- Joined
- Jan 3, 2014
- Location
- Detroit...
So in my small stick burner keeping a proper coal bed can be a lot of work. I have to use just the right size (small splits) or the bed gets diminished after about 3 hrs. I notice a fair amount of hot coals on the bottom of the box that slip past the grate (i do have two grates perpendicular to each other). Now i read in a certain pitmasters book that he uses no grate and builds the fire on the floor of the box. Any thoughts on this as a solution? Does anyone else do this? I know im working with a much smaller cooker but it seems like i could maintain a more substantial bed of embers. I guess another solution would be to get a piece of expanded metal the coals cant slip by.