Update on my last Boston Butt cook... Changed charcoal!

jhl192 · February 2014

Two weeks ago I posted about my experience with an 18 Hour Boston Butt cook on my medium BGE. I had to reload the Cowboy charcoal twice in addition to the inital load. So I listened to the responses on the forum and did another Boston Butt last night. Some intersting results:

Switched to Rockwood Charcoal that I ordered from Firecraft
Filled the charcoal above the top of the firebox, about halfway up the firering
Started with a clean firebox...No ash
The outside temperature was between 30 and 40 degrees warmer this week
There was less wind this week
Lit the fire in the front top with my electric starter

Observations:

The Rockwood was mostly medium to smaller pieces. Not sure if this is how it came or it was broken in shipping. Very few pieces 5 inches or more.
The Rockwood burned clear almost from the start
There was NO chemical smell
I made it thru the night in onto late morning before the temperature started to drop. The initial vent openings were very, very small. See pics. 1/8th inch or so for the majority of the cook.
In the late morning the temperature started to drop a bit, I opened the lid and removed the meat. There was still a significant amount of lump on the outside ring of the firebox. There was also some significant ash build up on the center of the grate. I took this opportunity to stir the ashes thru the grate and add some lump to fill it back up to the top of the firebox.
After a few minutes I returned the meat to the grill and it ran beautiful for the rest of the cook.

IMHO, Rockwood lives up to the good rating it has. The smell was incredible. It lit easily and burned long. The weather was SO MUCH better this weekend then when I did my last butt. 30 degrees warmer and much less wind. Either way, Give the Rockwood a thumbs up. Also, I think the medium sized pieces in stead of bigger ones were not a problem. Filled up more space. Stayed lit. 2 Thumbs up for use on long cooks and expensive steaks.

saluki2007 · February 2014

Thanks for the update and looks good. I'm not entirely sure why everyone gets caught up on having large piece of charcoal. IMHO it doesn't make a difference on cook time, or temperature as long as it's not chips and dust. I find it easier to pack the firebox with medium-ish sized pieces vs large peices.

boatbum · February 2014

I think I get more burnable charcoal in the firebox with smaller pieces.

Glad the second attempt went well for you.

Update on my last Boston Butt cook... Changed charcoal!

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