Lump Charcoal
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Found the video. Its a 3 part series, watch it at 1.5 to 2x. Based on supplies and effort I think his method has a great ROI.
pr0wlunwoof THANK YOU , not sure I would do this on a regular basis, but great information to know if we ever need it (not trying to be political, just want to be prepared just in case…)
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pr0wlunwoof THANK YOU , not sure I would do this on a regular basis, but great information to know if we ever need it (not trying to be political, just want to be prepared just in case…)
Yeah Its not that hard, and for those who like projects its a fairly easy one to accomplish. I have read about Chefs that make their own charcoal out of the bones of the animals they process on site and then cook the meat over that bone char. That seems pretty cool even though charcoal by definition should impart no flavors being pure carbon. Still an interesting approach to farm to table and cutting down on the waste cycle of production.
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I worked as a line cook for a few years when I was high school and I’m happy to not pull those hours anymore. I BBQ in South East Georgia. It’s a hobby, but I get pretty serious about my hobbies. I would like to get into competition BBQ at some point, but I lack the extra time at this point, maybe in a few years. Most of my hobbies feed each other (welding to smoker fabrication, fabrication to cooking, electronics to controllers, brewing cause beer makes everything better) so sausage making is the next venture.
pr0wlunwoof Just be careful about those “serious hobbies”. Look at what it did to me!

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pr0wlunwoof Just be careful about those “serious hobbies”. Look at what it did to me!

That is a very nice cooker. You must cook for entire Armies. Fortunately I do not have that many friends or I would have my whole paycheck going towards feeding them. This is my little cooking space with my other cooker I built, a reverse flow tow behind from an old 120 gallon propane tank. It also has a gas burner down the middle which helps it double as a grill for burger burns. I am still in hobby land, but maybe one day I will get to play for a living.

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pr0wlunwoof He does, he posts pics of some of his spreads and they are pretty amazing, color me slightly jealous!
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That is a very nice cooker. You must cook for entire Armies. Fortunately I do not have that many friends or I would have my whole paycheck going towards feeding them. This is my little cooking space with my other cooker I built, a reverse flow tow behind from an old 120 gallon propane tank. It also has a gas burner down the middle which helps it double as a grill for burger burns. I am still in hobby land, but maybe one day I will get to play for a living.

