To put or to not put unlit charcoal with meat

[spicydad]

Hello,
I have read on multiple sites many contradictions about the use of charcoal when it's time to either start the bbq or keep it warm on long cooks.

I have read that it's very unhealty to put unlit charcoal when meat is present in the bbq because of the white smoke it produces.
I have not read something like that on this site.

Until last year I was releasing the chimney as soon as it started crackling. I was not aware of the differences between white and blue smoke.
Sure releasing a full lit chimney should be the most healthy as there is only blue smoke then. The problem is that the bbq temperature is very difficult to maintain as it peaks up. Although the smoke is blue and smells good.

Do you have tips or insights on this?
Thank you

[RonB]

Are you talking about low and slow, or hot and fast cooks, or both?

Some here wait for blue smoke, and some don't.

I wait for HnF cooks, but most here use a use some technique to only have a small amount of coals lit for LnS. The snake method starts with a few lit coals that light the coals next to them, and they light the next few coals and so forth. You could also use a Slow and Sear - a lot of people here use them.

[Smoker_Boy]

Welcome to the Pit from the Buckeye State!

[bmillin]

You can't do a low-and-slow cook without unlit charcoal becoming lit during the cook. Look at the barrel cookers, if you started with the entire basket lit it would be a bonfire. Don't worry about it, use good quality briquettes or lump.

[Steve R.]

I only see this being a problem when you add cold unlit charcoal to the fire. If it's already in there, as in a snake setup, it is has been warm and then pretty close to burning for awhile by the time it ignites. I never notice any smoke as a result of this.

[jfmorris]

I have many times added unlit charcoal to my kettle or offset, and I never noticed a huge burst of white smoke. Of course, I also rake the coals to one end of the firebox (offset) or to one end of the SNS (kettle), before adding unlit charcoal NEXT to the lit coals. It may warm up before it ignites?

When using the rotisserie however, I add coals on top of what is burning when doing a long cook like a turkey, and again, don't notice much added smoke...

[Steve R.]

jfmorris , I'm basing my comment on personal experience when I have let too much of the charcoal burn away in the SnS and then try to add unlit charcoal. Probably too few lit coals to keep it chugging along, in my case.

[Troutman]

I don't always agree with Jeremy Yoder but I think has has something here about the quality of smoke. Worrying about only having thin blue smoke may not produce the best smoke flavor on your bbq.

[spicydad]

That's very interesting

[Finster]

This is my feeling too.
I always have some white smoke at the beginning of most of my long cooks. As long as it’s not billowing like a locomotive under full steam, I don’t worry about it…

[Finster]

Does he commonly do low testosterone PSAs in the middle of his videos like in this one?

[jfmorris]

If you wait for all coals to ash over before using them, you have lost a ton of the energy from those coals, and will have trouble completing even a grilling style cook. As others have said, for low and slow cooking, you simply cannot do it without having unlit charcoal ignite throughout the cook. However, you won't see white smoke from this, as its a very slow burn, and only a few briquettes at a time are igniting.

So, if you are talking about GRILLING steaks or burgers, or something like that - sure, we don't want white smoke. However, if you light briquettes or lump in a chimney, you only see that white smoke when you first light it. Pretty quickly, as the fire builds, it is gone, even before the briquettes in the chimney are all lit. I dump my chimney into my kettle when the briquettes at the top of the chimney start to burn. I then dump the chimney into the kettle, rake them into the arrangement I want - banked, spread across the grate, whatever. And I THEN add more unlit if I think it will be a long cook, install the cooking grate, put the lid on, and come back in a few minutes to start cooking. There won't be white smoke.

I will say that most white smoke seems to be from briquettes with binders in them - like Kingsford. I don't see it as much with lump, or pure hardwood briquettes.

You will find a lot of folks who don't understand grilling talking about the dangers or charcoal, dangers of grilled meats. There are a lot of flawed studies too, but the fact is, if you do things in moderation, there is usually little to worry about. If you do anything in excess, it can cause issues.

