So, in an effort to get longer smoking times out of my kettle, I finally got a chance to try out the B&B Char-logs. If you haven’t seen them, it’s charcoal that’s cylindrically shaped, I’d guess about 2 inches in diameter with a 1/8” hole. The length varies from about 2” to about 6” in length, so a pretty big variation in length (as you can see below). Initial impressions were that they seemed pretty hard and denser than standard B&B briquettes. Also, most of the char-logs in the bag seemed to be intact, with only a few broken pieces, though I’ll likely discover more as I get lower into the bag.
For this cook, I smoked a pair of chuckies (which I also posted in more detail in SUWYC). So I did my normal SNS+kettle setup. Pilled up a dozen briquettes and buried a wax starter in the middle. Then I put a single layer of briquettes and then a layer of the char-logs over those (I had read that the char-logs were hard to light, so I figured a layer of briquettes would help). I oriented the char-logs vertically and tried to get as many in as possible. After the pile of briquettes were fully lit and going, I filled a gap between the pile of briquettes and charl-logs with more briquettes. Also stuck a couple of wood chunks on top.
I got the kettle lite about 5:20 am, got the temperature up to ~230 and added the meat at 6am. By 7 am, I had the temp up to 240 and stabilized. Then I closed down the vents and attached the fan (an old partyQ, set for 240). At 1 pm it was still going rock steady at 240. My plan at this point was to foil boat the meat and bump the temperature up to 300 until finished, my standard procedure. This is were things started going downhill.
This is at 1:20 when I opened the kettle
As you can see, there is still a fair amount of unburned char-logs. I was pretty excited at this point. By now the kettle had been smoking since 6 am, a good 7 hours. Normally, with the SNS I get about 6 - 7 hours of smoke time before I have to refill. I turned off the fan and opened the vents, hoping to bump the temp to ~300. But no dice. Try as I might, it was all I could do to get the kettle back up to 240, let alone bump it up to 300. I tried everything I could think of. Simply opening the vents didn’t help. I turned the fan back on and set it to 300, and then air temp actually went down to 200. Finally, I opened it back up, pilled all the unturned coals and char-logs together and blew on it the pile to get it hotter. That helped, but still didn’t increase the temp much. I finally broke down about at 3:30 pm and added more briquettes. That got the temp up to 260, but that was about it. At about 5:30 pm, the chuckles were sliceable, so I called it.
Overall, I think the Char-logs showed promise, and they definitely have better burn time than standard briquettes (I normally use either KBB or B&B). But I’m really frustrated as to why I couldn’t bump the temp up. I think that if I had left it alone, it would have continue burn for a few more hours at 240. The only think I can think of is that the char-logs, being harder to light, had enough juice to keep the temp up and continue it’s slow burn, but not enough to increase temp at all. Don’t know, but I think there’s enough promise to warrant another attempt.
For this cook, I smoked a pair of chuckies (which I also posted in more detail in SUWYC). So I did my normal SNS+kettle setup. Pilled up a dozen briquettes and buried a wax starter in the middle. Then I put a single layer of briquettes and then a layer of the char-logs over those (I had read that the char-logs were hard to light, so I figured a layer of briquettes would help). I oriented the char-logs vertically and tried to get as many in as possible. After the pile of briquettes were fully lit and going, I filled a gap between the pile of briquettes and charl-logs with more briquettes. Also stuck a couple of wood chunks on top.
I got the kettle lite about 5:20 am, got the temperature up to ~230 and added the meat at 6am. By 7 am, I had the temp up to 240 and stabilized. Then I closed down the vents and attached the fan (an old partyQ, set for 240). At 1 pm it was still going rock steady at 240. My plan at this point was to foil boat the meat and bump the temperature up to 300 until finished, my standard procedure. This is were things started going downhill.
This is at 1:20 when I opened the kettle
As you can see, there is still a fair amount of unburned char-logs. I was pretty excited at this point. By now the kettle had been smoking since 6 am, a good 7 hours. Normally, with the SNS I get about 6 - 7 hours of smoke time before I have to refill. I turned off the fan and opened the vents, hoping to bump the temp to ~300. But no dice. Try as I might, it was all I could do to get the kettle back up to 240, let alone bump it up to 300. I tried everything I could think of. Simply opening the vents didn’t help. I turned the fan back on and set it to 300, and then air temp actually went down to 200. Finally, I opened it back up, pilled all the unturned coals and char-logs together and blew on it the pile to get it hotter. That helped, but still didn’t increase the temp much. I finally broke down about at 3:30 pm and added more briquettes. That got the temp up to 260, but that was about it. At about 5:30 pm, the chuckles were sliceable, so I called it.
Overall, I think the Char-logs showed promise, and they definitely have better burn time than standard briquettes (I normally use either KBB or B&B). But I’m really frustrated as to why I couldn’t bump the temp up. I think that if I had left it alone, it would have continue burn for a few more hours at 240. The only think I can think of is that the char-logs, being harder to light, had enough juice to keep the temp up and continue it’s slow burn, but not enough to increase temp at all. Don’t know, but I think there’s enough promise to warrant another attempt.
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