With 40 degree temps and no wind sucking the life out the kettle, you can attain 15-16 hours at 225 if you line up and somewhat anally stack the briquettes. I stack them vertically, and I don't stack the ones I will be pouring back in from the chimney. Couple wood chunks somewhere in the mix.
If you have any leaks, over time (major leaks 2-3 hours; minor leak 5-6 hours), it will gradually want to creep up on ya since this is a really hot burning charcoal.
I use a controller 99% of the time. This stuff actually produces less ash than standard Kingsford. It falls in between lump and Kingsord with respect to ash production.
Interesting. I only use kingsford blue bag as I am still getting up to speed, but I do find that they kick off a lot of ash and I have had a few cooks choked off before I realized what was going on. I might try this set up tomorrow, with the Kings blue, as it is going to be -5 and I suspect I will need the fuel for a 'short' 12 hour cook for a few butts. (Weber kettle with SnS)
if you line up and somewhat anally stack the briquettes. I stack them vertically, and I don't stack the ones I will be pouring back in from the chimney.
As different people have different perspective of what "stacking vertically" means, could you elaborate or photo what you mean?
As different people have different perspective of what "stacking vertically" means, could you elaborate or photo what you mean?
Lines of briquets upwards. I start on the opposite end where the chimney will be poured and just stack vertically. There's a corner, so I put one in that corner, then stack on top that one, and just keep working my way towards the void that will be lit coals from the chimney.
I have never used light cubes with B&B. Gas powered chimney lighting and all vents are wide open until 200-ish (depends how fast things are progressing). I load the meat immediately before dumping the chimney.
Interesting - I had adventures with my most recent cook on the SnS kettle using B&B, I'm still learning this approach (only my 6th cook with it, and only the 3rd low & slow). In addition to not loading in enough unlit coals, I think I dialed the vents back too soon. Next time I'll make a point of leaving things wide open until closer to target T.
Over the years I've become a bit of a charcoal snob. B&B orange bag is my overall favorite (I liked Weber briquettes equally as well but it's been discontinued). These briquettes are big. They burn really long and put out a very clean oaky aroma. They are slow to light though and I mostly limit their use to low/slow. They do burn pretty hot so gotta be careful with airflow on long cooks. I really like using a handful unlit underneath lit coals for an intermediate length cook - large halved russet potatoes, small birds like chicken, etc. They can really extend the length of a cook when used in that manner. My go-to for hot and fast grilling is Kingsford Professional. It heats up fast and burns hot and clean. That's about all I use these days. Every once in a while I will use lump, but unless I can find it at a really good price I find it to be unpredictable and with too much variance with the size of the pieces. If I can find a bag or two of really cheap charcoal I keep it on hand and use it as kindling for the stick burner. Other than that, it's Kingsford Pro and B&B orange bag.
I also use the lighter cubes even though I could use my genesis to light the chimney. I keep forgetting. I keep all vents and holes open until I get to around 200. I’ve used the X4 once and it was within 20 degrees of the lid thermometer so I will stick to that. I’d say it takes about a half hour to get where I want it. Used B&B mostly and some Kingsford.
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