Royal Oak Lump

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

wsm3189

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 28, 2012
7
10
Columbus OH
I usually use Kingsford in my WSM, but wanted to try the lump. Had a difficult time getting it to 225-250 range and keeping it there. It needed constant attention, so I finally added Kingsford to it. Any suggestions?
 
I prefer a clay saucer for aflower pot but you get the idea. Water controls the heat by absorbing the energy required to warm it to the boiling point. Without the water more energy is used to heat the air so it can get hotter. I love the cooks where I make 2 adjustments for very stable temps.

Does this help?
 
I would like a little more info here.

 I almost always use RO lump in my WSM and have done water and sand and have not had any trouble getting to temp if anything if you start too much it can get hot on you  and then you have to shut all of the the vents for a while to get it back down.  where are your vents set, how much did you start with/light.  I only use sand now just for the ease of cleanup, performance verses water (as long as you keep water in the pan) is EXACTLY the same in my WSM.  As Bama stated the water and the other Mass (sand, clay pot, etc) act as calorimeters to help provide a thermal mass to help with consistent temps, and avoid severe temp swings.  Water evaporates thus decreasing mass and the temp can gradually creep up unless you keep the water pan filled.  Some guys may argue that having water will also provide more moisture to your meat.

In fact I only use RO Lump for everything requiring charcoal, briquettes are a thing of the past to me.  IMO Lump burns hotter, longer, and produces much less ash than briquettes.

A few more details would help here
 
  • Like
Reactions: linehand
A little more info.

I started with about a quarter of a 12 lbs bag, used a chimney to get going. I didn't  take notice of the exact time to get up to temp. Just was longer than with the briquets and the temp fluctuated for a good 1.5 hr or more. The vents were all wide open for most of the time. Now. after about 2 hrs or so I was real impressed with RO holding a good temp, but I did add a chimney full of briquets.

Pics, will be added, I smoked 2 meatloafs btw, and had about a third of the bowl filled with warm water, to start.

Again, thanks for the replies. I am not done with RO, I did like the way it held temp, just seemed like a long time, effort, couple hrs. to get there.
 
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky