Noob question - High Heat 1 hour+ cook

[DougWilsonsSlapper]

All:

I'll trying to understand something, although I'm getting a better sense of it as I'm continuing to grill.

I've done a handful of high-heat 1 hour plus cooks, using both indirect and direct.  (combos of steak, fish, burgers, veggies, cedar plank salmon, etc)

When we talk about how long charcoal lasts for a cook, like on nakedwhiz.com, is the time calculated from initial flame or from after the 20-25 minutes of heating up?  I assume the former, in which case somehow the heat starts dying down quickly in the middle of a cook.

Are briquettes better for this kind of thing?   

Is it best just to add unlit lump or briquettes in the middle of the cook?

What other methods for maintaining high temps for a while are there?

I used lump with the vortex for wings yesterday and think I would be better off with briquettes, as adding charcoal in the middle is impossible (can't remove the center of my grate).

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[Dc_smoke309]

Depending on what brand of charcoal is a big thing as far as how long you have heat, and does it have air flow .

Adding in the middle of a cook i do that sometimes . Either lump or briquettes . All personal preference. I favor briquettes others don’t .

If u want that sucker to scream hot, sometimes I just crack the lid a half inch for a few mins and get that charcoal going

I found lump charcoal in my vortex to not work as great too, I feel like the hunks are too big for the vortex. Invest in a grate with a removable center . I LOVE mine .
 
Just keep tinkering . You will figure it out what works best for you . Just don’t think about it to hard !!!




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[HoosierKettle]

Dc_smoke, He has the 26 without removable center.

Either way you should easily get an hour without adding.

Like was said, different types and brands of coal will yield different results. I only use briquettes in the vortex myself.  Also cracking the lid really helps achieve higher temps when needed just like Dc mentioned. 


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[DougWilsonsSlapper]

Thanks for the responses.   It's very very very helpful and appreciated. 

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