Still learning!

[john616]

Thank you. I will use lump on my next smoke. :wink:

 

[Lake Dogs]

Guys, IMHO we're dancing around symptoms of the problem. Heat rises, and that's the very basis of a good air flow/draw which results in a nice hot clean burning fire. Enter:

> extend smokestack to grate level,

IMHO, this is the culprit. Your cook should've been somewhere around 10 to 12 hours, not 16+. In this going through perhaps 2 bags of charcoal, at the most, on a small cooker like this should be fine.

Can you easily remove that one modification and see how it goes? The basket looks great to me.

 

[Q-Dat]

Just out of curiosity, what temp were you cooking at and how were you measuring the temp?

 

[Grafixgibbs]

Thank you. I will use lump on my next smoke. :wink:

I use a combination of lump and charcoal usually more lump than charcoal but have found it to work well with heat and length of temp keeping.

 

[EatRBBQ]

In my past experiences with my Chargriller...
That charcoal basket insert looks fine but large.
I can't imagine having to burn 60# of charcoal in my Chargriller - it would seriously melt.

Perhaps your giving it too much charcoal/fuel? Try a smaller, well controlled fire. You should be shooting for cooking temps around 230 degrees.

Using a fan?? Again, I'd have to guess you're loading too much charcoal in at a time. Chargrillers are historically breezy, lots of air leaks, and usually hard to maintain stable temps. The only reason I could imagine needing to force more air into one is because you're loading too much charcoal.


Additionally: When I offset smoke on my Chargriller I only need to use around 5 pounds or less of charcoal to start. Depending on the length of time I need I might add up to another 5 pounds.

 

[john616]

I extended smokestack to grate level because it was the theroy of some that it would keep the heat at cooking level before it could escape however it would be an easy mod to remove. I try to cook between 225 and 250. I measure temps with two Taylor grill/smoker thermometers that I calibrated in boiling water. I also use a Maverick Remote BBQ & Smoker Dual Probe Wireless Thermometer ET-73 for center temp at grate level. I have not used the Minion method but would start with two chimneys lit charcoal and add one chimney when temp would fall below 225. I would end up with a basket full of coal but not very hot. You could hold your hand over it. Thats when I started using the fan. I read somewhere on here that if you don't have heat the fires not getting enough oxygen. With the fan I could maintain cooking temps for up to an hour. During this hour I would stir the coal when the temps would start to fall which would bring the temps back up for a while till I could get another chimney lit. I always monitor the ash pan and keep it empty.

 

[Smokin_Butts]

I use a smoker very similar to yours. I have not modded the stack but instead I used angle iron to raise he level of the ash grate. I burned kiawe wood "a hawaiian relative to mesquite" and Hickory chunks. I would start with half a chimney of lump then put 3 12" logs of Kiawe on and cook like that. I would hold 225 to 250 for hours and an hour before bed I would add a dry log of Kiawe and once it was burning good fill the box to the brim with soaking wet Kiawe and Hickory with a few pieces of lump in there. If I turned down all the vents it would hold 225 all night long. I agree with what the others are saying. Yout methods are solid but your fuel sucks. It's clogging up the space below in your fire box. You obviously show inteligence and tallent and there is nothing "wrong" with that smoker but maybe for your next rig consider a custom build.