I bought a bag of lump from Walmart and tried it out with some spares in
the WSM. The first difference I noticed was the chimney was only about
3/4 full by the time the coals turned white, it started out full.
Cooking temps were about the same as with briquettes as long as I left
the lid on. The temp spiked rapidly whenever I opened the cooker
requiring vent adjustment to get it under control. That is something I
never had to do with briquettes. Also, a lot of the coals were so
small they fell through the grate, even the grate in the chimney. The
ribs were delicious. -RP

Randy wrote:
I bought a bag of lump from Walmart and tried it out with some spares
in the WSM. The first difference I noticed was the chimney was only
about 3/4 full by the time the coals turned white, it started out
full.

Randy, you really don't need to wait until the lump all turns white. I
usually wait until I can see flame begining to peek out the top of the lump,
then I pour it into the pan. Just one of the many differences between lump
and the charcoal dust / coal tar biscuits.

Randy wrote:
I bought a bag of lump from Walmart and tried it out with some spares
in the WSM. The first difference I noticed was the chimney was only
about 3/4 full by the time the coals turned white, it started out
full.

With lump there's no need to wait until they are white. I usually dump the
lump about 4 minutes after flames show at the top. The top third of the
chimney will typically still be mostly unlit then. By waiting so long you
lost a lot of cooking time and good smoke, most of the smoke comes during
the lighting process. You can add unlit lump directly to the fire during a
cook as well. No need to pre-start. Temps will go down for a short bit, but
so what, they'll go up again.


the chimney. The ribs were delicious. -RP

Congrats!

D
--

Randy wrote:

Also, a lot of the coals were so
small they fell through the grate, even the grate in the chimney. The
ribs were delicious.


When you load the charcoal in the chimney, put large pieces on the
bottom to prevent fall through. As far as in the smoker itself, the guys
at http://virtualweberbullet.com have some suggestions for grate
modifications.



Brian Rodenborn

On 22-Mar-2004, Randy wrote:
snip
Also, a lot of the coals were so
small they fell through the grate, even the grate in the chimney. The
ribs were delicious. -RP

You have just experienced a typical problem with lump from stores
such as Walmart. The lump gets handled too much in sub pallet sized
batches and suffers because of it.

--
M&M ("The problem is that no matter what you do, there's
Sombody that won' t like it much") Tom Clancy

Head on down to the hardware store and pick up some hardware cloth.
Cut a piece to the desired size and shape and the problems solved.


On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 23:22:34 GMT, Default User
wrote:

Randy wrote:

Also, a lot of the coals were so
small they fell through the grate, even the grate in the chimney. The
ribs were delicious.


When you load the charcoal in the chimney, put large pieces on the
bottom to prevent fall through. As far as in the smoker itself, the guys
at http://virtualweberbullet.com have some suggestions for grate
modifications.



Brian Rodenborn

By using the MM method with lump, do you get enough smoke flavor without
the smoke wood? I dumped the rest of the bag of unlit coals over the
lit ones, added three pieces of hicory, closed the cooker, and added the
meat as soon as the temp reached 225. The ribs were a little smokier
than I like. -RP

Randy wrote:
By using the MM method with lump, do you get enough smoke flavor
without the smoke wood? I dumped the rest of the bag of unlit coals
over the lit ones, added three pieces of hicory, closed the cooker,
and added the meat as soon as the temp reached 225. The ribs were a
little smokier than I like. -RP

People here disagree on that one. Seems to depend on the lump brand, type of
cooker and personal taste.
Whatever you like is right.


D
--

On 23-Mar-2004, Randy wrote:
snip
The ribs were a little smokier
than I like. -RP

Randy, is it possible that you had the top vent closed to far. That's
been my downfall until I learned to leave it all the way open and
control the air with the draft control only. Sounds like you did
everything else right. There's a wide difference in smoke preference
in this NG, so pay attention. Nobody here would intentionally steer
you wrong, but you could end up cooking to their taste instead of
your own.
--
M&M ("The problem is that no matter what you do, there's
Sombody that won' t like it much") Tom Clancy

No, I have never closed my top vent. The only thing I did different
from my noral routine was Chef-Wagon lump instead of Kingsford. So I
guess that answers my own question, that brand of lump gives enough
flavor without adding smoke wood. Thanks all. -RP