quote:

Originally posted by John Bridgman:
I hate to sound like your mother, but everyone remember eye protection when chipping & cutting firebricks, OK ?

I did an 8 pound butt on the Performer yesterday with this arrangement. I think having the firebricks offset (or cut) to make a smaller coal area is better than what I was doing before.

The butt went on just after midnight with ~10 lit coals and ran until about 2:00 PM when my friends had to leave so we let the butt sit for a bit then picked it apart into a few big chunks so everyone could run home and put their chunk in the oven to finish.

I added a handful of coals around 9 AM -- not because the fuel was low but just for safekeeping -- I sometimes find that ash buildup stops the last of the coals from burning and I'm just learning when and how to best stir the coals to get the ashes out without killing the fire. Putting a few unlit coals on top and letting them catch before stirring seemed to improve my odds. After stirring I pushed the coals together in the middle so they would all keep burning.

By 2PM the unburned fuel was getting pretty low and I would have had to top up again if I was going to continue the cook. That's 14 hours, which ain't bad. I was out of Kingsford so used some no-name briquettes my brother-in-law had in the back of his truck.

Sorry about the blurry pic, but here's what it looked like starting up. David, is this about the same arrangement you used ?

quote:

Originally posted by Corey Elks:
when doing a minion start 4 lit trying to keep kettle around 250 275 i see you are keeping one touch vent about 1/8th open. what about the top vent?

quote:

Originally posted by Corey Elks:
let us know how they turn out robert. Ive been thinking about trying some smokeing in my kettle too and possibly getting rid of my wsm if i like it.