What kind of burn times to expect with fuse/snake on a 22 inch kettle?

[dogman]

Can anybody give me a rough idea how long a burn I should expect with a half and a full fuse/snake on a 22 incher? I'm  probably going to be using lump, I know that's a big variable. But if anybody has some general idea it would help.

[HoosierKettle]

I don’t know about lump but a snake wrapped 3/4 all the way around usually lasts me 7 hours. I would expect less with lump but have know idea.


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[CurtP]

I tried using lump once and it didn't work very well for me.  I had issues with keeping constant temperatures and incomplete burn.  That was back when I was using Cowboy, so that may have something to do with it.  Curious how well it worked for others.

[RebelDevil670]

Like CurtP, I tried lump once. Just couldn't get any consistency with it burning right. Hopefully you have much better results.

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[hawgheaven]

Lump is tough in a snake environment. Inconsistency of sizes and shapes don't lend themselves very well with this type of burn. And it doesn't last as long as briquets.

[dogman]

Thank you very much, guys. I realize lump is probably far from optimal in this case. And I wouldn't try it with brisket or any long cook. What I want to do is smoke some big salmon fillets, I am not sure but I guess it should take about 4 hours. I have a lot of lump here but almost no briquettes and I generally hate briquettes so I was trying to avoid them. But I suspect all the doubts concerning lump for this are probably valid.

[CurtP]

Might be a good excuse to buy a Slow N Sear - lump works fine in it.  It also works in the Smokenator, but I prefer the SNS.

[Hell Fire Grill]

12 is doable but reaching the limit. When I developed and introduced the "Snake" 10 years ago I intended it to be used with lump charcoal, but it was adulterated by fake charcoal before it got popular. Things have evolved in and around my current setup, which isn't available for public view, but this link will lead you in the right direction for getting a long ,low & slow burn.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44474&page=9

You'll need to buy or make a good quality/well crafted charcoal because quick fired charcoal doesn't burn all that well, which is the biggest part of the reason alot of guys have posted / copy & pasted poor results over the years.

[dogman]

Thank you @CurtP and @Hell Fire Grill

I actually did think about maybe using the Weber coal baskets. After I get some idea of the burn times maybe it would be good enough.

Fascinating info about the snake! Thank you for the update and for coming up with this. I think it's so obvious but therefore ingenious. The simplest stuff is the hardest for people to imagine.

I have some Weber lump and some locally-made lump. I'll know more later how they do. I only need to get 4 hours out of this because I'm cooking fish.

I don't buy anything from amazon and anyway the prices are usually 2x when they ship outside America plus the shipping is usually out of control. So I'll have to experiment or find something local.

Thanks for the link to bbqbrethren. I like what you did with the grate also. I was thinking I need to get a different setup for lump.

[kaan]

12 is doable but reaching the limit. When I developed and introduced the "Snake" 10 years ago I intended it to be used with lump charcoal, but it was adulterated by fake charcoal before it got popular. Things have evolved in and around my current setup, which isn't available for public view, but this link will lead you in the right direction for getting a long ,low & slow burn.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44474&page=9

You'll need to buy or make a good quality/well crafted charcoal because quick fired charcoal doesn't burn all that well, which is the biggest part of the reason alot of guys have posted / copy & pasted poor results over the years.

Thanks, that is good information!

[MacEggs]

What kind of burn times to expect with fuse/snake on a 22 inch kettle?

11 to 12 hours... Depending on your set-up and fuel being used.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/fuse-snake-lasted-11-plus-hours/

[dogman]

Thanks @MacEggs

Nice setup in that thread. I need to find some of that heavy duty screen both as a better coal platform and also to use as a ring. Looks like a very simple mod that would make a big difference.

Again it's always the small stuff that shows true genius.

[WMT]

I agree with MacEggs. I only used the snake method a couple times with briquettes and it worked great. I'm not sure why I don't use it more because it held 250ish for 11-12 hours with absolutly no adjusting of the air vents. The reason I used it was because I was cooking two whole pork loins and I needed the extra space on the grate for indirect cooking, The small footprint of the actual charcoal that was burning with the snake method provided that. I had two layers of briquettes two briquettes wide. I can't remember but I think I started with 4 or 6 fully lit briquettes at the beginning of the snake. It's easy to add more charcoal on the end of the snake to get more burn time out of it. Just clean away the ashes from the burnt charcoal and add to the end of the snake. I stay away from lump because the lump I can get around here has way too much small peices that fall through the grates on the weber

[Jules V.]

I rarely use a snake but I've run for 12 hours at 250-260F using a ring.

[WMT]

interesting ring