Grant Cunningham
TVWBB Pro
I’ve been doing long burns on my E6 by simply dumping in a couple of chimneys of briquettes and lighting them on one edge. That works fine on a shorter (3-4 hour) cook, but on long cooks it results in uneven temperatures. As the burn makes its way into the center, it tends to expand in all directions and the temps suddenly shoot up by 50 to 75 degrees. This has happened more than once.
On this 8-hour cook, I decided to use the minion method and see if it was more consistent. This is a new technique for me; I set up a 2x2 snake with Cowboy briquettes, with a gap between head and tail of about 6 inches. I lit off the snake and allowed temps to stabilize at 250 degF before putting on a pork shoulder roast of about 4-1/2 lbs. Ambient temps were in the upper 30s to low 40s.
The 8-hour cook went fine, and temps were very steady. When I got a look at the charcoal, though, I found the briquettes on the outer perimeter didn’t completely burn, and that the snake was almost all used. (The burn was “tunneling” , and although the pic doesn't show it there is only a handful of untouched briquettes at the very tail.)
I honestly expected much less fuel consumption for 8 hours, based on the reports of very long burn times from others. However, when I factor in the amount of charcoal on the edges that didn’t get burned, it might not be as bad as it seems. I'd love some feedback from more experienced Kamado owners on this point; how long can one expect a 2x2 snake to burn?
Second question: The briquettes were pretty well shingled (or so I thought), so why the lack of fuel consumption on the periphery?
(Oh, the result was delicious!)
On this 8-hour cook, I decided to use the minion method and see if it was more consistent. This is a new technique for me; I set up a 2x2 snake with Cowboy briquettes, with a gap between head and tail of about 6 inches. I lit off the snake and allowed temps to stabilize at 250 degF before putting on a pork shoulder roast of about 4-1/2 lbs. Ambient temps were in the upper 30s to low 40s.
The 8-hour cook went fine, and temps were very steady. When I got a look at the charcoal, though, I found the briquettes on the outer perimeter didn’t completely burn, and that the snake was almost all used. (The burn was “tunneling” , and although the pic doesn't show it there is only a handful of untouched briquettes at the very tail.)
I honestly expected much less fuel consumption for 8 hours, based on the reports of very long burn times from others. However, when I factor in the amount of charcoal on the edges that didn’t get burned, it might not be as bad as it seems. I'd love some feedback from more experienced Kamado owners on this point; how long can one expect a 2x2 snake to burn?
Second question: The briquettes were pretty well shingled (or so I thought), so why the lack of fuel consumption on the periphery?
(Oh, the result was delicious!)