pr0wlunwoof This is my living now. Sadly, only about 20% BBQ, but I still love it. That’s a very nice rig you have. So glad you joined us, I have really found this community to be some of the best people. Everyone helping each other enjoy what we love best. ( Okay, making sausage as well, but eating does come first LOL)
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pr0wlunwoof He does, he posts pics of some of his spreads and they are pretty amazing, color me slightly jealous!
Jonathon BTW I have done 3200 people, but before I die, want to do 5000. Time to have a party!
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Jonathon BTW I have done 3200 people, but before I die, want to do 5000. Time to have a party!
Chef Well Chef, then just make sure you at least invite all of us & don’t forget the Tequila & the Topo Chico too! By the way, isn’t that ##!!%4 storm headed your way or are you far enough to the west of it. We hope you are all OK.
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Chef Well Chef, then just make sure you at least invite all of us & don’t forget the Tequila & the Topo Chico too! By the way, isn’t that ##!!%4 storm headed your way or are you far enough to the west of it. We hope you are all OK.
calldoctoday I’m about 50 miles west of Houston, and we got nothing. It’s been so long since we had any rain, my poof well pump has been running 24/7 for weeks.
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Chef Well Chef, then just make sure you at least invite all of us & don’t forget the Tequila & the Topo Chico too! By the way, isn’t that ##!!%4 storm headed your way or are you far enough to the west of it. We hope you are all OK.
calldoctoday I’m essentially in southwest Houston. We got a little rain yesterday afternoon, but not enough to show up on the rain gauge near my home. We got a little wind, but nothing I would think twice about if I didn’t know there was a storm out there.
I have a good deal of family and friends around Lake Charles, and I’ve been busy checking in with them through this morning. Reports are good (perhaps I should say “fortunate”) so far. I know plenty got hit badly around there, so I’m grateful.
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calldoctoday I’m essentially in southwest Houston. We got a little rain yesterday afternoon, but not enough to show up on the rain gauge near my home. We got a little wind, but nothing I would think twice about if I didn’t know there was a storm out there.
I have a good deal of family and friends around Lake Charles, and I’ve been busy checking in with them through this morning. Reports are good (perhaps I should say “fortunate”) so far. I know plenty got hit badly around there, so I’m grateful.
TexLaw We are glad to hear that you & your family are all OK. We still know folks in Port Arthur, but they went on over to Ft. Bend County & are all OK. Same basically for folks we still know in the Lake Charles area. Reading the news early this morning, you would think otherwise, but sometimes, that is normal for the news. Keep your fingers crossed & hope all stays that way. It looked to me yesterday late like that thing was going to follow the path or Rita & it just about did. Based on personal or might I say professional experience with that & many others in the area, it would be amazing if things were not a whole lot worse.
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TexLaw We are glad to hear that you & your family are all OK. We still know folks in Port Arthur, but they went on over to Ft. Bend County & are all OK. Same basically for folks we still know in the Lake Charles area. Reading the news early this morning, you would think otherwise, but sometimes, that is normal for the news. Keep your fingers crossed & hope all stays that way. It looked to me yesterday late like that thing was going to follow the path or Rita & it just about did. Based on personal or might I say professional experience with that & many others in the area, it would be amazing if things were not a whole lot worse.
calldoctoday It went east of Rita’s path and also looked like it was a smaller storm (just more intense). All my family and friends in the Beaumont/Port Arthur seemed to have come out just fine, as the storm only grazed them (they were expecting worse, but the storm went further east at the last minute). You don’t have to go very far east to start finding significant damage, and it just gets worse from there.
I’m sure things are far more terrible around Lake Charles than what I’ve heard, especially if you go a little south. Much of the good reports I’ve heard from family are a lot of good fortune (such as a tree falling but missing the house).
Reports like those just make you grateful. We had two trees in our yard fall during Ike. One fell across the street but did not hit anyone’s car (not that many folks left them parked there). The other, a large live oak, fell across our front yard and only hit a silly ornamental pear tree that I didn’t like in the first place.
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calldoctoday It went east of Rita’s path and also looked like it was a smaller storm (just more intense). All my family and friends in the Beaumont/Port Arthur seemed to have come out just fine, as the storm only grazed them (they were expecting worse, but the storm went further east at the last minute). You don’t have to go very far east to start finding significant damage, and it just gets worse from there.
I’m sure things are far more terrible around Lake Charles than what I’ve heard, especially if you go a little south. Much of the good reports I’ve heard from family are a lot of good fortune (such as a tree falling but missing the house).
Reports like those just make you grateful. We had two trees in our yard fall during Ike. One fell across the street but did not hit anyone’s car (not that many folks left them parked there). The other, a large live oak, fell across our front yard and only hit a silly ornamental pear tree that I didn’t like in the first place.
TexLaw I am with you on every item. From slightly east of Rita (but still just about same basic area) to those darn Bradford Pears that don’t give you any pears to eat. Speaking of Pears, my son finished his work early today so he & my wife are out picking a load of real Pears that just ripened. Looks like I have more work ahead.
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TexLaw I am with you on every item. From slightly east of Rita (but still just about same basic area) to those darn Bradford Pears that don’t give you any pears to eat. Speaking of Pears, my son finished his work early today so he & my wife are out picking a load of real Pears that just ripened. Looks like I have more work ahead.
calldoctoday The big difference between Rita and Laura is that Rita mowed down Beaumont and the surrounding area. Laura didn’t do much until you got to Orange County, from what I’ve heard. It’s a small difference by geography, but a huge one when it comes to population and damage. Lake Charles got mowed down by both.
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calldoctoday The big difference between Rita and Laura is that Rita mowed down Beaumont and the surrounding area. Laura didn’t do much until you got to Orange County, from what I’ve heard. It’s a small difference by geography, but a huge one when it comes to population and damage. Lake Charles got mowed down by both.
TexLaw Yes, just for the Rita incident alone, you are jarring my current extremely slow memory, I was working at times all the way from Lafayette up to Sam Rayburn if I recall at some point in time. The worst was in Lake Charles or at least the South end as I recall & down into way down into south Calcasieu Parish & across the ferry. But, also pretty bad all the way into Port Arthur & over that way as I seem to recall in my mind. Believe me, I was there. Glad to hear though that Beaumont was left with not so much damage as I am sure it is much larger now for certain that when we were last there or even when I last worked over that way for something.
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Okay guys, yesterday I cooked bacon in a microwave. When I do, I place a paper towel on top. I used that paper towel to start my lump charcoal in my Primo. It started very fast, much more than with other methods. Has anyone done this, am I overlooking anything that could be harmful to the grill?
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Okay guys, yesterday I cooked bacon in a microwave. When I do, I place a paper towel on top. I used that paper towel to start my lump charcoal in my Primo. It started very fast, much more than with other methods. Has anyone done this, am I overlooking anything that could be harmful to the grill?
Chef No I think you are good, it would be no different then using butcher paper that you had wrapped a brisket or pork shoulder in. I’ve also heard of people putting vegetable oil on paper towels and using them to start charcoal. A lot of the time I will use a propane torch to start the charcoal.
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Okay guys, yesterday I cooked bacon in a microwave. When I do, I place a paper towel on top. I used that paper towel to start my lump charcoal in my Primo. It started very fast, much more than with other methods. Has anyone done this, am I overlooking anything that could be harmful to the grill?
Chef I can see no reason how it would be harmful. It might possible add some additional smells that make you want to eat the grill!
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Okay guys, yesterday I cooked bacon in a microwave. When I do, I place a paper towel on top. I used that paper towel to start my lump charcoal in my Primo. It started very fast, much more than with other methods. Has anyone done this, am I overlooking anything that could be harmful to the grill?
Chef yeah i have done similar by spraying oil on newspaper. I use an electric starter on my kamado, but it does take a little while to get going. As long as your not adding a petroleum based excellerant you should be fine. At least with mine that voids the warranty as the excellerant can’t be absorbed by the ceramic causing it to burn off at high/uneven temps which could result in cracking.
Pretty much anything that heats or cools the ceramic unevenly is bad. Thats why it has the fire bowl to help disperse the heat to the outside ceramic. If the firebox cracks your odds of cracking the outer shell becomes allot higher. Ive managed to do this on the lower end vision grill, but i had documented cracking in the FB weeks after I got it so the warranty claim wasn’t much of an issue.
I’m more mindful with the replacement as I now know its limitations. I like the kamado cookers, but I think their best at grilling and indirect cooking. I havent done much low and slow and I think it would struggle to keep up with a decent vertical smoker. The longer I live the more I come to find that the Swiss army knife marketed types just don’t deliver like advertised.
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My local ACE Hardware has continually let me down this year. The store does not store it’s lump or charcoal inside. Skids of product outside on a “patio” that has been exposed to the rain we’ve gotten here in abundance in SE Michigan. So waterlogged, it won’t light. Don’t buy charcoal, or briquetes there anymore.
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