Minion Method

[M Corey]

All right, I've used the Minion Method of managing my fire for years, I've done it in a Weber 22.5" kettle grill, I've done it in my Chargriller smoker, and I've done it in the 22.5" WSM. I've done it with briquette's and with lump charcoal. What I can't figure out is how briquettes can smell so **** bad when they're being lit, but why that taste doesn't make it into the meat! I know there are some who claim to be able to taste it, but aside from a really awful bag of Sam's Choice that I had once, I've never been able to detect anything from, say, a bag of Kingsford. Because of my 'fear' of the smell (plus the fact that I don't want to have to smell nasty briquette smoke for hours -- I'd rather just smell the hickory or apple wood!), I've primarily used lump for the last few years.

We've got a lot of 'barbecue scientists' on this board that must know the answer to this!

M

 

[Sean H]

IANAS (I am not a scientist), but my best guess is that two factors are coming into play:

1. Coals using MM are ignited very slowly, which means that the byproduct of ignition is also released in small amounts very slowly.
2. Since ignition is taking place top-down, the ignition byproduct of newly-igniting coals gets incinerated by the heat from the coals above them.

 

[Dave Russell]

M, Sean's probably right, but I tell you what, it's the same with the wood, too:

You might already know this, but you can use the same pile of hickory splits to smoke some AWESOME ribs, or some CREOSOTE tasting ones. I'm talking about the same exact wood, burnt too completely different ways in my offset stickburner. Bark on, bark off...doesn't matter, as long as it's a nice clean burning fire from enough oxygen, the bbq will be fantastic. If I shut the damper down to maintain the sacred cow temp of 225*....yuck.

 

[RichPB (richlife)]

Sean makes sense to me too. And Dave (of course

). Any time you burn almost anything, the initial burn is incomplete until the temps get high enough to completely consume the low temp by products. If you use a chimney, the first smoke is dense and pretty awful (yeah, I mean after you get past the starter material), but by the time you get grey ash, the smoke is pretty good.

Rich