Charcoal Problems

milron · Sep 1, 2006

After battling all night long with the "NEW" Kingsford charcoal I have determined the following:
"Charcoal, just like a woman, sometimes hot, sometimes not!".

Don't know what went wrong, last several uses, everything was good, but these sixty pounds would not develop ant temp. GLowed great, ashed over good, just did not produced the heat as before.
Any ideas as to what went wrong? By the way, it was not wet, nor was it cold outside.

beerguy · Sep 1, 2006

I married some charcoal just like that. Im no help.

Kirk · Sep 1, 2006

What kind of cooker? Were you cooking more meat this time? Was it windy? What kind of temps did you see before and how big was the difference on this cook?

Brauma · Sep 1, 2006

BeerGuy, Did we marry sisters?

kickassbbq · Sep 1, 2006

Hey,
When you become a full fledged Stick Burner, you won't be worried about no stinking charcoal!!!!!
Stick Burners Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smoke On!!!!!!!!!
Hope everyone has a GREAT Holiday weekend.
I am home alone, with the smokers, Whiskey, Bikes and Blues!!!!!!!
ed

bbqjoe · Sep 1, 2006

kickassbbq said:
Hey,
When you become a full fledged Stick Burner, you won't be worried about no stinking charcoal!!!!!
Stick Burners Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smoke On!!!!!!!!!
Hope everyone has a GREAT Holiday weekend.
I am home alone, with the smokers, Whiskey, Bikes and Blues!!!!!!!
ed

Say no more! Nudge, nudge. Know what I mean?

jt · Sep 1, 2006

Let's bring this back on-topic...

Milron - like Kirk asked- give us more information about your cooker, etc and we'll help with what we can.

Questions:
1. do you have enough airflow under the firegrate?
2. as the cook went on did you clean out the ash under the firegrate? Ash buildup greatly reduces your airflow. I've battled temps before only to find I needed to remove the ash.
3. all your vents open?

Bill-Chicago · Sep 1, 2006

jt said:
Questions:
1. do you have enough airflow under the firegrate?
2. as the cook went on did you clean out the ash under the firegrate? Ash buildup greatly reduces your airflow. I've battled temps before only to find I needed to remove the ash.
3. all your vents open?

I actually just saw this thread.

jt, all 3 points are exactly what I thought.

Airflow, tell us about airflow.

When I first used a charcoal basket, I could not get above 170*. Changed the direction of how the Dera was sitting on the patio, opened the side door a crack, and it shot right up to 230*.

milron · Sep 1, 2006

Attached photo of homemade grill. Everything was clean, no ash residue from previous cookings.
Air flow, I have a 5" opening on the lower end next to the fire cross drawing to the other end out the 5" stack. I varied the opening in the stack several times but no change in temp.
The major difference of this cooking of butts...I went up from an average of 25-30 to 40 on the racks this time.
I'm also going to check the calibration on the thermometer this pm. I could only hold my hand on the top for a three count.
Really got me scatching my bald head now. Got to cook 30 slabs of St. Louie's Sunday, and some 60 ABT's. May paly with and empty grill Saturday to see what's going on.
As always, I appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

Bill-Chicago · Sep 1, 2006

Is there a possibility that something is partially blocking the chimney?

Other than that (something simple) I'm kinda stumped

PS, nice rig

Solidkick · Sep 1, 2006

The increase of volume of meat has something to do with it.....get your pit up to temp with lump and then maintain with kingsford. Add lump as needed to get you back up when it starts to get unmamageable with Kingsford.

The_Kapn · Sep 1, 2006

"I varied the opening in the stack several times but no change in temp.
The major difference of this cooking of butts...I went up from an average of 25-30 to 40 on the racks this time."

I am taking this just as written. If you varied exhaust damper and did not change anything, there was something BEFORE that dampening the airflow. Especially since you said everything went well before.
My best guess--meat.

There is a current thread about airflow:
http://bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20137

See if any of this makes sense to your situation.

