Used Lump

Bacchus · December 2009

FWIW.......

Tonight I cooked 3 pizza’s at 550 with the leftover scrap from the last few weeks. It was less than half a firebox full. Not a single piece was larger than a golfball, with most half that size. I dumped it in the empty egg, lit it, and put on the setter, feet, & stone. I didn’t sort it, wiggle it, or think much about it. When the cooking was done, I left the egg wide open to burn the rest of the lump, it held at 300 for 2 hours.

thegrillster · December 2009

I have saved a couple of empty lump bags. I save my used lump just for cooks like you mentioned. If ever in doubt about the lump for a long cook I just bag it and start fresh. Kind of like getting a free bag of lump every so often. It starts faster and come up to temp faster.

Also for a low and slow I will pour the used lump over the new lump and use my electric element, mounding it up in the middle. This seems to insure a quick start and lights up the new lump as it burns.

Hungry Joe · December 2009

The only way used lump makes it out of my egg is through the ash grate. Unless I'm doing an overnight cook I just stir the coals and knock the ash through then top it off. Maybe I do it different then most but I almost never start a cook with charcoal that does not come up to the bottom of the fire ring.

2Fategghead · December 2009

Ron, When I cooked my first Mad Max turkey I cleaned out the firepit real good and poured in fresh lump and went on with my cook.

While cooking the turkey I thought I was getting low on lump so I slipped some used lump in and I felt like I did good because my extra lump already had the bad burned off.

I guess what I'm saying is I think it is not such a bad idea to have some used lump around just in case you need to extend a cook.

Now we will talk about the turkey cook later! Tim

Bacchus · December 2009

My point was that maybe to big a deal is made out of new vs used lump, getting high temps, sorting big vs small pieces, etc. I guess next time I have have extra used lump I will go lo/slo.

johnrezz · December 2009

The only advantage I see in new lump or larger pieces of lump is for better air flow. I notice that if I have alot of used lump in the bottom and I do nothing with it I do not get proper airflow which leads to lower temps. I tend to push the old lump to the sides so the bottom grate is more exposed, I toss a couple of pieces of scrap hard wood (cabinet shop drops), and than dump a handfull of lit coal out of the chimney starter and it works great...

2Fategghead · December 2009

Hey on top of that I spread my ashes on my garden spot. Not a lot but I will cover the area. I will also send off another soil sample next year. Tim

Bacchus · December 2009

Again, these pieces were tiny, and I paid no attention to the grate holes. I don't think any of that matters. As long as you keep you egg relatively clean, using larger pieces of lump on the bottom makes absolutely no difference in performance....IMHO.

Used Lump

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