May have learned something about my WSCGC

[Jessterr]

Having cooked on the WSCGC for a few years now, I’ve noticed that charcoal burn patterns (in kamado mode) are all over the map. I always light the charcoal in the center, but sometimes it burns from the center to the right, sometimes from center to left, and on rare occasion if the moon happens to be just in the right phase and the BBQ gods aren’t angry with me for having cooked up some dry ribs or whatever, I may actually experience a uniform circular burn outward from the center. When I first began using the WSCGC it seemed that the burn pattern was usually to the right, so I started running probe wires up through the top vent, just in case the small gap created by running them out the right side was affecting things. It seemed to help at first, but several cooks down the road I think that was just coincidence. So, I did a rack of ribs yesterday, and the burn was distinctly to the left, the charcoal right of center being almost completely unburned. It occurred to me after the cook that a light but pretty steady breeze had been present during the cook coming from the left, i.e., the breeze was coming from the direction that the charcoal burned toward. Thinking back, my prior cook on the WSCGC was about a month ago, again ribs, and the burn was distinctly from center to right, and I do seem to recall that the breeze was coming from the opposite direction that day, which it usually does here more often than not, and which could also explain why the burn pattern is in that direction with greater frequency. So I’m thinking I may be on to something here, maybe actually solving this mystery after several years. The only real reason this is important to me is to help in determining where best to place wood chunks. Once a fire is going and the diffuser plate, spacers and drip pan, grate and food are all on, I’m not taking all that back off to go in there and rearrange wood chunks, at that point it is what it is, so I wanna be able to place the chunks where the fire is actually gonna go. Interested in hearing others’ experience in this regard, and upon further cooks I’ll update as to whether this theory seems to have validity or not.

[LA Pork Butt]

I cook on a BGE and the burn patterns vary, too. I use lump which has varying sizes and creates varying spaces between the pieces. I am assuming you use charcoal briquettes which I would have thought would have created a more uniform burn pattern. On the BGE air flow cause the fire to burn to the back or side rather than to the front, but I am guessing that your bottom vent is similar to that of a Weber kettle. If that is the venting I would have guessed a more uniform burn pattern. I live in Dallas, Texas which is given to on and off gusts of wind tending to cause rinsing and falling temps, so I created a wind shield to minimize the effect. I am wondering if some type of wind shield might stabilize your burn pattern.

[Jessterr]

Interesting that your BGE also shows varying burn patterns, LA Pork Butt. I’m kind of reaching the conclusion that with kamado style cookers being so efficient, outside wind direction affects air flow patterns inside the cooker that in turn influence how the charcoal burns directionally. I do actually use lump in the WSCGC, don’t like the large amounts of ash that briquettes produce. The bottom vent in the WSCGC is like the kettles, so yeah, that does add to the mystery of directional burns.

[LA Pork Butt]

Jessterr I believe you will get a more consistent burn if you stack the lump with a layer of large followed by a layer of medium and topped by a layer of small. At 225 I can go for 14-18 hours. The longest I have gone was 22 hours. You might consider where to start the fire based on the location of your vents. Because the BGE has one vent in the front bottom and the fire burns to the back I often start the fire just to the front center of the vent.

[Jessterr]

LA Pork Butt Yeah, I usually do that, a base layer of large, then medium, then small. Not always, but often, I’ll pay more attention to that in the future, thanks for the suggestion. The WSC is essentially spherical and symmetrical, with intake vents bottom centered and exhaust vent top centered. Given that, the only logical place to initiate the fire is in the center, which is what I do, yet the burn pattern varies significantly from cook to cook. I’ll continue to work on figuring it out.

[Andrrr]

I have only smoked with briqs on the WSCG and I haven’t used the snap jet to start a fire in a long time. I just got tired of buying the 1lb tanks so I stopped and I can’t say I really miss them.
Back when I used the Snap Jet I do recall some variability in the burn pattern but typically it burned to the right. Now I use some starter squares on the right and surround it with wood. This may sound overly simplistic, but if you start the fire on the far right side it can only burn to the left. 👍🏻
That’s an interesting observation on the wind/burn pattern, thanks for sharing. I’m going to keep an eye on it and report back.