Best way to add coals/wood?

[chowderblue]

Seems like a pain in the rear to open the lid and take off the grill(which will gave meat on it) every time i want to add coals. I'm worried this will effect temperature and such. Does anyone have any pointers or ideas to help out a noob? I know some people have added a door mod...pics would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Kevinish]

I've never had to add coal during a cook. I've cooked up to 17 hours on one full basket. If I'm going to add wood, I add a few chunks dispersed among the charcoal so that they will light off at different times during the cook.

 

[southga]

Fill up your basket with unlit charcoal with a few wood chunks spaced about. Light about a dozen briquettes in a chimney. Once they are going good, dump them on top of the basket of unlit charcoal/wood. Depending on the size of your basket, you should be able to cook for 12 - 16+ hours. The other key to cooking with this method is to catch your pit temp on the way up. I have three 1" nipples on my drum. I cap one off when the pit temp hits 200. I cap the second one at 220. The third has a ball valve & I cut it back about half at 240. My drum normally then settles in between 255-265. This usually takes about 15-20 mins. I then wait for the smoke to go from white to thin, blue (about another 10-15 mins). Now its ready for meat.

 

[chowderblue]

Awesome! As you can prob tell I'm new to this so you guys ahve saved me some time in trial and error. Cal Poly Grad '08

 

[Kevinish]

Hey Chowder, Always good to get some fresh blood in here. It's a great resource. You can also search for old posts, as a lot of these questions have been discussed in previous posts. I graduated CP in '08 also!