Minion start mistake...too much smoke

[Steve Petrone]

Today, I did a boneless skinless chick breast cook & baby backs.
After dumping half a chimney of lit coals on half a ring full of charcoal and 2 pieces of hickory in a 14.5, I got SMOKE.
Bunches of smoke. I loaded the breasts and BB. I said to myself that was a mistake. The breasts would have been 10 x's BETTER if I'd let the smoke blow off before adding the meat.

 

[Rusty James]

Did the cooking grate turn yellow?

If so, that's a good indication of creosote buildup.

Been there, done that. I try to make sure my smoke is almost invisible before adding meat anymore.

 

[James N]

Thin blue Smoke

 

[Steve Petrone]

the BB's were fine. The breasts were just OK.
In the future I will allow the smoke to clear.

 

[Brian_D]

Was this smoke from pouring hot coals on cold coals or just too much hickory smoke?

 

[Steve Petrone]

The smoke was from lit coals being added to cold coals. There were only two pieces of hickory chunks.

 

[Clint]

crazy how that works. I fire up a full chimney & it smokes out my yard & 2-3 others for ~15 minutes sometimes, but when I add coals to a cook there's no problem.

I've never been a big fan of the minion method (no reason, just never caught on with me), but have you tried with like a MAPP gas torch? Hit ~3-4 coals in 3-4 different sections of your ring, that's more my style BUT that's just what's worked for me. I've gone so far as to think about making a 20' chimney to get that chimney smoke above the neighborhood.

KBB????

No matter what your fuel source, the smoke flavor was better than when my Silver B catches fire........ or when a pan-full of pork-butt-grease catches & creates an upside-down rocket.

 

[Rusty James]

The smoke was from lit coals being added to cold coals.

That *is* gross.

Been there, done that, too!

I think Royal Oak in the red bag is the worst offender in my experiences. Royal Oak All Natural briquettes, and Royal Oak lump are not that bad.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I always let the WSM at least come partially up to temp for this reason. It's usually once you start getting the vents shut down that it settles in. It depends on what temp I'm cooking at, but usually around 200 if I'm cooking at 225 to 240. I guess it depends on your methodology. Some people swear you don't need to.

 

[Rich Dahl]

I do what Dustin does, If I have the time I wait until I get the temp I want and then add the meat depending on the size of the meat you get either a rise of temp from the blast of air when you open it up or with a large piece of meat a drop in temp. But it usually settles back to the temp I want within a half hour with no smoke issues.

 

[J Hasselberger]

I do pretty much what Dustin and Rich do. I've started to split my wood chunks a bit smaller (2x2x1-ish) and use more small instead of fewer large. I don't assemble the cooker until the wood shows some flame. Even with the vents wide open, wood smolders rather than burns. I also start one or two wood chunks in the chimney with the initial briquettes. I'm not sure if it makes a big difference, but it just seems to make the cook go a little easier.

Jeff

 

[Tim K]

So I guess I'm the odd man at the party here...
If I'm smoking a butt, I load a chimney almost to the top and light it. As the chimney gets going, I fill the charcoal basket of my WSM and make get everything in place. When the chimney is ready, I dump the full chimney on top of the un lit coals and my desired wood chunks for that cool. I then assemble the smoker and put the meat on. I'm usually up to temp (265-275) in about 30 minutes, and by 45 minutes, it's leveled out and chugging along. Different strokes for different folks I guess..
Tim

 

[Chris Allingham]

After dumping half a chimney of lit coals on half a ring full of charcoal and 2 pieces of hickory in a 14.5, I got SMOKE.

Using the little Weber chimney or the regular full-sized one? Cuz the big one holds 100 briquets, half would be about 50, and in my book a Minion start is 30 briquets or maybe 40 on a very cold day, and that's in the 18.5" WSM. So less hot coals for the 14.5" WSM?

I ALWAYS get smoke when adding lit Kingsford and smoke wood chunks on top of unlit charcoal when doing the Minion Method. Doesn't seem to be a problem for me. The idea of letting smoke blow off is more like the method described for the old Best Ribs in the Universe where you get the fire going and let the smoke wood burn down. Regardless, whatever works for you is what you should do, of course.

 

[Matthew Turner]

Whether smoking on my kettle or WSM, I shove two Weber paraffin cubes into a full SMS or charcoal basket (respectively) and light those. Since the fuel will burn concentrically from the paraffin cubes, I place my smoke wood accordingly. I find the minion method to be too imprecise, even when counting briquettes. In most of his videos using an UDS, Malcolm Reed uses the paraffin cube method. I use a PartyQ to maintain temps so YMMV.

When cooking BLSL chicken breasts (or anything else that is super lean) you have to be careful not to over smoke. There's just not enough fat to provide any sort of protection against too much smoke. Also, choosing a lighter tasting smoke wood might hedge against over-smoking.

 

[Rusty James]

When cooking BLSL chicken breasts (or anything else that is super lean) you have to be careful not to over smoke. There's just not enough fat to provide any sort of protection against too much smoke.

Never heard it put that way before. I had no idea that low fat content effected smoke penetration. I agree about the mild wood selection. I used pecan with a rotisserie chicken, yesterday, and it flavored the bird very well.

I'll have to try the paraffin cube method. Sounds less messy.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

Whether smoking on my kettle or WSM, I shove two Weber paraffin cubes into a full SMS or charcoal basket (respectively) and light those. Since the fuel will burn concentrically from the paraffin cubes, I place my smoke wood accordingly. I find the minion method to be too imprecise, even when counting briquettes. In most of his videos using an UDS, Malcolm Reed uses the paraffin cube method. I use a PartyQ to maintain temps so YMMV.

When cooking BLSL chicken breasts (or anything else that is super lean) you have to be careful not to over smoke. There's just not enough fat to provide any sort of protection against too much smoke. Also, choosing a lighter tasting smoke wood might hedge against over-smoking.

Nothing wrong with the paraffin cube thing, but you need to make sure that it burns off before putting on food. Also, using a partyQ might speed that up, otherwise it seems like it would be brutally slow if you aren't to get up to temp especially in the wsm.