1st Try with Minion Method - A Disaster!

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After successfully smoking chicken twice in my new WSM I thought I was ready for a pork butt using the Minion Method. Not! The temp got out of control after about 2 hours - with all the bottom vents closed. When I cracked the lid to let the heat escape, a couple pieces of the smoke wood ignited into flame.

I deviated from the Minion Method by using about 30 pieces of lit Kingsford charcoal instead of 20 (on a warm day), and I used a sand pan instead of water.

Was the additional charcoal enough to get the temp over 300* at the lid?
 
Sand pan was okay, but 15 lit briquettes is plenty. Having 30 lit is what got you all "fired up"...

15 doesn't look like it's enough to do the trick, but it works. I marvel every time I do it that those few little hot coals can gradually burn through a whole full pan of charcoal.

I started a full packer brisket, a slab of spares with trimmings, 4 ears of corn and a couple of baked potatoes about 11 this morning via Minion... spares came off great about 5:00, if a bit too tender. Brisket is still going strong at 177 last I checked, and will come off before we go to bed. It'll be tomorrow night's dinner. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Try 15 lit coals next time, and she'll chug merrily along.

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time
 
As you learned, cracking the lid only lets in more oxygen, which translates to hotter fire and even flame. It's best to remember that changes in the WSM occur slowly and you don't need to sweat it if you're out of your desired range for a half or even a full hour. Lowering temperature is achieved by closing down vents, regardless of the firing method you use. Starting with 20 probably would have resulted in less of a problem.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Try 15 lit coals next time, and she'll chug merrily along <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Thanks for the advice. I'll try it. The butt turned out well - in the oven.
 
Used the Minion method on my first run with the WSM with 30 lit briquettes. It worked great! However, I was real careful about not letting the temp run up early in the cook.

BTW, I started with a full chamber full of charcoal, cooked at 240-250 dome temp. for 12 hours, and still had about 25% of the coals remaining. That was quite a surprise.
 
Dave
Unless the weather is really cold, a 1/3 to 1/2 a chimney load of lit charcoal is plenty and with sand it doesn't take as much either.
As others have said if the temps climb to high starving it of air is the correct measure, just leave the top vents open.
Jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>The temp got out of control after about 2 hours - with all the bottom vents closed. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Dave
How far into the cook did you close all bottom vents and how much time did you wait before you cracked the lid. If it was 45 minutes to an hour without opening the lid. Than Im thinking another possibility

Just a thought, When you were done with your cook and shut the WSM down ( closing all vents including the top-if you did) did the smoker competely cool down within two hours. If the charcole was still burning Im thinking maybe an air leak might also be a factor.
I dont know exactly what you did or when you did it,just maybe somthing to think about.
Jim
 
Sofarallof my cook have been "Minion".. Depending on how much meat i am cooking my cooker wont go higher than 250. I cooked 2 6lbs brisket flats and 2 7lbs butts yesterday. Temps never went above 230 with all vents open 100 percent.

I had to add a rack for the other brisket, but so far i have not had my temps get way up there!!!
 
Dave

I've only used a full water pan so I don't know if that would be a variable. Lots of people use the sand and MM so I don't think that would be an issue. I see two possibilities. First, you used too much lit coal and that got the heat higher than you could control. Second, you may not have monitored quickly enough early on. At about 200 you should close all vents and reopen to 25%. If you checked 15 min later and saw the temp rising fairly rapidly, you should close the vents more - say down to 10%. I believe by doing this you would never see the temp up to 300. Of course, cracking the lid only complicated your problem. At that point you probably could have solved the problem by carefully removing some of the coals.

Get back on the horse !
/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
PRG
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by matt goin:
[qb] So far all of my cook have been "Minion".. Depending on how much meat i am cooking my cooker wont go higher than 250. I cooked 2 6lbs brisket flats and 2 7lbs butts yesterday. Temps never went above 230 with all vents open 100 percent.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>26 lbs. of cold meat can suck up all the heat energy 20-30 lit briquets has to offer. You're lucky you got it up to 230.
 
I use a variation of the Minion method that has worked great for me so far. I light a full chimney of coal and dump it in the charcoal chamber. I then cover it with unlight coal and assemble the cooker. I've used this method several times and it works great. I live in north Texas and it's been very hot. My WSM sits in full sun most of the time. I've had no problem keeping my temps between 230 and 250 for up to 15 hours without adding a single chunk of additional coal. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
I fill a chimmny full of Kingsford / Lump mix. Then dump that onto a full chamber of Kingsford / lump mix and she stays hot for 20 hours easily. I've never had problems keeping it right around 230F. As everyone else states...don't open the top, don't open the access door, and keep those vents closed unless you need 'em. And when you open them, do it slowly, only 2, then the 3rd if you need. Check if you have a leak in the door as well. You can also close the upper vent, causing the entire unit to "shut down".
 
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