Cook Times

[DjPorkchop]

Ok ladies and fellers, I know this has come up once before so will bring it up again as to not necro post in an old topic.

So I fired up my old leaky, never sealed UDS with half and half of royal oak lump and stubs briqs. Then fired up my BPS EDS and same mixture. Ran both at 300 and I ran out of coal twice cooking pork butts on the EDS. Old leaky was cooking ribs, moinks, abt's and fatties and never ran out of fuel. It burnt from 7 in the morning until 5 pm.

2 baskets of coal in the EDS in 10 hours. Odd to say the least. It does NOT leak at all. Every bolt on it has been sealed with high temp rtv and the bottom slide vents are sealed tight to barrel as well. My old UDS might have in 10 hours burnt 2 or 3 lbs of coal.

Tossing the leaking drum theory a side, why would this happen? I will not accept leaking drum as a reason. I made 100% sure when I built it it was air tight. While it is running if I close it down fire is out cold in 20 minutes.... if that. So I know it can't be a leaking drum. I thought it burned a bit more fuel the times I have used it but put it off as me imagining things. Now I know I am not.

I'm just looking for any ideas here so I can calm my wife down. She is irate as can be over this one. lol She said from now on they are going to be scratch built from parts bought at stores...... That is her theory. I would have NO issues buying this kit again. I do love to get it out and cook on it.

Please help!

Thanks in advance either way.

Ray

 

[UDSPowercat]

I use KBB charcoal, cuz I'm cheap, when running briskets at 325* 4-5 hours I have at least 1/2 a basket of charcoal left. How are you lighting you charcoal?

 

[Bigfish]

How are you measuring the temperature in both drums? I measure my drum temperature toward the center of the grate with a Maverick Probe. This is a guess, if you are measuring by the side of the drum tempt one of the gauges could be inaccurate.

I typically slow cook in my drum around 250. Once the drum gets up to temp I barely have one of the side vents barely open with the top vent totally open. With a full basket of coals I can maintain tempts for 12 to 14 hours. The only other thing I can think of is how well does you lid seal?

Good luck!

 

[DjPorkchop]

Hi fellas and thanks for the replies.

My lid actually seals pretty good. I warped my first one and luckily had another on stand by that I cleaned up with a flap disc and painted.

As far as lighting it goes, I used the Stubs in my chimney and had 10 coals lit. Once ashed over, poured directly in the center of the coal basket. Once temp came up to 250 and fire was clean, I then put my lid on and was at 1/2 hole open on one side and 1 hole open on the other and brought it up to 300. I used a potato with a dial therm that I calibrated with ice water and boiling water. It is adjustable for when it needs it.

On my other UDS that leaks like a ceive, I light it the exact same way. I ran both at 300 give or take 5 in either direction.

The coal basket consisted of Stubs on the bottom, RO lump on top and then Stubs on top of it. That was in my BPS drum. On old leaky (my other uds), I pretty much did it the same way but kinda dumped coal in with no rhyme or reason and it ended up how it ended up. I organize my BPS coal basket much better since it is smaller than my other one.

I did learn how far off my BPD guage is off. It is 35 degrees off which is MUCH better than my other drum where it is off 50 degrees.

Looking back to the cook on Saturday, I see nothing at all out of the ordinary that I would not do any other time besides the obvious differences of running the 2 different barrels.

 

[Big Poppa]

two things charcoal and thermoometers....if you want 225 at the center of the bps you are going to un it at about 210 on the dial...second stumps is absolute garbage. Check out the nakewhiz.com for charcoal reviews....I dont understand the mixing of charcoal...

 

[DjPorkchop]

Hi BP

The mix of the charcoal is due to the lump being busted up in to a million little pieces. I use Briquettes on the bottom to keep coal from falling through and go lump over it.

And I pretty have much have the thermos figured out in retrospect to temp in middle of the drum. The only detail I got left to figure out is why I went through so much coal in a cook session. Once I figure that little detail out I will be good to go.

On a side note, I got some NICE rib tips gonna go on the drum today. I'm going to leave old leaky in the garage and get the BP EDS out and go at it again and see how the coals burn strictly using the RO lump. No Stubs.

 

[BabelBBQ]

The thing that stands out in your post is "I organize my BPS coal basket much better since it it is smaller than my other one." If it is smaller and holds less coal it would likely not last as long. Secondly, if you were running both drums as an experiment it would be better to limit your variables to one, it seems as if the variable you are interested testing is drum design, EDS vs homemade and comparing burn time. You seem to have three variables drum design, layout of coals, and quantity of coal. The change in burn time could be caused by any one of the three variables or even a combination of the three.



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[DjPorkchop]

It's hard telling to be honest. I just figure I shouldn't have burned that much coal in 10 hours regardless. And it really wasn't an experiment. Just something I noticed as I needed to run both drums. I was cooking well over 35 lb or so of food that day. I burned roughly 3 pounds of coal in one and like 12 pounds in the other in 10 hours. That is quite the difference. And I am not slamming the smoker at all. I love the BP EDS. I am just itching to understand why I burnt so much more coal in it is all.

I was going to run it again today with some rib tips but wind shut me down. Had sustained winds at 25 gusting to 45. Good times.

**EDIT** And I forgot to mention that I am going to run it without the Stubs as BigPoppa pointed out and run it with only RO lump and see how that does. Maybe the Stubs is in fact crap and burns to quick. That seems the likely cause to me to be honest. The last time I ran it, I ran it for 7 hours and maybe used 1/2 the basket at 300 degrees. That was all RO lump.

 

[Bigfish]

I read your last post and I am sorry I failed to catch this before. Burning only 3 pounds of charcoal in 10 hours in a full size drum smoker and cooking 15 to 20 pounds of meat is, well, almost unbelievable. I have two drum smokers, one made from carbon steel and one from stainless steel. Both of my BP EDS Drums will consume 8 to 10 lbs of coals in 10 to 12 hours maintaining 250 F. At 300 F and cooking 20 lbs of meat your reported coal consumption of 12 pounds in 10 hours sounds about right based on my units.

Ken

 

[DjPorkchop]

Yeah it is actually quite remarkable for how efficient my old leaky drum is considerings it is well, leaky.

Now all that being said, RIb TIps never got thawed out so tonight on deck is Memphis sausage cheese plates and Smoked taters. We are using all RO lump in the BP EDS tonight.

I will smoke the taters that have been rubbed in EVOO and sea salt for an hour or so at 275 give or take a few. Then they will get foiled in whipped butter for another 30-40 minutes. Right when I get ready to put taters in foil, sausage will hit the smoker.

So far tonight it is burning cleaner and more even temps. I am beginning to believe Big Poppa was right. The stubs briks are just burning to fast and a little dirtier.

 

[DjPorkchop]

So the verdict is in. I do believe it was the Stubs briquettes. I ran straight Royal Oak Lump last night for 4 hours and it only really touched the top layer of coal. I was able to hold the temps real steady as well. Once the EDS set in it's place, it was set. When I tried to bring up temps, they came right up and leveled out and stayed put. So from now on, it is good old RO lump.

Thanks for the suggestion on that coal Big Poppa. Much appreciated.

 

[jimsbarbecue]

No matter the fuel type charcoal, pellets or wood logs. Bad or wet fuel can mess up a good cook