Minion method on a horizontal grill?

[DarrenC]

Hello folks!

I have a Char-griller horizontal barrel-style grill and several times have tried smoking diffent items with it using the indirect method. I like it better than using a kettle grill as the surface is huge and it is easy to get the meat right away from the direct heat. The problem I have is that I am always needing to tend to the fire every 45 minutes or so. On a 12-hour cook this can really get irritating and cut into the beer-drinking time.

After finding this website, I used the Minion method in my Cheapo Subeam water smoker that I had given up on over a year ago with good success. My question is, can the same method me used in the barrel grill with a pile of briquettes and a few lit ones on top and the burn time extended? Even a couple of hours at a time without having to touch it would be a great help.

 

[Guest]

As long as you can control the draft well enough to a) keep the coals burning and b) not have the whole pile ignite at once, I don't see why it wouldn't work. A pile of charcoal is a pile of charcoal.

The only thing you'll have to play around with is the number of lit briquettes necessary to produce the desired temperatures in your cooker.

Some kind of charcoal "ring" or other means of containing the pile of charcoal may help. A few blocks of firebrick around the fire would work well for that, or you could simply call Weber and order a WSM charcoal ring.

I doubt that you'll ever get the unattended burn times that people see from their WSMs. One of the primary advantages of the Weber kettle configuration is its fuel efficiency for indirect cooking -- the result of the round, dome shape and generally good air seals.

 

[Jim Minion]

If you have an offset it won't help much, offsets just move too much air. If it is like a Hawthorn style pit with the fire box in the horizonal it will work better.
Jim

 

[Willy T.]

A friend made some fire rings out of stainless.He gave me two them.They're the same size as a bullets but deeper.I use them in my large pits and I have to refill every 2.5 hours.I've played around with the fire ring and can't get close to the burn times of a bullet.The rings do help though.My problem is I'm heating such a large area.The WSMs have spoiled many people on ease and simplicity.
Good Luck,
Willy T.