Wood/charcoal

[scottm4300]

Question for all of you - do you use mostly wood, or charcoal, or lump for that matter?

I've found myself starting with a chimney (actually a coffee can) of Kingsford, and after it's ashed over and I pull the can, the rest of the cook is wood - mostly maple, in roughly three inch splits. I haven't added any extra charcoal or lump.

As a result, I think I'm probably having to pay a little closer attention to temperature, and am adding wood more frequently than if I was mixing in some charcoal.

I'd just like to get a feel as to how everyone else is doing it. I'm sure this has been discussed before, but as the Grand Gherkin...oops Poobah recently pointed out, there's nothing wrong with re-asking old questions - you guys may have learned more since the last timie you posted.

Thanks

Scott

 

[Kevin]

Scott, I'm new to this too so take my advice with a grain of salt. I use Charcoal as my heat source and store bought hickory, maple, apple, cherry etc. as my flavor wood. I just dropped an oak tree to let it sit till fall and the mosquitos go away. Planning on stick burning exclusively next year. That's because I live in an area where oak and soft maple are relatively free, and hickory or mesquite is expensive. I've also got apple and pear on my property that I'll cut later so it's a little greener come cookin time. My favorite wood I've used for fish is sugar maple from northern MN. The fish reference takes this a little off topic so I'll let it go.

 

[BBQchef33]

A Chimney of kingsford to start and on that goes 1-2 logs. Burndown for 45 minutes or so. All fuel after that is logs or wood chunks until the coal bed is gone and there is just a log burning. i will add lump to replenish the coalbed if needed.

If the meat gets wrapped, i'll go to all lump or some kingsford just for heat.

 

[parrothead]

I start with charcoal to get a good coal bed. From there, I use as much wood as possible. Mainly because wood is basically free to me. Just spend a day with the chainsaw, and I have all I need for a year or more. I will still toss in charcoal here and there if I realise that I do not have much of a coal bed anymore.

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

A Chimney of kingsford to start and on that goes 1-2 logs. Burndown for 45 minutes or so. All fuel after that is logs or wood chunks until the coal bed is gone and there is just a log burning. i will add lump to replenish the coalbed if needed.

If the meat gets wrapped, i'll go to all lump or some kingsford just for heat.

Same here.

 

[Bigdog]

I start with charcoal, and then switch to wood. May need to add some lump if I need to boost temps in a hurry.

 

[nucleargeek]

I use charcoal as my main heat source and only use wood for flavor. My 0.02.

 

[dapittboss]

I use lump for heat, and wood for flavor. It seems to make less ash for me if I use lump instead of charcoal. I still gotta raise my charcoal basket up higher though.

 

[kcquer]

The single biggest difference between lump and briq is when adding unlit fuel to the fire. Lump has all its impurities already burned off and will light off cleaner than briq. This makes it a better choice for replenishing a coalbed. If you chimney up your briq before adding to an exsisting fire it'll work just fine, will work ok unlit if you just add a few (4-6 pieces) to replenish the coalbed enough to cleanly ignite the next piece of wood.

 

[JudgeTex]

I'm in the habit of Shutting off the oxygen supply to whatever wood is in the firebox after I'm done cooking and saving this half-baked excuse for lump to get the fire going the next time (it would just go to waste otherwise). I also break off small pieces of my smoke wood from time to time and save in a coffee can to use as kindling. Once I have a good fire, I just add wood now and again to keep it going. I have left too many bags of charcoal out in those blink-of-the eye flash floods we have in Texas. Real mess to clean that up.

 

[midnight]

I use mostly wood but will add charcoal if I need to get the heat up quicker or on real cold/windy days to help hold heat longer.

Kevin, if you ever have any extra wood you want to get rid of let me know! I am always on the look out for good quality wood at a fair price.