Whats the best fuel to use?

Hi
Just got ProQ Amigo for Xmas pressie from the wife (her love of smoked fish had nothing to do with the purchase, she tells me lol). Just completed the first run to season the unit and used bog standard supermarket charcoal briquettes (couple of kilos as advised in ProQ literature) and couldn't get the temp above 80degree C. Coals only burnt for 90mins before temp dropped to hand warm.
Reading numerous articles on the web there appears to be lots of conflicting info as to which is the best fuel to use.... briquettes, lumpwood, restaurant grade, heat beads etc etc.
Can anyone give me some idiot guidance as to what's best to use (cost isn't everything, but seen some at £15 for a few kilos!!!) and how much to use to get temp up to the magic 110C?? I'm keeping things simple to start with and sticking to salmon/trout and chicken for the time being.
Thanks
Howard

Hello Howard
thank you for your post

Here is a check list to go through

Use a restaurant grade charcoal

Is the Lid vent open

Have you filled the charcoal pan up with charcoal,
and not just used a chimney starter full as that will not be enough.

Did you fill the water pan up with hot water to help speed up the process

Are you are going by the temp gauge on the lid for the reading.
if so please remember this is just a gauge.

happy smoking

from Paul

Hi Howard,

I too was lucky enought to receive a new ProQ smoker this Christmas!

I'm no competition cook but have been enjoying it for a few years, long enough to find supplies of charcoal / wood etc without breaking the bank!

I mostly use restaurant lumpwood which you can pick up for around £10 for a 12kg bag from the local wholesaler or online year round. The one I get is in a big blue bag and is great for all except the longest of cooks. For those I would go for some premium briquettes, which I usually buy from the garden centre during the summer.

As Paul mentioned, the lid thermometer is good as a guide but may read a little cool, if you are really keen to know the temperature at the level of the food you can't go wrong with an oven thermometer that you can pick up for about £5. You could spend £50 on a digital thermometer and close to the same on your fuel but I find the suggestions above plus a basic analogue probe thermometer(again about £5) helps me turn out some crowd pleasing BBQ!

Hope this helps!

Thank you both for the advice

Think I had most things right but simply not enough charcoal in the crate. Will get myself some decent fuel, fill her up and see how things go this weekend..... assuming the horizontal rain has stopped by then!