Uneven Burn of Coals

[MadMedik]

Hello all,

I had a cook this past Sunday. Lit my fire with weed burner/torch, and was off and running. Reach 250 degrees and it stabilized in 30 minutes or so. No problems...all is good.

I cooked pork and beef ribs and a tritip. Again, all seemed well except 1 of the 3 pork slabs was EXTREMELY dried out and not edible, the other 2 pork slabs were okay. I thought it odd that 1 slab....the 1 on the far left of my grill space was so dried out and over cooked. Anyway, food was good.

This morning I took out the grills to see how much coal remains, and while there was a lot still there, the ONLY coals that burned were all on the left side of the coal basket. Apparently, when lighting i must have NOT got the coals in the middle or to the right side lit well, or at all really. So basically, the left side of my coal basket was white, and mostly all gone, while the middle and right side were not burned at all.

Of course this makes sense now that the ribs on the left, over the fire that was also on the left, were over cooked. Basically, a sort of indirect cook for all the food but the 1 slab of ribs.

I thought i lit all the coals together. Never thought this would be possible...remember, new to ceramic slow cooking and have never lit coals with a Weed Burner. One would think even if you did only light one side, it would naturally move over and ignite the rest of the coals...apparently not.

So, any lighting tips for me? Something so obvious that i will probably feel stupid . I am used to briquettes and chiminey lighting with the Weber. I will definitely be more diligent next cook, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Oh, and I never thought to even look at the coals during the cook. I achieved my temps i wanted, it was smoking fine at top damper, and it is my impression that one should light the fire, insert food, and then let it go without looking at the food all of the time....just "trust the KK". So , i never saw the unequal burning of the coal box til the next day.

Thanks,

MadMedik

[DennisLinkletter]

Re: Uneven Burn of Coals

Hello all,

I had a cook this past Sunday. Lit my fire with weed burner/torch, and was off and running. Reach 250 degrees and it stabilized in 30 minutes or so. No problems...all is good.

I cooked pork and beef ribs and a tritip. Again, all seemed well except 1 of the 3 pork slabs was EXTREMELY dried out and not edible, the other 2 pork slabs were okay. I thought it odd that 1 slab....the 1 on the far left of my grill space was so dried out and over cooked. Anyway, food was good.

This morning I took out the grills to see how much coal remains, and while there was a lot still there, the ONLY coals that burned were all on the left side of the coal basket. Apparently, when lighting i must have NOT got the coals in the middle or to the right side lit well, or at all really. So basically, the left side of my coal basket was white, and mostly all gone, while the middle and right side were not burned at all.

I've talked to him on the phone about this so this answer is for the forum.

You are burning only about a tennis ball volume of charcoal for a 250º cook.

If you light it on the left it will stay on the left and burn down..

The mistake made here was all cooking that is not grilling needs to be indirect, this means you need to use a heat deflector or the drip pan as a shield. What happened with lighting it on the left is you created a hot zone above the burning coals and by accident a relatively indirect zone on the other side. The hot zone ribs were overcooked the others were not.. Lucky you did not light the middle you would have over cooked them all ..

I thought i lit all the coals together. Never thought this would be possible...remember, new to ceramic slow cooking and have never lit coals with a Weed Burner. One would think even if you did only light one side, it would naturally move over and ignite the rest of the coals...apparently not.

You might have lit more coals but there was not enough airflow at 250º to keep them burning.. the coals on the left side won the battle.. could have been larger coals there and a bunch of smalls from the bag cut off airflow on the right.. but for whatever reason the left side won the air battle.

So, any lighting tips for me? Something so obvious that i will probably feel stupid . I am used to briquettes and chiminey lighting with the Weber. I will definitely be more diligent next cook, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Oh, and I never thought to even look at the coals during the cook. I achieved my temps i wanted, it was smoking fine at top damper, and it is my impression that one should light the fire, insert food, and then let it go without looking at the food all of the time....just "trust the KK". So , i never saw the unequal burning of the coal box til the next day.

Thanks,

MadMedik

No reason to ever feel stupid unless you make the same mistake twice of course! Not using the heat deflector is a common mistake.. You'll nail it next cook.. At least you had two good racks, next time they will be incredible..

[jdbower]

Re: Uneven Burn of Coals

As another note, if you use a power draft controller (Stoker/Guru) you'll probably notice an uneven burn since you're using forced air instead of having a normally aspirated cooker. Personally I've never had any ill effects because of this, but for high temp stuff you get a nice roaring fire all over and for low temp stuff I usually go indirect where it doesn't matter.

[MadMedik]

Re: Uneven Burn of Coals

Dennis, Thanks for calling me. I really appreciate the call and the advice. What great customer service !!!

I think the next cook will be much better. I have NEVER used indirect cooking methods, so that is new. I did not realize that all slow cooks require the indirect stone. Shoot, I almost thought about telling you not to send one, I mean really, who needs an indirect stone deflector? Well apparently I do. So glad I got it and I will use it next time.

As for JDBower's comment, that makes sense but I do not have the guru/stoker.

As for lighting the coals, if only a small portion is actually going to light, should I just go ahead and concentrate my Torch Flame directly in to the center of the coals, and light this middle section, as opposed to having 1 side or another light. The thought being have the heat close to the middle of cooker as possible for even heat distribution. Or , perhaps light to one side, along with the heat deflector above it, would be better...the thought being move the heat source to a side area and then you would have the least amount of food directly over the heat source???

Interesting, will need to test these alternatives out, unless you all have figured it out already?

thanks again,

MadMedik

[DennisLinkletter]

Re: Uneven Burn of Coals

Yes, I'd light the charcoal dead center..

and only about a cup in volume.

[Firemonkey]

Re: Uneven Burn of Coals

I light mine right in the middle. I try to get one nice hot spot in the middle lit, and put the deflector on top. Of course, the fire always moves one direction or the other, and seldom stays right in the middle, you just have to monitor that a few hours into the cook.

I used to only fill my basket with my expected fuel usage, plus 30-50%, but have since decided that a full basket of coal slows and probably diffuses the airflow, so it seems to stay more centralized. Once it burns to the outside edge, it has created an unobstructed path, and keeps burning in that spot. My theory now us that the more lump I have in the basket, the longer it will take that to happen. This only applies to lump...when using the KK extruded, I try to load only a little mire than I think I will use, and I just stack it in the center of the basket.

[mguerra]

Re: Uneven Burn of Coals

Not much to add, do exactly what has been suggested. I would merely emphasize that for a low and slow, DO NOT start too much lump. Just a little central bit. Start too much and you will not be able to keep the temp down. If you do this without a Guru or a Stoker, it will take some time to bring the temp up to your desired 200 to 250 range. During this slow climb, keep the vent openings very small. Maintaining a low fire only takes a sliver of opening of both vents.