Charcoal Ring / Minion method

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Hi all

I use a WSM copy and although I have not tried the Minion method Im sure it will not work because
I have no charcoal ring.

I have tried a mini-minion. I used a full bowl of coals (22" diameter) but only two deep. The coals burned well over the vent holes (in the centre of the bowl)
but did not spread well, so it burned v hot for 1.5 hrs then dropped heat as
the burn did not spread well.

What is it about the WSMs construction that I am missing?
Is it all about the charcoal ring? I cant but weber parts in Ireland
but can get one made. Where are the vents on the WSM, Is this crucial
to its smooth operation?

Have still made some 1st class q though
(I have apapted to the quirks of my beast)
but would still lack confidence for an overnighter!

Many thanks

Niall
 
Click the Product Info link at the top of this page. It will tell and show all.

The charcoal ring and grate allow air circulation from all around the coals. Therefore, the vents become the sole control of the air supply to the coals, and you are in control of them.
 
I got to believe that if you were to use expanded metal and make a ring it should work for you very well. I know there a lot of folks cooking on offsets that are using baskets made of expanded metal in the firebox and getting good results.
Jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by niall:
[qb]Where are the vents on the WSM?[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Despite all the photos I've posted, I don't have one showing the layout of all the vents in the charcoal bowl.

The charcoal bowl has three vents that are spaced equally around the bowl, about 5" down from the edge of the bowl.

Regards,
Chris
 
Niall-

I do not use a charcoal ring in my modified kettle at all. Here's how I do it (apologies to those who think this is repeptive to Chris' section on the Minion, but figured I'd chime in here for Niall since he's using a non-WSM setup that I have some experience with.)

I load my charcoal on top of the kettle's charcoal grate (you have one of those, right?) until it's just below the level of the "food" grate supports. This is usually about a 12lb bag of Kingsford. I start up a 1/4 chimney (weber chimney....that matters as it's bigger than most), and after 20 mins, I put the glowing coals on top of the middle of the pile of unlit stuff.

Then I put the food grate on, and on top of that, I place my heat sink/thermal mass (in my case, a 20" x 3" cake pan filled 2/3 with sand and covered with foil.) Then I add the cooking chamber (mine is the ugly one, yours is the good looking stainless one!), add the food grates, food, and top.

I have never had a problem with the charcoal only combusting above the vents. I usually start with all three vents wide open. At 170?, I shut one of the three vents down completely. At 210?, I shut the remaining two vents to 50%. At 225? I shut them to 25%. With my setup, this gets me to 230-250? steady temp as measured in the dome of the cooker. You will likely need to have different vent settings as your setup is likely to have different (read BETTER) fit, and therefore, less extra air leaking in/out.

On long cooks, I occasionally need to tap the bottom of the cooker to get the ash to fall out and clear the way for air passage (usually only need to do this after 10-12 hours.)

I hope this helps you out!

Rich G.
 
Hi Guys

Thanks all for the Replies

I now belive that the multi-directioned
airflow of the wsm is another crucial feature

My base is a standard kettle (not weber)
with a single damper disk at the very bottom
of the bowl (it has three holes that open & close
with the one disc) so I dont get the airflow that the wsm gets, hence the localised burn over the damper

Chris: Are the vents on a flat surface or is
the damper Disc curved to stay tight to the body?

Rich, thanks for the reply, does your base have three vents like the wsm, I think thats my bullets' shortfall.

I will now make three dampers to further my control. Any thoughts on this on a curved surface? I may do three holes in a line, as the disc style one would be hard to make tight.

Many thanks

Niall
 
Niall-

Yep, mine has three vents. It is an older Weber Bar-B-Kettle (don't make this version anymore, I don't think.) I thought you were using a Weber Kettle....sorry about that. Sounds like you don't have enough airflow, and if that vent is centered at the bottom of the kettle, it's going to be tough to keep the ash from clogging it up (the vents on the Weber are higher up the sides of the bottom of the bowl.

Not sure what your solution is....sorry I can't help.

Rich G.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by niall:
[qb]Chris: Are the vents on a flat surface or is
the damper Disc curved to stay tight to the body?
[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>The dampers are slightly curved so they fit tight against the curved shape of the bowl.

Regards,
Chris
 
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