TIM

Solidkick · Sep 1, 2006

Solidkick said:
The increase of volume of meat has something to do with it.....get your pit up to temp with lump and then maintain with kingsford. Add lump as needed to get you back up when it starts to get unmamageable with Kingsford.

Damn Reno thread in comps and the chicken ranch has got my mind elswhere for sure......:roll:

BBQchef33 · Sep 1, 2006

another thing to consider.. The Fundaments of heat and mass transfer. Did u put 280lbs of cold butts into a 250 degree chamber? (280 lbs of butts...avg 7lbs avg).. that much meat is gonna suck the heat out of the ambient air in the chamber. The way the heat exchanges in the chamber, the cold goes out of the meat and hot goes in... The speed it exchanges is in direct relation to the differences in the temps of the two... the wider the gap, the faster the exchange. So, if the chamber is at or near your target temp when you put the meat in, the delta is smaller and your gonna burn alot more fuel to maintain chamber temp. Making that gap larger(hotter chamber), will speed the exchange and close the gap, which levels out temps sooner and slows fuel consumption. Got all that.??? :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :wink: :mrgreen:

phew.. that was a babble. i just HAD to do that. Spent the afternoon with my boss. nerd mod...

So, whats all that bullchit mean? When i am doing large cooks, i bring the chamber up to 350 and let it run for a while to get that steel hot too. Put the meat in, and leave dampers wide open to get temps back up close to 300, then damper down a bit and let temps drop to 250 gradually as it brings surface temp of the meat up.. once the meat temp is higher, heat transfer between chamber and meat will slow down and temps will stabilize and by then, im down to a few coals in the chamber maintaining temps.

Or, just dont put a load of cold meat in the chamber.

also.. did the additional butts possibly interfere with airflow too?

Solidkick · Sep 2, 2006

Yea.....that's what I meant...but was too lazy to type it out.....that's what we have old Poopie for......

QansasjayhawQ · Sep 2, 2006

willkat98 said:
[Snip]

When I first used a charcoal basket, I could not get above 170*. Changed the direction of how the Dera was sitting on the patio, opened the side door a crack, and it shot right up to 230*.

I've found that how I turn the smoker on the patio has a lot to do with maintaining - and regulating temperatures. Turn the intake towards the prevailing wind to heat up, OR away from the wind to help temps drop. No wind? Set up a fan to blow on the intake if needed.

I watched the guys from the Just For Fun BBQ team at our BBQ competition here back in May. They had an awesome setup where they had rigged a thermostat to their smoker. When the temps dropped, it didn't turn on a furnace - it turned on a forced induction fan they had mounted on the air intake. After the temps in the smoker cabinet got up to where they wanted it, the thermostat shut off the fan. Great engineering!

/Brother Dave

BBQchef33 · Sep 2, 2006

Thats soulds like a BBQ Guru.

Wayne · Sep 2, 2006

Maybe we have gone beyond global warming and started a new ice age. Look behind you and see if there are any glaciers sneaking up on your neighborhood. Big white bears are also another sure indicator.

milron · Sep 5, 2006

Alright, nothing but my ignorance, and the grace you you guys waking me up. First of all, THANKS!
If I increase the volume of meat by 20%, sure I should have to go with more heat to overcome and maintain. Its been a long time since my highschool physics class, and sometimes speling class.
Thanks for all the helpful tips and study.
Most everybody passed the class.
Now I have to think up the next trick question...............

NorthernQ · Sep 5, 2006

jt said:
Let's bring this back on-topic...

Milron - like Kirk asked- give us more information about your cooker, etc and we'll help with what we can.

Questions:
1. do you have enough airflow under the firegrate?
2. as the cook went on did you clean out the ash under the firegrate? Ash buildup greatly reduces your airflow. I've battled temps before only to find I needed to remove the ash.
3. all your vents open?

Also nice to know weather conditions ... pressure, temp, wind, precip????

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