Lots of charcoal left


 
B

Bob G.

TVWBB Member
Yesterday I smoked a rack of St. Louis style ribs on my 18” WSM at 225* with a Smoke X4 and Billows. I only used the grate probe. I filled the charcoal basket most of the way evenly and added 3 pieces of apple wood. I spread 3/4 of a charcoal chimney of lit charcoal evenly across the unlit. I use a foiled water pan empty. I use the BBQ Guru and TW adapters. The ribs took 6.5 hours. I shut the top vent and put the silicon plug in the BBQ Guru. I cleaned the smoker today and still have a lot of charcoal and wood left. I’ve only used KBB so far. Outside temps were 63* to 77* between 10am to 4:30pm. Wind was light. I kept the smoker in the shade with a big patio umbrella. Billows had no problem keeping the temp at 225* plus or minus 8*.

This is my second cook without water this year smoking ribs. Last year I used the large water pan with water and used a lot more charcoal for a similar cook.

Is the amount of charcoal left over the result of using a dry water pan? I wonder if I only filled the charcoal basket half way for a 7 hour cook if there would be any left. Pics of the left over charcoal in the smoker. Also pics of the charcoal and ashes left over in 12 quart buckets. Thoughts? Thanks for any input.

Ribs were good like the last time. :)

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You're reaping the benefits of both the dry pan & the atc. Having more charcoal available is always a good thing, especially in case of a controller upset. Personally, I always refill the charcoal to the top, even for a short cook. Nothing is wasted in doing so...
 
I always bury my wood under the charcoal and always have one in the middle where I put my lit coals so I have instant wood smoking. You can place the lit coals anywhere you prefer I just do so in the middle because it works for me. It doesn't look like you're getting much smoke to the meat. You have a very faint smoke ring on the meat and no burnt wood so I'd say very little smoke profile going into the meat.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I’m kind of confused why the wood doesn’t burn sitting on lit charcoal. I’ll try putting some of the wood under the lit charcoal next time.

I’ve read on this forum to not use the minion method when using a dry pan and the Billows and have been spreading the lit and unlit charcoal evenly.
 
I do the Harry Soo/ Enrico Brandizzi hybrid method, layer of smoke wood on the bottom, top that off with a FULL ring of coal, set the barrel and touch the coal off light the side by the door about two to three minutes and I’ll get one nice long burning bullet for a full cook! As Chuck says “More time for more barbecue”.
 
Bob G. said:
Thanks for the replies.

I’m kind of confused why the wood doesn’t burn sitting on lit charcoal. I’ll try putting some of the wood under the lit charcoal next time.

I’ve read on this forum to not use the minion method when using a dry pan and the Billows and have been spreading the lit and unlit charcoal evenly.
Click to expand...

If you're setting the top vent as in the Billows owners manual, I believe you do not have enough sustained airflow to cause the wood to flame. Same is true when one buries the wood in the charcoal pile. We do the later, but with the top vent fully open.

We use the Billows on our WSM with a dry foiled pan, using the Jim Minion's method. Have been doing so on a WSM since January 2012 (using a different ATC manufacturer). Using a center start method since the late 1970s. That method was later attributed to Jim Minion.

Hopefully it wasn't here that someone wrote not to use the minion method when using a dry pan. It could be that there is a lack of understanding of the Minion method.
 
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Thank’s Bob. It was on this site that I read that using a dry pan with the Billows to not do the Minion method. I saved a few screen shots when I was searching info on using the Billows. I have been keeping the top vent a little less than 1/4 open. I’ve done two rib cooks with the Billows and not using the Minion method with similar results, wood not burning.

I started a dry run this morning around 11am, no meat, with half of a charcoal basket, 2 pieces of wood in the unlit charcoal, spread 3/4 chimney of lit evenly and 1 piece of wood on top of the lit charcoal. I have the top vent half open. Running at 225* but ramped up to 250* then to 275* and back to 225*. Was checking how the Billows/WSM would respond.

After reading your post, I went out and opened the top vent all of the way since I’m not cooking anything, ~4.5 hour mark. I’m going to check it at the 6 to 7 hour mark and see how much wood burned, which a typical time frame for smoking St. Louis style ribs at 225*, no wrapping.

It was smoking good this morning when the Billows fan was puffing. I have the Billows damper installed and opened all of the way which is basically half of what the Billows would be without the damper.
 
Is the amount of charcoal left over the result of using a dry water pan?

You betcha.

Using many quarts of water is primarily about restricting temp by wasting heat energy. Adding moisture to the cook chamber is secondary (and can be achieved in many other ways).

