Help me with my snake

Yesterday was my second smoke in my Weber kettle.

Also my second time starting with the snake method getting frustrated and piling the charcoal into the minion method an hour in.

I'm lining them up 2X1 around 2/3 of the kettle. Lighting about 12 briquettes and pouring them at one end of the snake.

Works fine for about an hour then my temp drops and the coals are all but out. I have to rack the hot coals over the next section of the snake to get it going. Rinse, repeat till I get tired of it and rake them into a pile.

I did see one tutorial say you had to stack the briquettes on each other at roughly a 45* angle similar to knocked over dominos.

Is that my issue?

I've never tried the snake method, but when I smoke on my Weber. I load it up pretty full with lump, then choke it way back with the vents. I reload coals every 2 -3 hours.

I do 2x2 for the snake. I add a few wood chunks (3-4) around the snake. You need to make sure that everything is touching and there's no gap between the briquettes. To start the snake, I usually put 4 or 6 briquettes single layer, 2 large and pour my hot coals on top of them. Give it 15-20 mins lid on before you do anything with it. I leave the vents completely open while the coal burns. Depending on how humid/hot it is outside, I can do a 6-12hrs with a half snake in the weber.

The trick is in the stacking

Those should help: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/453896-Weber-Charcoal-Barbecue?p=8106460#post8106460

With lump: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/453896-Weber-Charcoal-Barbecue?p=8106460#post8106460

I have a kamado grill and I find the best thing for low and slow is to just push the charcoal to one side of the grill and add a couple hot pieces of lump charcoal. I start choking down the air at about 150 degrees and then more as I get closer to my 225 goal. Just ease up to the final temp.

I had no problems when I did it, and I didn't pay particular attention to how I stacked my coals.

I did read, however, that your top vent should be opposite the section of the snake that is burning. So if, for example your fire was at 12 o clock, your vent should be located at 6.

My weber held temp for hours when I did it this way