Tips for Long Minion


 
D

D German

TVWBB Member
Please help me to make overnight cooks a success. 18"WSM. After many Minion overnights I still have problem getting the temps to stay up for more than 7-9hrs despite a full ring, 16lit Kingsford to start and dialing the vents from full to less than 1/2 at 200. Settles in at 260-270 for a 6lb butt last night than temp drifts down to low 220 and down after 7-9hrs. rained hard this am but no wind and tems in high 70's. What tricks have you learned to have a ring last 12-16hrs. thanks
 
At about 9 to 10 hrs is when I usually am going to flip the meat. If I notice my lid temp drops to much I may stir the coals. I also keep a surface temp probe inside the WSM. I use a potato and insert the probe. I use the vents to keep it between 125-130. I have had my lid temp at 220 before and still maintain a surface temp of 225-230 constant. I am more concerned with the temp on the surface were my meat is then lid temp. Heck I have had a lid temp of 200 towards the end of an all night cook and a surface temp still at 220-225.
 
I've found on mine that I use a LOT less charcoal without water in the pan...so I never use water anymore.

Controlling temp is still very easy, just takes some practice.

Without water in the pan, I've had it going over 20 hours no problem with a load of pork butts.
 
I use clay pot, stir the coals and even added coals. When I went to clean today I still had 1/3 to 1/2 of the coals left. I routinely reuse the coals. Never empty just add new and try to put old coals on top as much as possible. Could coals go bad after being in WSM for weeks to month or so. Strange that even with all efforts to keep fire alive it fizzled. Does anyone think that just placing lit coals on top of unlit in a central depression makes a difference. Thanks.
 
I fill the ring as full as I can get it, adding several big chunks of wood. I put about 9-10 lit coals on top. Once it comes to temp, 225-230, and I put the meat on, it's good for 15+ hours, every time.

I do always make sure any wind is blocked off, and have an umbrella over it, to prevent and precip from hitting it.
 
I do my minion start using a coffee can in the middle of a full ring of fresh coals. I do use the clay saucer method as well. Recently what I have been doing is using old coals in my chimney. What I do is put a 1/2 dozen of fresh coals in the coffee can to keep the half burned ones from falling though the bottom. I fill the can up and then just dump what is left on the new coals in the ring. Then remove the coffe can. Seems to work pretty good and I never have a problem with not having enogh coals. When doing an overnight I might get up in the morning and have to open the vents a bit. Sometimes I stir and other times I don't worry about it. Here are a couple pictures. Vince


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Originally posted by D German:
I use clay pot, stir the coals and even added coals. When I went to clean today I still had 1/3 to 1/2 of the coals left. I routinely reuse the coals. Never empty just add new and try to put old coals on top as much as possible. Could coals go bad after being in WSM for weeks to month or so. Strange that even with all efforts to keep fire alive it fizzled. Does anyone think that just placing lit coals on top of unlit in a central depression makes a difference. Thanks.
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How often do you remove the ashes from the bowl? Something is really wrong here as you should be able to get 14-16 hrs. out of a full ring of charcoal, as I see you are using Kingsford. The only charcoal I know of that doesn't last long is Cowboy lump. How are you measuring the pit temp and with what thermo? Have you checked your thermo for accuracy? And you have alot of coals left. To me it sounds like for some reason after 6-7 hrs. you need to open the vents up as it's not getting enough air to burn the coals at that point. Weird
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Thanks for the reply's. I empty the ashes before each smoke. I guess it is possible that after I close the vents to get the temp stable after it reaches 200 the amount of air is to low as the vents are closed at least 75% many times. Seems strange that this leads to to little air after 6-9hrs with so much kingsford. Just smoked some salmon and tilapia with 10 new coals and old left over coals. Seems to burn slow. Took over an hour to get to 200 with vents wide open. Maybe the coals just dont want to burn??? I think I will do my next smoke with all new coals and full ring as a trial. Using remote therm with probe in top vent which reads 20-25 degrees higher than grate.
 
Myself, I think it depends on your climate. Howard Barlow is in Beaumont and I'm in Bryan (both TX) and we share the million percent humidity. His results are the same as mine. I go with about 10-12 lit coals and get 225 for about 16 hours, and I start with water in the pan. I do not replenish the water throughout the cook. If you live in a low humidity area, you probably should expect different results.
 
Hmmmmmmmmm. A puzzlement. Maybe try this. Next time you need a long burn, start with a clean unit, no ash. Open up a fresh bag of charcoal. Fill the ring and do your usual Minion start. Leave top vent fully open. Closing about 75% at about 200-225 works for me so i don't think just doing that is your problem. If this works for you, blame it on your used coals. Maybe too damp.
 
