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Lump Charcoal didn't last 5 hours....

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0EggMan0
0EggMan0 Posts: 17
in EggHead Forum
I have been using Full Circle lump charcoal because I've been pleased with it so far but also because it's sold at my local grocery store which makes it very convenient. With that being said yesterday I smoked a little 5 lb pork shoulder at 250 degrees; the air temp was in the 60's and raining. I started this cook with all fresh, new charcoal an filled it 3/4 of the way to the fire ring. About 4.5 hours into the smoke I started having trouble getting the temperature to hold and continued to open the damper and the wheel until they were fully open; obviously at this point I knew there was a problem. I took the shoulder off, removed the grate and the plate setter to find what was ultimately nothing but ash left.

I was (and still am) absolutely shocked that the coal didn't withstand a  hour cook. Have any of you experienced this before? Any thoughts as to why I got so little time out of this cook?
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Comments

  • bud812
    bud812 Posts: 1,869
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    Not enough lump in there. Fill that baby up to the top of the fire ring.

    Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution...

    Large & Small BGE

    Stockton Ca.

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  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
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    Bu
    bud812 said:

    Not enough lump in there. Fill that baby up to the top of the fire ring.

    t still at 4.5 hours it should've went longer.
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos

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  • Hungry Joe
    Hungry Joe Posts: 1,567
    edited March 2014
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    What size egg? Next time fill it to with in 1 or 2 inches of the top of the fire ring, not the firebox.

    Also did you check you dome thermometer? What was the dome temp were you were cooking at?

    With out more details it is impossible to figure out where things went wrong.

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  • 0EggMan0
    0EggMan0 Posts: 17
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    I have a large egg and have calibrated my dome thermometer and also used a digital thermometer. The dome temp was reading around 280, grate temp was between 240-250.
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  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
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    Still should have gotten more than that time. No other lump around? Where are you located?
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
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  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
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    I have never heard of you brand of charcoal. Have you had success with in the past? Big pieces, little pieces? If you filled it like you said you did that's a lot of lump. When you say fire ring you mean the ring on top of the fire box right? Not tryin to be rude just tryin to help
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos

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  • 0EggMan0
    0EggMan0 Posts: 17
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    I guess for starters I've never filled mine higher than the fire box. Still would have thought a full fire box would get 5 hours of low and slow smoke but in the future I'll add more coal up into the fire ring.
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