Need your help with lump.

[ChrisJ]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and fairly new to charcoal as well.  I've always been a huge Weber gas grill fan but wanted to step things up a notch and use charcoal from time to time.

I own a Weber Smokey Joe Gold which I feel was a mistake (wish I bought the silver) and a Jumbo Joe.  I finally got to the point where I can somewhat reliably cook with kingsford brickettes but the wife hates the taste of food cooked over it.  I tried some Frontier lump charcoal and to my surprise she loves the food!

The problem I am having is my fire is either going out, or running out of steam before I'm done cooking something as fast as some steaks.  This weekend I'm using the Jumbo Joe as well as a standard Weber Chimney and Weber starter cubes.     I really need some help because I'm not sure if I'm leaving the charcoal in the chimney too long and it's just running out (I doubt it), or if I'm not letting it get going enough in the chimney or if it has to do with my arrangement in the kettle.  I had flames coming out of the chimney before dumping, though the top coals were barely lit.

Here is a picture of how the coals were tonight when I barely finished cooking the steaks before the fire was too cool.  Dampers were wide open top and bottom.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t31.0-8/10386942_10152416872501253_3220306727564008179_o.jpg

I'm confused now because I had cooked some burgers in the Smokey Joe Gold using a few huge chunks of lump charcoal and was amazed at how hot the fire was.  In fact, it was the first time that grill ever gave me some real heat!   Now once I finally thought I knew what I was doing I switched to the Jumbo Joe which breaths really good and ended up with a cool fire that seems to have gone out.

So I'm all ears and welcome all opinions.  At this point I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

[1buckie]

Howdy, Chris & welcome here !!!

Was able to enlarge your pic & get a good look at it & it SEEMS like it may need to actually go a little longer in the chimney, or after you dump, a smidge longer uncovered in the kettle.....

Lump can be quirky sometimes, certain brands or even certain bags will have a bit more moisture in them & if not let burn until it gets good & white (indicating the burn is moving toward the core of each piece) it will take a nose dive when it has less air..............

Frontier is a good brand, so I would think maybe just get the burn rolling a bit more, like so ~~>







Just kidding, that's a bit over the top, but see how the result of a full burn looks  down in the kettle:

 

Mostly white & very hot.....this was for seasoning the big Weber wok & needed to be pretty screamin', but you get the idea, for a Jumbo Joe, just scaled back a bit........

That was this stuff:




When it's fully oxygenated in the chimney, it's pretty wild, but calms down well when it has somewhat less air in the kettle.....................

So the short answer may be, get more of a 'bite' of burn into the charcoal before it's dumped in.....

[ChrisJ]

Thank you for the reply!

So this may be a dumb question but, should the lump charcoal be white like yours before I dump it?   
i'll admit, I've waited until I had some flames, but nothing remotely compared to your pictures.

I'll be trying again tomorrow, maybe more than once.   

[1buckie]

Yeah, try letting the burn go all the way thru 'till the actual flame dies off a bit & things are more white.....

If you have sputtering problems, do this:



I think this should help what's going on, if not we'll get some real experts in here
& figger it out ................

[pbe gummi bear]

Lump isn't as dense as briquettes by volume and shape so to really get a long burn mix up various pieces to pack them in tight.  You can even put the lit lump on unlit charcoal to get it burning for longer. Your charcoal later looks like one layer of charcoal only. Due to the nature of lump once it ashes and crumbles you're heat is gonna fall rapidly if there isn't more charcoal under it. Hope that makes sense

[ChrisJ]

Thank you for all of the replies.

I noticed with brickettes they liked to billow smoke when starting.  This doesn't seem to be the case with lump, so is it safe to add unlit charcoal to a fire while cooking food or is that still a bad idea?

Yes, I only did one layer, but tomorrow I'll be cooking some bone in chicken breasts via indrect so I'm going to need a pretty good fire off to the side and will need to get some time out of it.  I did see a few very large chunks in this bag so I'm hoping to get some time out of those.

