Big Joe 3 Fuel Needs?

[MassM1Griller]

Good morning all.

For the last few years I have relied on the M1 for smoking/grilling, and my trusty ole Broil King Keg 4000 for high heat and long New England winter cooking sessions.

The BKK4000 has finally started to rust out at the bottom part of the damper opening and I decided to move on to a Big Joe 3 for the extra real estate and possibility of adding the Joetissirie sometime down the road.

Big Joe 3 arrived on Friday and I was able to get it set up and do an initial burn the next day. The kids wanted pizzas last night and I thought that would be the perfect first initial cook to see what this thing could do.

Now, traditionally my BKK4000 would scamper up to 600 so and I would have to shut things down before it would try and shoot all the way to the moon with the temps... and it would hold it for hours.

This time, I filled the Big Joe 3 with what I thought was a reasonable amount of lump and let it rip. She charged, albeit much slower than the BKK4000, up to about 525 and then just kind of stopped. I was puzzled. She held on to that temp for only about 2 hours and then started to flame out. Sure enough, the charcoal was nearly done and I was left with the sad feeling of heating up the oven in the house for the last 2 pizzas.

So my question is, how much fuel does thing beast require? When stepping up from a 18" cooker to a 24" cooker, do folks notice they need to essentially double the amount of charcoal they use? The fire basket it comes with is comically huge so I have lots of headroom to play with. Was just really puzzled by the result since I felt I used a large amount to begin with.

Any advice on getting along with the Big Joe is welcomed. Spending that kind of scratch and watching it get outplayed by my old BKK4000 was not how I was expecting to walk away from my first cook.

Thanks,
EB

 

[Hotch]

I always fill my BGE large to just about the top of the fire ring. Having an inch or so clearance to the platesetter. Pretty much the same on the XL when I cook on one of those.
Once done just shut it down and close it up to snuff out the lump. Then add to it for the next cook.
That said, I always clean it out on long cooks of 6-8 hours or more. Keeping the lump that is left from the prior cooks.
Congrats on the new BJ 3.

 

[MassM1Griller]

Thanks for the tip.

I gave it another go today following your suggestion and things went way smoother.

I guess I'm just going to have to get used to using a bit more charcoal than I'm used to, but the size of the grill is exactly what I wanted so not really a complaint.

 

[Hotch]

One other tip.
If you need a low temp, say 225-250, light a small area of lump. Once the temp gets within 25 degrees of your target temp start closing the lower vent and the upper daisy wheel to try to catch it before it goes past the target temp.

On a hot cook, say 325-375 or 400, light more lump surface area.
This tip is based on using a propane torch.

If using fire starters use one for low temp cooking and 2 or 3 for hotter cooks.