TODAY is why I call myself a rookie. (Scroll down for the synopsis.)
Brand spankin' new firebox for the Char-griller, installed last night and prepped with corn oil for about an hour at 150F. Picked it up so I could "go big" with more stuff on the griller part. No issues with installing it and all the holes filled up nice.
Weather: from 49F at 0730 to about 58F at 1600, (when I threw in the towel). Windy; gusts up to ~20mph.
Get a chimney started at 0730 and add it to a pile of K-ford in the box. And wait...and wait...and wait. At 0930, the pit finally reaches 230F, so I plunk down a couple of shoulders, Pit temp drops to 160F and is pegged there for a good 30 minutes, so I add a chimney's worth of coals and open the vent up all the way from the 3/4 mark. Top vent is closed for heat retention.
And wait... and wait... and wait. Takes it's sweet arse time getting up to ~195F when I add more coals... and wait. Two chimneys, one air trough dug in the box, and 90 minutes later, I BARELY manage to hit 225F... not that it stays there for long.
Two MORE chimneys later, and I'm back at 225F when I add two large chickens... but again, breifly. Drops to 170F before I could get another chimney started. Finally ran out of coals...birds were finished, but I had to put the shoulders in the oven to finish them.
SYNOPSIS: After 6+ hours, I've gone through 20+ lbs of charcoal and have enough ash to compete with Mona Loa. Adding obscene amounts of charcoal and hickory chunks barely raises the temps enough to hit 220+F, let alone maintaining this for longer than 15 minutes or so. (The sholders are at 185F in the oven right now, thank you very much.)
So, do I need to
A) Use logs instead of / in addition to charcoal, (thinking a log fire in the box will be mo' hotter, mo' better);
B) Learn to wrestle the wind? This was the first thing my FIL mentioned when he called a while ago, (I've never been bit by the wind hard enough to to this...yet);
C) Something else?
D) Take up golf.
Thanks for your comments.
Scott