[1buckie]

Check what gummi says.....dump the lit on top of unlit for a longer burn.....1st heat comes from the lit, then continues on as the unlit catches.....make sense how I'm describing it?

[ChrisJ]

Yessir,
I'm just wondering what to do if I realize I'm running out but need to keep cooking.

Just dump more in,  or, fire some up in the chimney?

I'm just trying to prepare for growing pains I know will come.

[1buckie]

Welp.....not for grilling steaks, but I could most likely run for 24 hours or so doing this:



Links:

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/re-print-ok-what's-in-kettle-3/msg35831/#msg35831

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/other-recipes/something-different/

Just keep adding coals to the end of the circle................for a Jumbo, with grilling, most likely just add lit up coals to keep the heat at a more even level..............

[ChrisJ]

Welp.....not for grilling steaks, but I could most likely run for 24 hours or so doing this:



http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/re-print-ok-what's-in-kettle-3/msg35831/#msg35831

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/other-recipes/something-different/

Just keep adding coals to the end of the circle................for a Jumbo, with grilling, most likely just add lit up coals to keep the heat at a more even level..............

Ah,
Is that what is known as "the snake method" ?

[1buckie]

 
Yup !!!


See links.............

[addicted-to-smoke]

Yessir,
I'm just wondering what to do if I realize I'm running out but need to keep cooking.

Just dump more in,  or, fire some up in the chimney?

I'm just trying to prepare for growing pains I know will come.

Chris, if your existing coals are going well, dumping unlit coals on top will get the new ones going. No need to light with the chimney in that case. If you're doing an indirect you'll already have the original coals of to each side. Just start feeding a few through the wider hole in your grate where the handles are, right on top of the old coals.

[Craig]

All great suggestions, I wanted to add that Frontier briquettes are exquisite! A nice natural smell and flavor! I use them to supplement my Kingsford supply. Lump wise, I've tried Cowboy and Royal oak and the Royal oak seems less "sparky"

[mike.stavlund]

Chris, it sounds like you are learning a lot, and will be well ahead of yourself when you get further down the road (if that makes any sense).  If you someday want a longer or hotter fire, you'll be able to adapt by adding more unlit or lit coals (respectively).

I pour lump out of the chimney sooner than briquettes (which I wait until they are almost entirely white), but not a lot sooner.  Once I see white edges around the uppermost pieces of lump in the chimney, I dump it over.  I also agree with gummi that it's good to lay lit lump onto a bed of unlit lump (and I realize that's essentially what I'm doing when I dump out a chimney that is not hot on the top).  Also, I tend to use a bit more volume of lump as compared to briquettes... remember that lump is much less dense than briquettes and adjust accordingly.

Most of all, though, I'm glad you're having some success cooking and that your wife is enjoying it too.  Keep up the good work!

[ChrisJ]

So today I learned a few things and everything worked out.

I loaded up the Jumbo Joe with as much lump charcoal as would fit on the front and back, cooking baked potatoes via direct heat and the chicken indirect.  Afterwards I closed the dampers quite a bit but kept it going and an hour later my wife used the remaining charcoal in the chimney to do s'mores.

During this I got to see just how hot lump charcoal can get and after dumping it I was amazed at how long it stayed hot.  It seems large chunks take a long time to light but will stay hot an incredibly long time.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/10257092_10152419149561253_3746951638280488280_o.jpg

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/10353336_10152419149586253_3274069704318593731_o.jpg

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/1493536_10152419149666253_8426108290869110613_o.jpg

So now I see what I need to do before cooking steaks and it's as everyone said, leave the lump in the chimney until it's really going.  The fire I had for the chicken was hot, and lasted over 2 hours for cooking and then the remaining coals were used for the s'mores.  Apparently I can get a whole lot more heat out of lump charcoal then I expected.

Thanks again!