Fire building for BBQ

Clay Q

Yup, I one of the nuts that builds a fire. Everyone has their own 'technique' or method I guess. This is mine. Pays off for low-n-slow BBQing and I have not had a fire go out on me yet. I read about fires going out quite often so I wanted to share what I have learned here and at www.nakedwhiz.com If your ok with spending a little time by putting on work gloves and cleaning your egg of ash and selecting lump to build your fire then your off to a good start for a successful BBQ cook with your egg.
Fire building for BBQ goes for all egg sizes. Mini, of course, on a much smaller scale. :P

Simple enough, I start by putting on gloves and clean my egg of ash.

Next take some large lump and start building a tipi trying not to block holes in the grate.

Then add more.

I keep going to fill the bottom. All the time I'm thinking of air flow.

Medium and smaller lump is carefully scattered next with the addition of smoking wood chunks if I want extended smoking.

Lastly I top off the firebox with small chunks, no lump dust allowed.

I start my fires with a charcoal chimney. You start however you like. This additional lump from the chimney fills the firebox up into the fire ring about an inch or so. After dumping the chimney contents and loading the plate setter I close the dome and make draft adjustments. In about 45 minutes my egg is ready to BBQ. I can lock into 250 dome with confidence and assurance that this fire will not go out.

Good luck and have fun BBQing!
Clay

Little Steven

Clay Q,

I prefer the open the bag and dump method. Your's takes all the mystery out of life :laugh:

Steve

Clay Q

I know, I know. Open and dump is so much easier and faster and that's the way it's done in the BGE video.
I guess I'm a fire nut, a controlled pyromaniac egghead. :silly:
Some would look at this as fussying, I see this as fire management. It works.

Grumps

I second the "open bag and dump" method. Mastering the "shaking-the-bag-just-right-to-get-all-of-the-little-pieces-of-lump-out-of-the-bag-without-getting-dust-into-the-egg" skills may prove extremely valuable one day. So far I have not had a fire go out.

Zippylip

Clay, I am somewhere in between, whenever I do a straight open and dump, I get enough dust in there to choke off the air which in turn increases the flashback scenerio, a real arm-hair losing adventure for the impatient cooker type..., so I do more of a controlled dump but not quite the building from the bottom up you've got goin there, which is very nice by the way

Rooster K

Great post. I build my fires from May - September. Oct - April gets the dump method(too cold to be outside that long).

Buckdodger

Clay Q...don't feel like the Lone Ranger I am a stacker just like you when I do a low and slow cook. I also shake the used lump and clean out the ash after every cook. Probably don't have to go to the trbl after every cook but I have a warm and fuzzy feeling when I know my egg is ship shape. Besides being retired and having the time it gives an excuse to grab an extra brew.
Bob
Alex City, Al

Semolina Pilchard

That's the way, uhhuh uhhuh, I like it, uhhuh uhhuh. We know that the more dust, the more V.O.C.'s, the more V.O.C.'s the more risk of flashback. Plus a longer wait time for it to all burn off before we can start cooking. To each his own, but I am with Clay on this one.

BullyC

Hi ClayQ

Hey thats a neat idea about building fire.
I also thought that bolt idea to give more
room was cool too. Last? What were you cooking? it looked awesome, please send recipe. Thanks have a good day,
BullyC

Salguod

I guess I’m in-between. I dump the bag into a long, shallow plastic bin and get all the dust to one side. Then I build carefully at the bottom like Clay with big pieces. How far I go with that depends on how big a hurry I’m in. But I finish off by tossing double handfuls of charcoal on top (but no dust or very small pieces).

But in a perfect world, we would all do it like Clay. There is no denying that (as long as you have time) careful stacking is the best method.

I have three of those plastic bins. They keep the charcoal dry and allow me to sort charcoal by size and new or used, etc.

Clay Q

Hey BullyC,
Thanks,.. that's chuck roasts in the first stage of smokin for pulled beef BBQ. It's an older pic.
Recipe is here up in Cookbook, click and go to beef, click and go to Clay's Pulled Beef BBQ.
Plan on a whole day of smokin. You can bump the dome up to 300 degrees in stage two if you have 10 pounds or more beef so it don't stall longer than 3 hours.

I gotta make some pulled beef soon but for tonight we is having rack of lamb with grilled vege's.
I take a few pic's.

Clay Q

Yeah, fire building takes more time than dumping, for sure. My thinking is with all-nighters or all-dayers BBQing. I believe some of these cooks where the fire goes out or where there was difficulty in holding temp is directly related to airflow. A good fire has good airflow and I get that by building.

Yup, retirement has it's advantages around the BBQ pit! Enjoy good times with your egg!

tach18k

I just pour mine from the bag and I/m good for 12 hours.