Figure it Out BEFORE You Buy....

I use Splits In the Ranch Kettle 99% of the time...I too Make a bed of Coals using Kingsford !Then toss on the splits ....Let her rip ! :thumb:

 
Like a lot of people here I started on a charcoal cooker (for me it was a 18.5 WSM). Gosh these things are so efficient and produce good Q, however, I soon outgrew it. I convinced myself that I needed something large, and being spoiled by the simplicity of the WSM, super easy to operate. So I bought an FEC-100.

It too was a great cooker, though it never produced that smoke profile I was looking for. I tried every trick and mod you can imagine... plus, it just seemed a little too easy .... a smoker with a thermostat.

In retrospect I should have bought a stick burner long ago. The older I get the more I realize that half the fun is tending fires. Gives ample time to drink beer and soak the kids with the garden hose. Besides everyone knows when they eat off a stick burner. Heck when I drive by a restaurant I can tell what kind of wood they use by the smell. If it is white oak I always stop!
 
so the way i've been running my (diy) stick burner is i'll start with lighting a chimney of charcoal (usually lump). it works, but man is it expensive. especially because half the bag is usually pieces too small to stay in the chimney so it just gets wasted. Do any of you guys have a cheaper way to light it? I use a small torch to light the charcoal, but it won't light whole splits. I have to use kindling. And I can't find kindling that's any cheaper than charcoal. Are y'all just cutting kindling out of some of your splits? or are you sourcing kindling somewhere?
 
Bludawg said:
Get a weed burner Coat! 3 min with a Texas matchstick and your off like a prom dress.
Click to expand...

i have a small one that burns butane. but it will only light kindling. will a full size one light splits straight up?
 
Charcoal : Webber Smokey Mountain, UDS, Pit Barrel Cooker, Kamado, Weber Kettle or an Insulated Cabinet Smoker.
 
An oldie but a goodie. Great advice from the OP!
 
This is the first time iv seen this thread. Smitty, you are still the man. Funny this is bumped when i was reading a couple very similar subjects in the recent postings.. :)

I know i have the want and would LOVE feeding a sticking burning offset, BUT the only thing making me think twice is DO i have the time for home cooks? I almost gave up golf for smoking meat MAINLY because i can do it at home and still do something that i LOVE all day. But with the 2 year old and the wife, i am not sure if i can dedicate the time to pumping splits into that inferno of love. This is the only thing making me consider a vertical smoker since i DO love the WSM, and its the same basic principal. Charcoal, chunks, and let it work for 12 hours.

ALLL that said, i am 90% sure im going to end up with a Stick Burner and love EVERY sleepless minute of it.

rb
 
Here, here! I've got two little ones and I stay up at night but it's the only sleep deprivation that I love.
 
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