I have to feel that the folks targeted by the study you read about white smoke are the same ones I see pour briquettes into their grill, squirt a quart of lighter fluid in there, then come back to grill while it still smells like lighter fluid. Like I said before, using a chimney - once the chimney is lit substantially, you will notice the white smoke is gone. It is burned by the flames.

[spicydad]

Thanks for these infos, it's much appreciated.
As some were asking, I was refering to low and slow cooks.

So for the occasions when you have to add another chimney to an existing cook, I suppose it's okay to put it the same way as for starting it?

I recall having cooked a turkey during winter with a smokey mountain. I wasn't very experimented and I rushed to raise bbq temperature so I was constantly adding unlit coals inside, losing 20degrees each time I opened that front door. I managed to get it cooked and it was tasting good, but I believe doing so is bad. I don't do long cooks of 4 hours and above very often.

[jfmorris]

No, I don't add charcoal to the cooker the same way mid cook as I do at the beginning. At the beginning, I will light charcoal in a chimney and add to cooker. Anything during the cook is add in the form of unlit charcoal.

If it tastes good, don't be questioning that doing so is bad. The main complaint with white smoke is "oversmoked" taste.

[Stuey1515]

I don't always agree with Jeremy Yoder but I think has has something here about the quality of smoke. Worrying about only having thin blue smoke may not produce the best smoke flavor on your bbq.

I have found this when hot smoking bacon, I haven't been happy with the smoke profile when cooking with a clean fire in my little offset. Normally I pre-heat the splits before going in the fire so I started messing around putting a couple of splits in cold to generate more smoke. Only for the first hour or so, but it greatly improved the smoke flavour in the bacon. Interesting when you come across something like this that confirms what I thought.

I stopped watching these sort of things a while ago as I reckon the best way to learn is make your own mistakes. It also teaches you about your own cookers much better than trying to emulate someone else's method. Don't get me wrong, I still take on plenty of info from folks here on AR. The difference is that the info here is given freely by people without sponsorship. Therefore carries much more cred as far as I'm concerned

[fzxdoc]

Well said, Stuey.

[texastweeter]

Never been an issue for me.

[fzxdoc]

Because I smoke in the 250°-275° range, I haven't had to add additional charcoal except for perhaps a couple of times. (PBC and WSCGC). On those couple of occasions, it was with the PBC. I removed the meat, added lit coals, let the swirling ash settle back down, and added the meat back.

Kathryn

[Santamarina]

When adding fuel to a low and slow cook I’m a fan of smaller amounts more often. That eliminates most of this issue. If I get more white smoke than I’m comfortable with I’ll open the pit door for a second and let it dissipate.

[klflowers]

Years ago, before AR and all these forums, I started using the minion method on my WSM. Load the basket with Kingsford charcoal, add a few wood chunks and dump a lit chimney of coals in there. Assemble the cooker, adjust the vents and let it get to around 225, 250. Load the meat. I didn't pay any attention to the smoke color. Never had any complaints. Now I have a fancy Arbor Fabricating rig where I pour the lit coals into a cylinder in the middle of the loaded basket, but it is the same principle. At some point in the cook the smoke thins out and becomes "blue", but I really only monitor the temps and let the smoke color work itself out.

[klflowers]

I forgot to mention that I add unlit coals on long cooks whenever I need to with no adverse affects

[MsTwiggy]

Yeah!! I would do this too with a No 10 coffee can i snipped so it can fit in the charcoal basket of my PBC/OJB. Dump the lit coals in the center and then pull the can with tongs! 🔥🔥🐿️

[SmokeyGator]

I don't worry about smoke color too much. What you want to avoid is the thick smoke for long periods of time. But a few puffs here and there are not going to do anything.

[spicydad]

Thanks you all, that was very informative and I'm glad to know that I was doing it right in my beginnings. My cooks were tasting way more than when I changed for the later technique. I'm happy to know I'll be doing flavorful cooks again!