The BBQ Report

I’ve been trying to learn the secrets of creating a long burning fire in my smoker so that I won’t be forced to continually add charcoal every hour or so. Recently, I read about the “Big Dan” method, described in this FAQ at the Barbecues Galore Forums.

To summarize, you put in all your charcoal in at the beginning of the smoke cycle, pretty much filling up the smoker box. You then pour one chimney load of lit charcoal atop the pile, and allow the pile to gradually burn itself down in the process.

First step was block the vents on my Hondo Deluxe. Turns out that the replacement charcoal grill grate from a standard Weber grill works fine. That is the lower grill grate the charcoal rests on, not the cooking grate. Picked one up from Home Depot for $10. Placed it inside the smoker box, where it’s almost a perfect fit, leaned up against the outside vents.

Now here’s where I deviated from the plan. I didn’t have any lump charcoal, so I used a 20 pound bag of Kingsford briquettes. As predicted by the article, these didn’t work out perfectly due to the large volume of ash they produce.

Things looked great for awhile, I got a good 2 and half hours before I had to mess with anything. By then, the piles of ash from the briquettes were beginning to choke out the fire. A few quick stirs with a stick and I was back in business. But, I had to keep stirring the coals every 45 minutes to an hour. When I was done I was left with a 8″ deep pile of ashes that were still hot 2 days later.

Next time I’m going to stick to lump charcoal and I think I’ll be all set. This will make barbecuing much more convenient, especially when cooking brisket.