Difference?

I have been using Cowboy and Royal Oak brand of lump charcoal. All with great results. But, I just purchased Kingsford Charwood at Sam's Club and used it on couple of smokes. The Kingsford is much heavier than the others and seems to have difficulty burning. I really have to pour the air to it. I have to take stackers off and fan it to get it to burn. Does the Kingsford contain a lot more moisture than the others? Anyone else have any experience with Kingsford

We don't get any of the charcoal brands you mentioned over here (unfortunately), so we'll have to wait for one of the folks from your side of the pond to chime in.

I have heard of others have problems with Kingsford Lump, so I never used it. I have only used RO. Usually I use a 50/50 mix of RO lump and Kingsford Briquettes.

Why mix?

The mix is something that not too many folks know about. The lump will give you quicker lighting and fast temps up into the cooking range that you desire and the briquettes will provide a longer more consistent burn.

Sorta the best of both worlds.

Roxy wrote:The mix is something that not too many folks know about. The lump will give you quicker lighting and fast temps up into the cooking range that you desire and the briquettes will provide a longer more consistent burn.

Sorta the best of both worlds.

Bingo! I mix too.

Ok, Roxy, do you fill fire grate with briquettes and then pour hot lump on top or just mix the two in the grate box and in the chimney starter at the beginning? C'mon, spill them secrets.....

I like to dump a layer of briquettes and then a layer of lump and more briquettes and top it off with some lump. I almost always use briquettes in the chimney to get the fuel in the cooker going.. Dont know why, I just do.

I also do not mix wood chunks into the charcoal, I know that lots of folks do, but I prefer to not do this as I feel I can get way too much wood burning at once.. I want to be able to control the amount of smoke I put to the meat. I add a couple a three chunks every few hours as I find they last longer than you would think.

Even on an over night cook I will not leave the cooker unattended for longer than say an hour and a half so this works well for me. When the smoke stops or the chunks look like they are spent, its time to add another 2 or 3 chunks of wood.

Thank goodness for that alarm feature on the cell phone..

Hope this helps ya some.

I dont layer and add briqs from the chimney as lump to too violent.

fwiw, like Roxy, I layer briquettes on the bottom, lump, then briquettes on top, and light with 10-12 briquettes from the chimney.

However, I do place about 3 wood chunks in the coals somewhere to ignite during the cook. When I place the 10-12 lit coals, I place them in the area of only one of the wood chunks, leaving the other two to start burning later.
Also keep in mind, that the lump is providing smoke throughout, so I use less wood chunks than if I used charcoal alone.

Good info guys! Thanks for sharing.
Hopefully my Excel will be here soon and I can put this to use, cut down on the learning curve. Being a Stick Burner, this vertical stuff is all new to me.
Thanks again,
Bill

Just remember to get your neat on as the tenos are rising so you have control over the temps. I like to let the smoke turn blue before I introduce the food.

So if I understand this correctly. You use briquettes to help stablize the fire over long period of time. You use lump to jump start the fire to faster cooking temp which is 225 or so (chicken maybe higher?). Few chunks of dry wood ever so often (when smoke disappears) unless your have a short smoking time in which you may soak the wood to intensify the smoke over a shorter period of time. Water or Sand in pan to help distribute heat evenly throughout smoker. How close is this?

BTW Ian, I installed the additional two vents you sent me on my Frontier tonight. No problem. Instructions were on this site so it was very easy. Can't wait til the weekend comes. Three day weekend too.

gwcphoto wrote:So if I understand this correctly. You use briquettes to help stablize the fire over long period of time. You use lump to jump start the fire to faster cooking temp which is 225 or so (chicken maybe higher?). Few chunks of dry wood ever so often (when smoke disappears) unless your have a short smoking time in which you may soak the wood to intensify the smoke over a shorter period of time. Water or Sand in pan to help distribute heat evenly throughout smoker. How close is this?

BTW Ian, I installed the additional two vents you sent me on my Frontier tonight. No problem. Instructions were on this site so it was very easy. Can't wait til the weekend comes. Three day weekend too.

I do not soak wood at all... I dont use chips so that is the reason. Chunks all the way dude.

Thanks Roxy, and others, for you help. I will use the "mix" this weekend.

I just stay away from Kingsford products all together. If I use briquettes, I use "Original Charcoal Company" 100% natural briquettes. They are all charwood with a starch binder. No chemicals and WAY less ash than KF. If I'm helping to teach a Qing class I always recommend them.

But I generally just use lump. Break up the really big pieces and control the air going into the cooker.

Finney wrote:I just stay away from Kingsford products all together. If I use briquettes, I use "Original Charcoal Company" 100% natural briquettes. They are all charwood with a starch binder. No chemicals and WAY less ash than KF. If I'm helping to teach a Qing class I always recommend them.

But I generally just use lump. Break up the really big pieces and control the air going into the cooker.

I use a product called "Great Charcoal" and their briquettes are made the same was as you mentioned. The thing I like is this has allowed me to use the briquettes again as they do not stink of coal as most of the other one do.