I agree Dave. that is my idea. Start with a fresh bag. I leave the used coals in the WSM but outside covered betweeen uses. Who knows maybe some coals are weeks to a month or so outside before they burn. This smoke last night may have been new coals for 9 hrs then the old coals could not support the fire. When I did the fish i mentioned above the fire took forever to even get to 200 degrees. Much more than usual. I am going to use the old coals for first light to see if they will burn. Thanks
 
I'm with Dave, I never have an issue with long cooks using this method. Give the legs of the WSM a gentle kick to knock down the ashes every so often. Be careful not to slosh the water around though. Best not to add water and then kick the legs. Learned this the hard way. DOH!
 
the culprit of short cook times is usually cold water in the water pan. combine that with wide open vents it takes a lot of fuel to raise the temp of the water and keep it there.

i stopped using water all-together a while back. the pan is there for me just to catch the drips. i dont use a saucer or foil or anything just the empty pan. this allows me to pretty much keep the vents cracked only abut a 1/8-1/4 inch open and maintian 250 lid temp easily with using very little charcoal.

i use kingsford blue and oak for smoke.
 
You know, that's interesting Jon. I use a saucer and get stable cooks but I never thought of just using the pan. I wonder if using a saucer uses more charcoal because it has to heat up the saucer. If I'm not mistaken isn't the minion method suppose to make the cooker run stable? Maybe we don't have to use anything besides the minion method. Are there any more people out there that uses the pan only?
 
Originally posted by Dave L.:
Are there any more people out there that uses the pan only?
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Foiled pan here and my first cook, last week, on the new WSM with full ring of K ran 14hrs at 250ish easily....butts were done with fuel left.
 
Originally posted by Dave L.:
You know, that's interesting Jon. I use a saucer and get stable cooks but I never thought of just using the pan. I wonder if using a saucer uses more charcoal because it has to heat up the saucer. If I'm not mistaken isn't the minion method suppose to make the cooker run stable? Maybe we don't have to use anything besides the minion method. Are there any more people out there that uses the pan only?
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lots of folks use empty pans. most of em foil them. im just to lazy to use foil as i dont care if my pan has burnt on junk.

but the more heatsink you use the more fuel you use and the longer it takes to get to temp.

if your doing a higher heat cook which is really anything hotter than around 275 you need to use a heatsink of some sort to prevent food from getting scorched by radient heat. even if it is just big wads of aluminum foil or water or bricks or sand or saucers or whatever.

the problem i always had with water was the long startup times and having to check to make sure the pan was full. after ruining a few briskets i gave up on the water as it was too fiddly for my tastes. running out of water is really bad cuz the temps will shoot way high.

running a dry pan foil or not i find more reliable and prevents those wicked spikes. i can just set it and pretty much forget it.

the mionion method is a means for people not that familiar with their smoker to catch the temps with the vents as the temp rises slowly. using more lit bypasses that long startup period but you really need to know your personal smoker well.

i am of the opinion that the minion method actually takes more fuel as your having to wait for temps to come up rather than just starting with a bunch of lit much closer to cooking temps. minion is more safe till you get a grip on how your smoker cooks.

i put my meat on within 5 minutes of assembly and its cooking right away.
 
My tip for a long cook is to get good lump charcoal. Pack the ring tight and over fill it. I suspect that the ash is causing you some of your difficulty - it's choking out the fire. Lump has a lot less ash and does not choke out the fire. Not to say you can't get long cook time with Kingsford - certainly you can, but I think lump works better - ymmv.

Other advise has already been given - don't use water and keep the WSM out of the wind. As has been mentioned, 15 hour cooks are pretty common - more is definitely doable.
 
Ripped this off of a Dutch Oven cooking site (something I always love to do):

Factors that will affect cooking times and temperature are wind, air temperature, sun, shade, high humidity, ash accumulation and charcoal quality. Strong winds can make the charcoal burn extremely hot, ash accumulation will make them burn cooler, high humidity will make them burn slower and cooler. The point being it is important to watch your food and make adjustments as needed. Practice is much of the fun and rewards of Dutch oven cooking.

So, that's at least part of the equation in why 225 is easy down here!
 
Thanks for all the advice. I am betting it is either the ash choking the fire or the coals are not high quality after sitting in the ring between cooks and running cool or not lighting at all. I will try a full ring of new Kingsford for a brisket and see how it goes. Use the old coals for the chimney. If all goes will will get 12 or more hrs at 250.
 
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