Mike L (tbsMike)
New member
Completed my Mini and promptly christened it with a nine pound butt and an eleven hour cook. I started with 80 unlit and 10 lit. As you can tell by the pics I used a SJS and took care of the ash problem a bit differently. During the eleven hours the Mini ran at 220° - 240°. I added an extra 10 - 15 briquettes twice and although the ash never clogged the bottom vents the amount of it building up in the bottom was an issue and when I added the extra fuel both times I stirred the coals a little. A charcoal with less ash would be better for extended cooks. I used Kroger brand.
The lid on mine fit fine on the empty test cook but leaked a little on this butt cook. I just put the meat on and came back 45 min later to find the temps were not steady. That robbed some heat but stopped once it got smoking good.
As for the construction, I cut out the bottom of the steamer pot and left about 1 1/2" on the outside edge. For the diffuser I used a 12" foiled pizza pan set on 1" steel "L" brackets bent at a 45° angle (to fit the curved edge of the pizza pan better) and bolted to the bottom lip. A foiled steel 9" pie pan sits on top of the pizza pan for drippings. The spacing on my grates I chose to allow for either two or three racks. The bottom rack sits on the indention and 3 3/4" above it the next rack and 3 3/4" above that, the next. Also 6" above the bottom rack are supports as well. If I choose two racks I can have six inches of clearance and if three racks each rack would have just under four inches. I used 8-32 bolts double- nutted and the protruding bolt cut off for rack supports. The cans are a 28 oz and a Rotel can (that will need the paint burned out of the inside if you choose it). I used a Dremel to cut the circle out of the top of the larger can and the make slits in the smaller can to slip through the charcoal grate. Then bent the tab ends back on the small can to hold it all together. Now I can pick up the grate and both cans as a unit and it goes back right in place. If you do this, note that the cans will be off center of each other to allow the easiest passage of the can through the grate.
The butt turned out just as good as any other I've done. Interestingly this was the first time I've not used a water pan. [IMG:left]
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The lid on mine fit fine on the empty test cook but leaked a little on this butt cook. I just put the meat on and came back 45 min later to find the temps were not steady. That robbed some heat but stopped once it got smoking good.
As for the construction, I cut out the bottom of the steamer pot and left about 1 1/2" on the outside edge. For the diffuser I used a 12" foiled pizza pan set on 1" steel "L" brackets bent at a 45° angle (to fit the curved edge of the pizza pan better) and bolted to the bottom lip. A foiled steel 9" pie pan sits on top of the pizza pan for drippings. The spacing on my grates I chose to allow for either two or three racks. The bottom rack sits on the indention and 3 3/4" above it the next rack and 3 3/4" above that, the next. Also 6" above the bottom rack are supports as well. If I choose two racks I can have six inches of clearance and if three racks each rack would have just under four inches. I used 8-32 bolts double- nutted and the protruding bolt cut off for rack supports. The cans are a 28 oz and a Rotel can (that will need the paint burned out of the inside if you choose it). I used a Dremel to cut the circle out of the top of the larger can and the make slits in the smaller can to slip through the charcoal grate. Then bent the tab ends back on the small can to hold it all together. Now I can pick up the grate and both cans as a unit and it goes back right in place. If you do this, note that the cans will be off center of each other to allow the easiest passage of the can through the grate.
The butt turned out just as good as any other I've done. Interestingly this was the first time I've not used a water pan. [IMG:left]
