burn times on the excel20

I just wanted to see if anyone has tried using half sand half water in the water pan and if so what kind of temps are you getting and holding. I used the water pan filled to the top and I held 220* -225*. I was hoping to get a little higher temps. Im using a combination of lump and briquettes. ( Wish I could get coconut coal in the US) Any ideas guys? Thanks

You can get coconut from the Big Green Egg site and several others. It's easier to get there then here.

I've only used mine once (weekend before last) but I was able to get to 230-250 degrees using full pan of water for just over 8 hours. Used the minion method with a full load of charcoal (kingsford briquette and cowboy lump charcoal mix). Had to half shut the vents a couple times to keep it from going higher. One thing I did do after reading these forums is put the smoker on the least windy side of the house. One other factor that may have helped is that our temps that afternoon peaked at 110 degrees.

Bryan

I used my E20 this past weekend, with mixed results.

I used fine sand, a bit less than half pan full, and water in a large foil pan on the sand. I was cooking up on a mountain near Tucson, at 8,200 feet elevation, and had a hard time keeping the temperature up. Maybe it was the altitude, with lower oxygen, maybe it was the sand, but most of the time I had to keep one of the doors open on the stackers to keep the temp up.

I used the minion method, but a problem may have been that I didn't let all the briquettes get fully lit.

Oops, forgot the other parts. You can get coconut charcoal here in the US, but you might have to have it shipped. Here is a website where you can order it:

http://www.tropicalcharcoal.com/

Also, in my 2nd cook (two 7-pound butts), I only got about 5 hours out of a full basket of Kingsford Blue. On the second fill, so much ash had built up that I couldn't keep the temperature up, so had to take the E20 apart and dump ash.

On my second smoke I got 10 hours... only difference from my first smoke was that I only used the Kingsford briquettes (no lump) and was able to pack it tighter.

"On the second fill, so much ash had built up that I couldn't keep the temperature up, so had to take the E20 apart and dump ash."
A high ash content is usually a sign of bad charcoal/ briquettes, as the ash is basically all the fillers the use to bulk the product up.

I know that, Mack. But I used nothing but Kingsford Blue, which most everyone else here uses.

Again, I'm wondering if the high altitude could have had anything to do with it.

Why not give the clay saucer pan method a try ?
See my post:
https://proq.forumotion.com/smoking-low-and-slow-f3/does-any-of-you-use-a-clay-saucer-instead-of-water-t738.htm#5113
As I wrote there it worked perfect in my WSM at the time and now in my Excel 20

I saw that post, Ton, and I think I will give it a try.

As I may have mentioned, I have been using water also with the sand -- putting one of those cheap foil roasting pans on top of it. So may also try that with the clay saucer.