Charcoal basket vs ceramic briquettes for the slow burner

I swapped my ceramic briquettes for a cheap expanded metal charcoal basket in my 18 inch WSM last weekend, and the temp control was way easier to dial in. That basket setup kept the fire going steady for 11 hours on a brisket without a single spike. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a difference on long smokes?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_viola24d ago

Yeah the metal basket is way better for air flow, makes a huge difference.

clairen8524d ago

Right, so you basically ditched a fancy volcano in favor of a drain grate and the universe didn't explode? Groundbreaking stuff, truly. I bet that basket cost like twelve bucks and probably came from a hardware store, while those ceramic lumps are priced like they were mined from a secret mountain. But hey, who needs fancy Italian ceramics when a bit of scrap metal works better, right?

grace8924d ago

My ceramic V60 was $28 and it chipped after three months. That metal basket has been going strong for two years now with zero issues. I get the appeal of the fancy stuff, I really do. Sometimes you want the thing that looks good on your counter and feels nice in your hands. But at the end of the day, hot water is going to flow through whatever you put coffee in, and a $12 drain basket does the exact same job as a $50 ceramic dripper. If someone wants to spend the money on a pretty setup, that's their choice. I just don't think it makes the coffee taste any better.