Search function!" and other smart-a$$ retorts.