It takes a LOT of BTUs to (i) heat up several quarts of water to 212F and (ii) convert all the 212F water into 212F steam. Using water is hugely energy inefficient and a crude temp restrictor. You can build a big hot fire, but that water/steam mix (per physics) can't go above 212F. You are driving with the brake on.

Maintaining the temp via less lit charcoal (Minion) and tuned airflow (vent fiddling or ATC) is a much more energy efficient way to maintain lower temp.
 
Hopefully it wasn't here that someone wrote not to use the minion method when using a dry pan. It could be that there is a lack of understanding of the Minion method.

I think the confusion might be about what exactly is being referred to as the "Minion" method.

You definitely use the "Minion method" when doing WSM/ATC. If what you mean by "Minion" is having a small amount of lit charcoal on a bigger pile of unlit charcoal. With the lit gradually lighting up the unlit as the cook progresses.

When I cook without an ATC, I'm very careful with how much lit I start with and where I place the lit. Especially if cooking without the crude water brake. Maybe only 10-15 coals placed in a tight small divot in the center of the pile. Doing it that way (classic Minion with the coffee can in the center) restricts the fire to a very slow gradual grow as the cook progresses. Since the point is to keep the fire from getting out of hand and too hot.

With an ATC, the fan does most of the fire control. So I start with more lit coals -- 1/2 to 3/4 chimney is recommended by Billows. And I spread the lit over the whole pile. Call it loose Minion. Seems to me that the ATC is better able to puff the temperature up/down in small increments when the fan has more lit coals to blow on. Having more lit also makes it easier/faster to bump up the temp if desired (like later in the cook after wrapping).
 
Bob G. said:
I started a dry run this morning around 11am, no meat, with half of a charcoal basket, 2 pieces of wood in the unlit charcoal, spread 3/4 chimney of lit evenly and 1 piece of wood on top of the lit charcoal.
Click to expand...
This IS the Minion Method !!!!
Top Down or Inside Out.... MINION
BOTTOM UP.... NOT MINION
 
Bob Bass said:
This IS the Minion Method !!!!
Top Down or Inside Out.... MINION
BOTTOM UP.... NOT MINION
Click to expand...
After 6 hours, the 2 pieces of wood I put in the unlit charcoal yesterday burned and smoked good. The piece of wood I put on top of the lit charcoal did not hardly burn at all. I opened the vents, removed the Smoke X4 and Billows. I let the rest of the coals burn down. Lid temp got to 340* and stayed over 300* for 2 hours. I have a River Country thermometer that reads pretty close to grate temp, it can be adjusted. I could have smoked some chicken halves after the 6 hour experiment with only half of a charcoal basket that I started with.

Going forward, I’m going to continue spreading the 3/4 of a lit chimney on top of the unlit but will put the smoke wood in the unlit and keep the top vent open.

Thanks for all of the advice!
 
Jim C in Denver said:
Is the amount of charcoal left over the result of using a dry water pan?

You betcha.

Using many quarts of water is primarily about restricting temp by wasting heat energy. Adding moisture to the cook chamber is secondary (and can be achieved in many other ways).

It takes a LOT of BTUs to (i) heat up several quarts of water to 212F and (ii) convert all the 212F water into 212F steam. Using water is hugely energy inefficient and a crude temp restrictor. You can build a big hot fire, but that water/steam mix (per physics) can't go above 212F. You are driving with the brake on.

Maintaining the temp via less lit charcoal (Minion) and tuned airflow (vent fiddling or ATC) is a much more energy efficient way to maintain lower temp.
Click to expand...
Yup. This is why I've never used water. Just use the vents to control the temperature
 
Tried to redeem myself today. Was up at 3am to get a ~7 pound pork butt trimmed for the smoker. Used Pork Barrel BBQ All American Seasoning & Rub. Filled the charcoal basket with KBB and removed some briquettes to make room for the pecan wood. Added 3/4 of a chimney of lit charcoal evenly over the unlit. Put everything together and got Smoke X4 and Billows hooked up. Left Billows damper open. Have been smoking at 225* in the past but decided to do 250* today. Used a foiled water pan, no water. Left top vent wide open per Bob B’s advice. Meat went on at 4am.

Smoke X4 and billows worked great, I didn’t have to make any changes all day until 4:30pm when meat temp was 203* and removed to rest for 30 minutes. There were mostly lit coals left but plenty if the cook went another couple of hours. All of the smoke wood was fully burned. Total cook time was 12.5 hours.

FYI, We don’t usually eat much coleslaw or bread but made an exception for dinner tonight and had store bought slaw! Yea, I know!

The piece missing from the finished pork butt was from a fork test! :)


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