When I did my baby backs yesterday, I already had about a 20% load of lump left over from my last cook. I usually burn that off, as a way to clean the grates, but this time I didn’t.
For the new cook, I dumped out the leftover lump into a bucket, put wood chunks at the bottom, added 80% new lump, and then topped with the old charcoal. I then lit it using a torch. I’m used to my BGE smoking quite a bit, belching gray and white smoke as it comes up to temperature and the walls heat-soak. After as much as 45 minutes, the smoke dissipates, the wood chunks have started burning, and I get the nice thin blue stuff we all look for.
Instead, I got no smoke at all. NONE. The old lump lit up, the dome temp rose quickly, and the BGE stabilized in about 15 minutes. To say I was surprised is an understatement; I couldn’t believe it. But, I rolled with it. It was a good cook. The ribs came out really good.
My hypothesis is that the old charcoal had already dried out and given up its noxious compounds, and there was little energy expended combusting those; and in turn, the heat generated by the old lump burning dried out the new lump and helped it burn hotter and more completely/efficiently, so the smoke was more like that of an offset fire; it all came from the wood chunks, burning at a higher temperature, and not from the lump itself.
Adding to that analysis is that I used a double deflector, which, by creating more isolation, forces a hotter fire to create the same dome temperature, and I set the cooking grate 2” above the gasket line, higher in the dome, again forcing a hotter fire to produce the 260° grate level temp (because the grate was farther from the fire).
This all fits with Meathead’s What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, and Combustion; it’s being experimented with by the YouTube personality Smoking Dad, who isn’t just winging it but is doing some serious thinking and experimenting. BBQ from oxygen regulated fires doesn’t taste like BBQ from fuel regulated fires. But does it have to be that way? My ribs yesterday didn’t taste like offset ribs… but they didn’t taste like kamado ribs, either. There are still some things I want to work with. I put wood chips under the charcoal basket; embers are supposed to fall from above and ignite those, adding to the smoke that gets pulled through the lump. My chips didn’t ignite. Next time I think I’ll just fire the torch in there.
This might work. It is certainly different. Yesterday’s cook was a quick “I want ribs today” cook, not an experiment cook. But the next one I’m going to bring some more ideas along.
For the new cook, I dumped out the leftover lump into a bucket, put wood chunks at the bottom, added 80% new lump, and then topped with the old charcoal. I then lit it using a torch. I’m used to my BGE smoking quite a bit, belching gray and white smoke as it comes up to temperature and the walls heat-soak. After as much as 45 minutes, the smoke dissipates, the wood chunks have started burning, and I get the nice thin blue stuff we all look for.
Instead, I got no smoke at all. NONE. The old lump lit up, the dome temp rose quickly, and the BGE stabilized in about 15 minutes. To say I was surprised is an understatement; I couldn’t believe it. But, I rolled with it. It was a good cook. The ribs came out really good.
My hypothesis is that the old charcoal had already dried out and given up its noxious compounds, and there was little energy expended combusting those; and in turn, the heat generated by the old lump burning dried out the new lump and helped it burn hotter and more completely/efficiently, so the smoke was more like that of an offset fire; it all came from the wood chunks, burning at a higher temperature, and not from the lump itself.
Adding to that analysis is that I used a double deflector, which, by creating more isolation, forces a hotter fire to create the same dome temperature, and I set the cooking grate 2” above the gasket line, higher in the dome, again forcing a hotter fire to produce the 260° grate level temp (because the grate was farther from the fire).
This all fits with Meathead’s What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, and Combustion; it’s being experimented with by the YouTube personality Smoking Dad, who isn’t just winging it but is doing some serious thinking and experimenting. BBQ from oxygen regulated fires doesn’t taste like BBQ from fuel regulated fires. But does it have to be that way? My ribs yesterday didn’t taste like offset ribs… but they didn’t taste like kamado ribs, either. There are still some things I want to work with. I put wood chips under the charcoal basket; embers are supposed to fall from above and ignite those, adding to the smoke that gets pulled through the lump. My chips didn’t ignite. Next time I think I’ll just fire the torch in there.
This might work. It is certainly different. Yesterday’s cook was a quick “I want ribs today” cook, not an experiment cook. But the next one I’m going to bring some more ideas along.
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