MilitantSquatter
Moderator
Guys,
Need some help or feedback.... My 'que at home has been coming out to my liking but I still don't think I've mastered the ratio of lump charcoal to wood chunks. I'd like to nail this down as I'm planning to being competing next year and want to have a more consistent approach to managing the fire to avoid confusion with my team members.
As I know everyone has their own preferences (some only use wood,some only use charcoal ) and everybody's equipment varies...I'll ask the question this way if you use both fuels....
1)For every time you start the fire with a one full chimney starter full of hot charcoals, how many wood chunks would you add on top ?
2) If that first batch does not get the fire up to desired temp (considering possible size of firebox, temp outside) , do you then prepare another mix of charcoal and wood chunks in the same exact ratio as the start up or do you change the mix, possibly only adding one of them ?
2) For every time the temp drops below your desired range, do you then add more lump charcoal and wood in the same ratio as you did when you started the fire or do you just add wood and or heated charcoal by feel on an as needed basis ?
If anybody can help with my three questions above or provide some feedback as to their thought process as to how they determine ratios to fuel the fire etc. would be greatly appreciated....
I've never quite mastered this...Reason, I ask is that today while 'queing for family, I was short on time tending the fire as I was cooking a lot of side dishes inside the house. So, while the temp remained in my desired range of low 200's, I found myself adding a lot of chunks and not so much charcoal as I did not have time to prep the chimney starter every hour. Total que time was approx. 7-8 hrs around 230-2505 deg most of the time. My best estimates tell me that I used apprx. 30-32 lbs out of the 40 lbs of wood I started with and maybe only a few lbs out of a 20 lb bag of lump charcoal. (Maybe used the charcoal in chimney starter about 4 times in the 8 hr period). It just seemed like a hell of a lot of wood to go through for 8 hrs...
Need some help or feedback.... My 'que at home has been coming out to my liking but I still don't think I've mastered the ratio of lump charcoal to wood chunks. I'd like to nail this down as I'm planning to being competing next year and want to have a more consistent approach to managing the fire to avoid confusion with my team members.
As I know everyone has their own preferences (some only use wood,some only use charcoal ) and everybody's equipment varies...I'll ask the question this way if you use both fuels....
1)For every time you start the fire with a one full chimney starter full of hot charcoals, how many wood chunks would you add on top ?
2) If that first batch does not get the fire up to desired temp (considering possible size of firebox, temp outside) , do you then prepare another mix of charcoal and wood chunks in the same exact ratio as the start up or do you change the mix, possibly only adding one of them ?
2) For every time the temp drops below your desired range, do you then add more lump charcoal and wood in the same ratio as you did when you started the fire or do you just add wood and or heated charcoal by feel on an as needed basis ?
If anybody can help with my three questions above or provide some feedback as to their thought process as to how they determine ratios to fuel the fire etc. would be greatly appreciated....
I've never quite mastered this...Reason, I ask is that today while 'queing for family, I was short on time tending the fire as I was cooking a lot of side dishes inside the house. So, while the temp remained in my desired range of low 200's, I found myself adding a lot of chunks and not so much charcoal as I did not have time to prep the chimney starter every hour. Total que time was approx. 7-8 hrs around 230-2505 deg most of the time. My best estimates tell me that I used apprx. 30-32 lbs out of the 40 lbs of wood I started with and maybe only a few lbs out of a 20 lb bag of lump charcoal. (Maybe used the charcoal in chimney starter about 4 times in the 8 hr period). It just seemed like a hell of a lot of wood to go through for 8 hrs...
