Charcoal basket or Klose charcoal snake for off set firebox

[captain John]

Hey Guys, Living in Minnesota I don't have a lot of BBQers in area to talk with.
My Texas built pit is a offset made from 20" pipe. I'm looking at adding a Digi Q fan and controller to it this spring. I've read alot about Charcoal basket,filling bottom with unlit coal and adding hot coals on top and letting them burn down as smoking starts. Also looking @ ordering a Klose charcoal snake. What are your thoughts ???
Thanks in advance

 

[gtr]

I have a Klose basket. I get around 3 hours out of it - I've heard of folks getting up to 6, but I haven't really taken the time to figure out how to get more out of it. I also threw together a really ugly charcoal basket out of a couple pieces of expanded metal & nuts & bolts - I get about 3 hours out of that one too.

 

[Cloudsmoker]

I get 3-4 hours out of my Klose 20" basket. But I mostly use lump. Believe you might do a little better with regular charcoal.