Help With Fire

istock74 · BBQ Pro Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 965 Location: Logan, IA

I am new to using a cooker I just completed building. Its a 24" OD x 4' long horizontal cooking chamber with an end mount top loading 24" Sq fire box. Both the box and cook chamber are 1/4" thick. I built a fire grate that sits about 5" off the floor of the fire box with a slide style air vent below it. I have fired the thing 3 times. Once to season and the last two times I cooked turkey breasts. Both pieces of meat turned out well, very juicy good flavor and nice smoke penetration. However it seems like i am using alot of fuel. Ive been using charcoal briquettes and hickory chunks for smoke. The last cook took about 7 to 8 hours for an 9# breast. Cooking temp was about 220. I used almost a ten # bag of hickory and over 20# of char coal. It seemed like alot but i thought maybe its to be expected with a fire box that big. Any opinions. You can see a pic of the cooker posted in the cookers section under my first cooker.

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Jul 04 2007 Post subject:

that seems like alot of wood, Did you keep adding it for the entire cook?

Many people only use wood for the first half of the cook, Continuing to add through the entire cook can actually have some detrimental effects.

How was the flavor?

Experiment with less wood, use it mostly at the front end of the cook and taste your results to see if they are to your liking. if so, then we have one issue solved.
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istock74 · BBQ Pro Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 965 Location: Logan, IA

Thanks for the help. I had a much better cook on the 4th. Started With charcoal and used the wood during the first 5 to 6 hours. I then continued the afternoon using just charcoal. I did 2 butts and 2 turkey breasts. Had better flavor and better results. Thanks for the advice. I still have a lot to learn but that kind of knowledge lessens the curve

Rub N Smoke · Posted: Jul 08 2007 Post subject:

Also try using "Lump" charcoal for your fuel instead of "briqettes" the lump burns Hotter, slower and cleaner.. Happy Q-ing!! Twisted Evil

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