I have a few general questions about charcoal briquettes and my 22.5 WSM temps.


 
JeffB

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I have read many times that when using the minion method you should start your briquettes in the chimney and then pour them over the unlit when they are starting to turn grey and ash over. To me, that seems too late--I usually dump them when the briquettes near the top of the chimney are lit but only 1/2 way grey (tops still black). Once they turn grey, aren't they starting to get "past" their useful time? Thoughts?

Also, I have read recently about a lot of you letting your WSM's get up to temp for about 1 hour before puttin on your meat. According to the built in thermometer on mine, my WSM usually gets up above 200* within just a few minutes, so I'm not sure why it would take an hour before putting on the meat.

My best guess is that during that hour, you have not only gotten up to temp but you have also adjusted your vents and have the smoker running at a steady temp. Is that why it takes an hour to get to temp?

Looking like a nice weekend to cook here in the DC Metro area! Highs in the low 70's and sunny skies.

Smoke on!! :wsm:
 
I put a 1/2 chimney of coals over the flame on my turkey fryer, or a side burner on a gas grill works about the same. In about 5 minutes they are lit well enough without any chance of going out, and then dump into the WSM center (minion). As far as waiting for an hour, that gives the charcoal more than enough time to burn off so to speak and the wood chunks to kick in that I use. I would guess for me it's more like 30-40 minutes asopposed to an hour. Hope that helps you, that's the way I do it.
 
When I say it takes me an hour, it means from the time I start the chimney to the time I put the meat on. It's prob more like 45 mim but I plan an hour. On avg it takes 25-30 min to get the chimney filled, get the starter cube lit, and for the chimney to be volcano fire shooting out the top hot. Then it takes another 25-30-ish min to dump the lit on the unlit, spread it around, let the nasty black smoke from cold coal hitting hot coal to clear out, get the thing assembled the way I want it, get the Mav set up, and get the meat and lid on.
 
I light my starter cube an hour before I plan to put meat on. As you have guessed, it doesn't take that long for the coals to get hot, but if something happens..... Say for example you light your chimney with paper and walk away, you come back 15 minutes later expecting the chimney to be ready only to find the paper never lit the coals. You now still have 45 minutes to try again.
 
First off, I don't care if I have to refuel during a cook. Charcoal is cheap, so consumption and fuel efficiency isn't at the top of my priorities. But I'm not going to say that K smoke is going to ruin your BBQ, either. However, for me and others, "the wait" is mainly about the quality of the smoke.

It seems that the fewer ashed over briquettes I start with in a chimney, especially Kbb ("original"), the longer the wait for thin blue smoke. I figure that if my eyes start to burn when putting on the meat, I'm getting about as much flavor from the charcoal as I am the wood I'm trying to smoke with. But whatever works for you...

On a related note, although LUMP takes much longer to properly load the ring, I get thin blue smoke almost right off the bat and more than make up for any time I would've saved by using briquettes. Everyone's method and ideas on all this is probably a little different, though.
 
When I use the MM, I load the charcoal ring and add a 1/4 or so chimney of coals that are just having the flame's lick out at the top.
I do not wait for anything. I just add my chunks of smokewood over the top of the ring, and dump the lit and move it around with a pair of tongs.
Meats already loaded on the grates, and the middle section is immediately set on the bowl. ( I have handles )
To me ( and what I learned on the board ) is waiting for the smoker to come up to a specific temp while using the MM is counter-productive.
First the meat acts as a heat sink, and when you do come up to whatever temps you like, lifting the lid and adding the meat loses whatever you gained.
Lot's of different ways to do it, depending on you're fuel choice, and sense of smoke, you will find yours.:wsm:

Tim
 
I mimic Tim. Meat goes on cold when smoking. If I'm barbequing or grilling, that's a different story. The idea of the MM is to be able to catch your range as the fire is heating up. I wait for nothing. It doesn't matter when you dump your lit. Obviously, the more lit you dump and the hotter it is, the faster your unlit will light. I usually start with 20-30 lit and I dump when I feel like dumping. Add lit, place wood, assemble cooker that already has the meat in it, eat.
 
I use the Tin Can Minion Method on the 18.5" WSM and wait for nothing. I try to catch the temperature on the rise and let the meat warm up (on the fire) when the cooker is coming up to temperature.

I light my IKEA silverware caddy with a single Weber cube and dump it when it's ready (under ten minutes or so for 20 briquettes). Then pull the tin can and it's "off to the races"...

FWIW
Dale53
 
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