Minion Method or equivalent for an offset smoker?


 
Chris Allingham

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
I got an email from someone asking:

"Can you do the Minion Method in an offset smoker?"

Is there an equivalent method for offsets?
 
I used to try to do it, and inevitably the charcoal would all get lit and I'd have to to fight the temps down. From what I understand you CAN do it with a charcoal basket but you might get something like 5 hours max. It's horribly inefficient, though. The only reason to do it would be to try maybe get some sleep if you are just wiped out on a super long cook. Unless its just a tiny cheap offset, it's best to run sticks.

That said I did see a youtube video ( I won't say who or what) where a guy was talking about putting a bunch of logs in an offset at once to do a kind of minion with logs. I can't imagine you wouldn't have food that tastes like an ashtray.

You can also burn these and get great results:
download.jpg
 
But ................ I gotta think the smoke coming from that pile of lump, splits, and charcoal ......... is going to be white smoldering smoke. I see no other way around it. Hours and hours of that kind of smoke does not produce good barbecue.

Stick burner has to have splits in flame to run clean. To get flame, it has to have good air flow. I can't see how the minion method would get enough air flow to operate properly.
 
Well...... when I was fighting a [cheap] leaky offset (with an HM,) I did build a charcoal basket and use the Minion Method. In that smoker, it certainly did help, the pile burned from the top down gracefully, and never burned in a runaway. I built the basket primarily so I could take the basket out when it burned down, dump the hot charcoal out, put it back in & reload it, then dump the lit charcoal back on top. It did help with long smokes.
 
I do it frequently in my Old Country Pecos. I use the charcoal ring from the 18.5 WSM, fits perfectly in the firebox , and small chunks of wood just like in the WSM.
 
Tom_M said:
I do it frequently in my Old Country Pecos. I use the charcoal ring from the 18.5 WSM, fits perfectly in the firebox , and small chunks of wood just like in the WSM.
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Why would you prefer the offset to the WSM ? Just need more grate space ? I think if I'm gonna do charcoal/chunk then the WSM would be better.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
Why would you prefer the offset to the WSM ? Just need more grate space ? I think if I'm gonna do charcoal/chunk then the WSM would be better.
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I use both of my WSM's more than the offset, just like to change things up sometimes.
 
Couple years ago, I saw a guy on YT who was showing how he converted his Old Country Pecos to charcoal/chunk. I asked him why not just buy a WSM ? He had no answer. Offset is for burning wood.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
Couple years ago, I saw a guy on YT who was showing how he converted his Old Country Pecos to charcoal/chunk. I asked him why not just buy a WSM ? He had no answer. Offset is for burning wood.
Click to expand...
To each his own, but using the Minion Method with charcoal and wood chunks in an offset is a very doable and popular option. In fact, Klose builds charcoal baskets for their offset smokers and LavaLock sells a large assortment of charcoal baskets for different size fireboxes, just to name a few of the companies that make and sell them.

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How to Use a Charcoal Basket - BBQ Pits by Klose

The Klose Charcoal basket is designed to fit inside the firebox of a Klose off-set smoker. I have a Deluxe Smoker purchased in July. My only complaint has been problems getting a burn longer than 60-90 minutes. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love tending my stick-burner, but there are times when I...
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True, I do what I do, others do what they do ................ but I still question spending 2 or 3 thousand dollars on a Klose offset, and then burn charcoal/chunk ............when a 22" WSM would work fine.
 
Long before I had a WSM I had el Cheapo Chargriller Smokin Pro and I made a charcoal basket for it. With the Minion method It greatly increased my cooking time. Of course I also did a Rube Goldberg reverse flow which put the exhaust at the wrong end. :unsure:
 
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