I also use 0.5 chimney of well lit charcoal. I leave the water reseveroir in but no water. It seems my vent settings vary depending on the ambient temperature and wind.
Well, I like to stick about 20, or so briquets in the corner of the SnS, over one of the wax starters, and light it. Once it gets going I usually hit it with me BBQ Dragon to get that pile of briquets going faster. Then I pour unlit briquets in the rest the SnS and control the temperature, monitored with a digital probe in the grill grate, by means of the vents on my kettle. Takes all of the guess work out of it, YMMV
Thank you for the tips! This is just what I was looking for. It's only a 7 lb breast, so it shouldn't take long to cook. I think the half of a chimney will work with maybe a few unlit ones around it. Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving!
I did a whole turkey on my 26 with an SNS XL over the weekend. Took a bit to get to 325 but it did get there. Just start with a few more lit briquettes. Half a chimney would be about right and once you dump them in the SNS give it a few more minutes to come to temp.
I go half a chimney of unlit in the SnS, then light half of a chimney and add it on top once it's well-lit. Well-lit does not mean all the way to "ashed over" (because by then you've lost a lot of firepower from the coals), but hot, with heat waves, and the smoke is noticeably lighter. That should be adequate for an extended 325-350 cook, such as turkey. For chickens I don't use any unlit, only the 1/2 chimney of lit.
+1 When cooking hot and fast at 325 degrees - such as with chicken - do not fill the charcoal reservoir full of unlit briquets. Instead, begin by using half a chimney of briquets (approximately 40 briquets). Light the chimney and allow them to burn for approximately 10 minutes. Full details here:https://snsgrills.com/pages/slow-n-s...g-instructions
I'll be doing a breast tomorrow on my SNS Kettle. I'm using lump, but if I were using briquetes, I'd just use a full chimney of lit ones with the top and bottom vents wide open until the temp got up to about 250 or so, then close the bottom vent and open the smoke hole a little and the top vent about 1/2 way. If you don't have the SNS Kettle, but are just using the SNS on a Weber kettle, then leave the bottom vent open about a 1/2 inch or so after you get to 250. It probably will take 20-25 minutes or so to get to 325 after you start shutting the vents down. You're probably looking at a 2 to 2-1/2 cook.
It's been awhile, but I'm thinking about half a Weber chimney starter full of lit briquettes is what I have done in the past. Not sure what number that works out to.
Has anyone had any experience in getting the SNS up to 325 to smoke a turkey or turkey breast? I usually go low and slow, so I'm not sure how many lit briquettes to start with. On the SNS website it said 16 briquettes to get it to 275. I was thinking 22 and I can always remove some if I need to. I was just trying to get a little more accurate, as I will have my hands full in the morning and didn't want to constantly be making adjustments. Thanks!!
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