adding fresh coal over used coal . . best practice?

This is airflow. Any time you are doing a long cook or need super high temps, clean out your egg. Take everything out and clean behind the box and make sure the air holes are clear. I  don't use used lump on these cooks either (you can but it's so cheap and I'm a fire freak). When I built a fire with all fresh lump and clean it out, I can get to 1000+ within 20 minutes of lighting. i  will use old lump on regular grill/quick smokes but not on anything blast furnace hot or long and slow.

I always stir the old charcoal thoroughly to get the ash off. Then top with the new. Before I light, I check the vent holes through the bottom vent to see if clogged with ash. If so, I poke the holes with a hanger to knock the ash through. Then, I light. For lighting, I make sure I have a few pieces of larger lump around the top. I drizzle olive oil on 1 paper towel, roll it up (it should not be dripping with oil), then twist it. Light the ends and carefully place some larger pieces of lump over the flames like building a campfire. Wait a few minutes for it to ignite then close the dome and set my vents. Works for me.

I do pretty much the same exact thing as Chubbs, except I light my lump using a torch. 

But aside from that, same thing:

1. Stir old lump to allow ash to fall through
2. ensure holes and bottom vent are unobstructed, suck up ash w/ shop-vac if necessary
3. add new lump
4. stir again
5. check holes & bottom vent once more
6. grab torch, and light in 3 places, walk away for a few minutes (ie, to prep food & grab beer)
   
7. come back, stir lump to distribute burning coals, while drinking beer
   
8. add in necessary accessories - ie, cooking grid, platesetter, etc.
9. close dome & start adjusting vents for appropriate temp
10. when dome temp = cooking temp and when smoke = good smoke, add food
11. drink beer
12. enjoy!! 

I have had it that it would not rise to the target temp all I did was give the coal a good stir and all of a sudden the temperature rise quickly, I also go topless when I do high temp cooks (leave the daisy wheel vent on the shelf)

Gerhard

Yep- all good. I stir when I have old lump and it does not get up to temp the way I like. Works fine.

 

Hmm, I guess I do one thing different from most others; I stir the old lump, light it only, and once its glowing dump new lump on top of it.

I will typically pull out the old lump, clean out the egg, and then take large new pieces on the bottom, and intermix with the used lump.  the small pieces go on the sides, with care taken not to block air holes.  The really small pieces of used lump go into the trash.

I used to just pour new lump on top of old, but that stopped when I was required to fire up my leaf blower to get the egg to temperature for a pizza cook.  Pretty embarrassing...

I have 2 big foil turkey roasters. I put used lump in those. When I want a fire that is not too hot, and doesn't need quite as long to burn clean, like for weekday evenings for burgers, brats, etc, out come the used lump.

I do stir, clean, and dump more in pretty often, but never for long burns (over 4 hours) or high heat.

I clean my egg almost after every use, i'm a little neurotic. But here's how my process goes.

I stir the old lump, then using the ash tool try to push that off to one side, dump new lump over the whole firebox and fire it up.

I have the "turbo" grate as well (it's also known as the "High-Que" Grate, as that is the company that makes/sells them). 

I believe there is more ash, and yes, the smaller pieces of lump will fall through that didn't fall through the OEM grate.  But for me, that's more than an adequate trade-off, as the increased amount of airflow is more than worth it. 

@Mickey  -  Do you find more ash using the turbo grate? Looks like there would be more ash fall through with the larger opening. Not that it would be a bad thing, not blocking the air flow. Just asking.

Yes on ash, but  no big deal. Just use the ash tool.

I like to knock the ash loose. Remove the used coals. Brush collected ash in firebox through grate. Clean out my air holes. Remove ash from bottom if needed. Add new larger lump at bottom before returning the previously used coals. This has been working great for me, it's a bit time consuming but I take pride in Egg time and have not had temp control issues since I began this routine.

This is exactly what I do if I need high temps for pizza.  Otherwise, for a medium temp cook (e.g. 350-400F) I just stir lose ash and add fresh lump on top.

@Mickey  -  Do you find more ash using the turbo grate? Looks like there would be more ash fall through with the larger opening. Not that it would be a bad thing, not blocking the air flow. Just asking.

There really shouldn't be any more ash with or without a High-Que, burned lump is burned lump.  The ash may fall through quicker, but that means less ash above the grate.  

FWIW this is what the Weber grate looks like after a while.
Sorry for the not great.pics, but u get the idea. I flipped it tonight with a firebox clean.