Salvaging gravel sized lump

Canugghead

Usually spread them over bed of larger lumps but
sometimes I use 100% gravels when I've saved enough. 

Gap at equator ensures good air supply


Roasted unseasoned pumpkin

Eggplants

Unseasoned pumpkin seed


Took longer to come to temp, maintained consistent 300 for three hours, could have gone another 2-3 hours.

Pic of lump bed at half way point.

lousubcap

@Canugghead - great concept and execution.  

GrateEggspectations

Nice approach. Personally, I love small pieces for low and slows. The finer pieces help fill air holes, thereby keeping temps down. 

Canugghead

lousubcap said:

@Canugghead - great concept and execution.  

Thanks cap.
What's really nice is the even heat and inspite of repeated opening/closing there was no flare up nor inferno, just brighter glow, also didn't need platesetter. 

Canugghead

GrateEggspectations said:

Nice approach. Personally, I love small pieces for low and slows. The finer pieces help fill air holes, thereby keeping temps down. 

Indeed, with too many large air gaps you also risk losing the fire on low and slow.

caliking

Very cool hack. Are those solid split fire bricks, or bricks with holes?

That kind of even bed of coals would be great for seekh kababs, etc. 

Canugghead

caliking said:

Very cool hack. Are those solid split fire bricks, or bricks with holes?

That kind of even bed of coals would be great for seekh kababs, etc. 

Solid fire bricks, masonry bricks with holes will take up more space, you got me wondering if I should drill some holes.

Have to remember this next time I cook kebabs or spiedinis, great idea.

caliking

Canugghead said:

caliking said:

Very cool hack. Are those solid split fire bricks, or bricks with holes?

That kind of even bed of coals would be great for seekh kababs, etc. 

Solid fire bricks, masonry bricks with holes will take up more space, you got me wondering if I should drill some holes.

Have to remember this next time I cook kebabs or spiedinis, great idea.

Was just wondering. Given how evenly lit the bed of coals looks, I doubt it would be worth the effort to drill holes in the bricks. 

If you have more expando lying around, you could bend and fashion partitions, to replace the bricks, and  create air gaps. Only if you want to tinker with the setup, though. Looks like this iteration works great. 

Canugghead

@caliking The expano is rusty, heavy gauge and have sharp edges. I had to use an angle grinder to cut it, tried bending it once and gave up. IMO the bricks are beneficial in keeping each quadrant apart and evenly lit.

Edit: it works nicely as lump grate for my Large

caliking

That is true.  No sense in trying to build a better mousetrap, in this case

Langner91

Great demonstration!  

I save the small lump, gravel-sized pieces, and dust for my Mini-Max.  I need to build a screen like @RRP with smaller holes and sift the dust out.  Maybe a cheap plastic colander.

Canugghead

Langner91 said:

Great demonstration!  

I save the small lump, gravel-sized pieces, and dust for my Mini-Max.  I need to build a screen like @RRP with smaller holes and sift the dust out.  Maybe a cheap plastic colander.

I use a dollar store plastic colander to ensure pellets are dust free before going into pellet poopers' hopper, scoop by scoop. My lump dust (not ash) goes into garden compost.

sancho65

Canugghead said:

Usually spread them over bed of larger lumps but
sometimes I use 100% gravels when I've saved enough. 

Gap at equator ensures good air supply


Roasted unseasoned pumpkin

Eggplants

Unseasoned pumpkin seed


Took longer to come to temp, maintained consistent 300 for three hours, could have gone another 2-3 hours.

Pic of lump bed at half way point.

Could you please show a picture of your equator set up? Very great idea!

Canugghead

@sancho65
Thanks. It's an XL, zoom in on the second photo...you'll see two fences cut from diamond patterned wire lath, separated by a half firebrick. The two full bricks support the fences as well as divide each half into two quadrants. I lit the centre of each compartment. Please note it takes longer to heat up due to 100% small pieces. Until you get the hang of it I wouldn't do long lo and slo cooks with this setup.

Botch

Canugghead said:. My lump dust (not ash) goes into garden compost.

I’ve always wondered if ash could be composted; so lump dust is okay but not ash?

Canugghead

Botch said:

Canugghead said:. My lump dust (not ash) goes into garden compost.

I’ve always wondered if ash could be composted; so lump dust is okay but not ash?

I'm a newbie in composing. According to interwebz ash could elevate ph and potassium to undesirable levels, you have to know what you're doing. Lump dust otoh is biochar, supposedly good stuff for compost.

Botch

Makes sense; thanks!