Looks like my next video should be on fire management, building a proper fire, and how to maintain temps durning your cooks on the LSG offset. Until then a couple points. Stack should always be wide open. It’s going to take 45-75 minutes to get your pit up to temp and establish a good bed of coals. For about the first 20-30 minutes the door should be wide open, then crack it for 5-10 minutes, then shut with damper wide open. Then close down damper to fine tune the temp. Pit will consume 1-2 splits every 1-2 hours @225-250 in the 24” pits those are full sized splits (14-18” and 3-5” in diameter) on the 20” pits that’s half sized splits (7-9” and 3-5” in diameter). I prefer to start with about a diner sized plate of lump charcoal (this provides me with a instant bed of coals and then the wood will replenish the coals from then on, if during a long cook you are running low on coals then a handful along with a fresh split is fine) and 2-3 splits of good seasoned wood stacked in the center on top the charcoal. Wood should be seasoned 3-6 months not enough and it won’t burn clean or hot and to long and it doesn’t leave good coals and burns up quicker. Then it’s just a matter of adding wood as needed. The key is a small hot burning fire. Stuff the box with to much wood, unseasoned wood, too large of splits and it smolders with white dirty smoke. Follow these simple rules and you will have clean blue smoke. Build a massive fire to start with then try to choke it down yes it will look like a train puffing white bitter smoke, even then though all is not lost, be patient let it regulate itself and organize it into that small clean hot burning fire. You won’t add food until the pit is at temp and maintained with clean blue smoke, 45-75 minutes after starting the fire. Every time you add a split you will get a little white smoke until that split lites. Couple things that will help is preheating splits on the griddle plate and leave the door cracked open for a couple minutes after adding a new split. I know some people prefer cooking with the fire box door wide open and that’s just fine nothing wrong with that but it’s not made to work that way mostly because your having to build a much larger fire than if the door was closed and temp is regulated with the intake damper. Hope this explanation helps anyone having issues with fire management and as always you can call me at the office, I am always available to coach anybody that asks for help.
Chris Goodlander
Lone Star Grillz
