Smoking how much charcoal

Minimal wind and since it threatened some rain I put the smoker under my carport to keep things dry didn't rain after all I just hear people putting on their meat at night and it being finished in the morning!?! No way could I do that, I feel like I have to check on it constantly. I left for 2 hours yesterday to get ice-cream with my daughter and came back to it being degrees.

It just seems hard to keep the temp up for extended periods and would love to not babysit it too much. Welcome aboard. The reason I left my offset was the babysitting required.

I recommend the mods suggested here and on other sites charcoal basket, lowering stack to grate level, difuser, etc to help you control the temp. Mine leaked like a sieve so I cut my losses and moved on. One bag is not a horrible thing, not great but not the end of smoking.

I would say the biggest reason is its not sealed up good enough. Did you have all the vents chocked down all the way? When I smoke on my offset, I have all the vents closed all the way. It gets enough air with the leaks in the seals. SMF Premier Member. Smokin rookie said:. You must log in or register to reply here.

Unlike smokers, charcoal grills need a special set-up to create the low cooking temperatures that create true barbecue. Luckily, setting up a two-zone grill is simple to do: When transferring lit coals into the grill, pile them on one side of the grill only.

After setting up the top grill grates, you'll place your food on the opposite side of the grill, where it'll slow-cook through indirect heat, keeping the grill covered to maintain an even, low temperature. BBQ expert Meathead Goldwyn suggests leaving the exhaust damper open all the way throughout the grilling process, and controlling the temperature by adjusting the intake damper.

As he points out on his website , "Playing with both vents at once is like trying to control the speed of your car by using both the gas pedal and the brake at once. First, take a reading on your thermometer about 5 minutes after adding the lit charcoals to one side of the grill. Every 5 minutes, check on the temperature and take note of where it stabilizes. You can use the minion method with lump charcoal, but briquettes work much better because they burn slower and more evenly.

The Minion Method is simply a pile of unlit charcoal with a hole in the middle. All you do is add a small amount of lit coals to the center of the pile and they will slowly catch onto the unlit charcoal.

Another way of lighting a Minion is to take an old coffee can and cut off both lids. Place the coffee can in the middle and pour the unlit coal around the can. Light a small amount of coals in a charcoal chimney and then pour them into the coffee can. Then, remove the coffee can with heat proof gloves or tongs. Knowing your smoker is the key to temperature control and the only way to understand your smoker is to do a few test runs. The amount of charcoal you use will depend on the type of smoker you are using, the wind, the vent adjustments, etc.

Since there are so many variables, the only way to get an accurate answer is to perform a test run and take notes, or light up your smoker with a cheaper cut of meat. Write how much charcoal you used, the vent adjustments and the temperatures. Place a full charcoal chimney of lit coal in your smoker.

Open all the vents and once your smoker has reached your target temperature, adjust the vents until the temperature has stabilized. There are several ways to place your coals in a kettle grill, but it depends on what meat you are smoking and for how long.

The most common ways are to use methods similar to the Snake or Minion. There are also a few Weber accessories like charcoal baskets or a Vortex. Briquettes work best in a kettle grill because they can nestle into one another and produce a balanced burn. However, you could take an axe and chop lump charcoal into smaller chunks so you can set up a Minion or Snake. A Weber Kettle should have two char-baskets that sit either side of the grill.

When done properly, barbecued meat is tender, juicy, smoky and very delicious. And you definitely don't need an expensive pellet smoker or Big Green Egg grill to make it right in your own backyard. All you really need is a simple charcoal grill you know the type plus a little know-how and some practice of course. I'll lay out how to smoke meat using a popular low and slow method on your backyard cooker. Though it's true that mastering barbecue is a lifelong pursuit, achieving mouth-watering pork ribs, shoulder and beef brisket is much easier than you think.

Once you taste good barbecue, it just might blow your mind. That's what happened to me, and now it's become a powerful need that often consumes me. When you cook a tough cut of meat at low temperatures F, Connective muscle tissue, normally chewy and unappetizing, breaks down. This process, combined with smoldering wood smoke, elevates otherwise inedible food into the realm of the fantastic.

Baby back pork ribs that "fall off the bone," tender pulled pork, or succulent slices of beef brisket, are all fine examples of this kind of cooking. Cooking with charcoal isn't like flipping on a gas grill or stove. You can't just spin a burner knob and dial the heat up or down.

Instead, the amount of fuel, the, volume and the weight of your charcoal is the biggest factor affecting heat levels. Too much charcoal and your grill temperatures will skyrocket. There's one popular way though, that reliably keeps heat in the grill low and stable. The technique is known as the charcoal snake method. The snake also lets your grill burn for hours on end. It's easiest to use the charcoal snake in kettle-style grills, like the Weber Classic, due to their round shape.