4/16/2006

I have a Longhorn Deluxe Smoker purchased in July 2005. I absolutely love the smoker for the value. My only complaint has been my problems getting a burn longer than 60-90 minutes. Now do not get me wrong, I do love tending my stick-burner, but there are times when I just cannot dedicate that much time, and we still have to eat. I experimented with the Minion method by having 2 separate piles of lump charcoal in 2 different corners of the smoker. The problem is the radiant heat from the lit pile started burning the unlit pile almost immediately and still only gave me a 2 hour burn, but also went thru double the volume of lump.

So after some research I decided to buy a charcoal basket from Dave Klose. At the time I purchased this (March 2006) my cost was $110.00 plus $20.00 shipping. This thing is a monster weighing in at almost 60 pounds.

 

   
     
    As you can see, this thing barely fit into my firebox.
     
   
     
    I filled the basket (about 3/4 full) with Cowboy Lump and left an empty spot for dumping lit charcoal into. As you can see in this pic above, the Cowboy lump size is totally inconsistent, and these were by far the largest pieces in a 20lb bag. I will avoid Cowboy when possible in the future.
     
   
     
    I dumped this into the space I left in the charcoal basket about 6:30AM.
     
   
     
    The picture above is 1 hour after dumping the lit lump into the basket. Temp at the grate level in the center of the smoker was about 270. Firebox aircontroller was down to 1/4 inch open and smokestack damper was 1/4 open. At this point I completely closed the air controller on the firebox to try and reduce the air and bring the temps down.
     
   
     
    Above is 2 hours after dumping the lit lump. Notice the air controller is completely closed. Temp is holding steady between 220 and 230.
     
   
     
    Above is now 3 hours after dumping the lit lump. Temps still holding steady at 230 or so with controller on firebox completely closed.
     
   
     
    Above is 4 hours into the burn. I only added half a basket of lump due to concern about a temp spike. Temp is still holding steady around 220-230 mark.
     
   

At this point I had to add a half basket of unlit lump about every 2 hours.

I am extremely pleased with this outcome. My hope is that with future burns, I can fill the basket completely with some decent lump, close the air control from the very start and get a solid 5 hour burn. I also suspect that I can add more than half a basket on each reload and get a good 3+ hours from that point forward.

I did end up using about 30 lbs of lump for a 12-13 hour burn. I cooked three 8 lb butts, one 13 lb brisket and 4 small racks of danish ribs.
     
   
     
    Here is my smoker loaded pretty solid with the test meat.
     
   
   
     
   

All in all, the charcoal basket was a success. Is it worth $130 incl shipping? Not yet determined. If I can stretch to 5 hours and get 3+ hours each after that, then I am going to say yes. It is expensive compared to the cost of the smoker ($600 for Longhorn Deluxe), but to get some consistent temps for longer periods is worth some sleep at a comp, or time to run errands on the weekends. Plus, for now it saves me $2K because I have been able to hold off on buying a Stumps for now. If your current offset is a temporary smoker until you can upgrade, it probably is not worth. A permanent fixture? Then, this 60lb monster will probably out last the smoker. If you plan on upgrading to a larger offset, I see no reason why this basket cannot be used on even some of the larger trailer style offsets. The other option is to find a welder buddy to make one for you for a fraction of the cost.

Look for upcoming updates about future stats on the charcoal basket.

Kevin (AUKev)

The BBQNuts

www.BBQNuts.com