Trouble with minion method. Help.


 
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jason molinari

TVWBB Fan
I lit my WSM with the minion method.
I had all 3 vents open, but once i added my meat, i could not get the
temp above 230 at the top of the dome! Quite strange. I seem to have
this problem quite often, i cant get the temp up, fast enough, and up
period. I'm using Kroger briquettes, and lighting 20 of them then
placing them around the unlit ones. Any suggestions? Should i just
light more birquettes initially?
 
I'm new, so take this with a big grain of salt. But, it sounds like the fuel doesn't burn hot enough or you are using water that isn't hot enough to start. I've been using Kingsford and it works great. I also put boiling water into the pan so the energy isn't drawn into heating the water.
 
I used close to boiling water, but i did have a crapload of meat. 8 Chicken quarters on top, 2 pork tenderloins on the bottom. Maybe ijust needed more initial charcoal.

jason
 
I’ll take a stab at your problem. It’s pretty quiet in here today. Guess most people are already on their way to contests. I’ll be leaving for Jamesport, MO tonight.

It sounds like the Hotlanta humidity has gotten to your charcoal. They’ll pull moisture out of the air and give sluggish performance like you're reporting.

Also, since it’s a manufactured product, briquettes can differ between brands and even between batches of the same brand. Perhaps you got some Kroger brand charcoal that was from a bad run, mishandled during shipment and warehousing, or was re-packaged because it didn’t meet the original brand’s standards.

For your next cook, try using a fresh bag of Kingsford or other brand and see if you get more desirable results. The difference in price shouldn’t be more than a couple dollars per bag but that should be an acceptable trade-off if it is capable delivering the higher temps you may sometimes want.

You could try starting with more lit briquettes but your results may not be much better if they're difficult to burn in the first place.

A big load of food will bring the grate temps down but it should recover relatively quickly if you’ve got a good bed of coals started. What was the grate temp prior to adding the food? With the WSM empty, holding the temperature down should be the problem if your coals are burning properly. You could also give the coals burn an extra half hour or so before loading it to let the coals get a head of steam up.

Keep experimenting until you find a method that works!

Ken
 
hey, I didn't realize you were in Atlanta. Me too, over in Druid Hills. I had some high temps a few weekends ago when the direct sun was beating down on the smoker. Soon as the sun moved, temps dropped about 10 degrees.
 
Hey guys. The reason i bought kroger briquettes was that i saw on the BBQ FAQ that they are made with only corn starch as an additive, not because they were cheaper. I guess it could be a bad batch. I store them in my pantry/laundry room. I wonder if its too humid in there, but i dont thikn it is. I'll check with a hygrometer.

BEfore i added the meat, the temp was around 240-250, but it wasnt particularly skyrocketing. MAybe i do have a bum batch of charcoal. This bag is almost thru, so i'll pick up a bag of kingsford, altho all that talk of additives has made me weary of it.

Hey Scott, i'm right at perimeter, i do rememebr the past couple wekeends have been hellish! and i cant Q this weekend or the next...boohooo!!!
 
Jason,
Probably ringing in too late but I've been on vacation and no acwss. I had a similar problem
on July 4th weekend. I had a full load of Kingsford and left everything open all day
(0700-1700) and barely maintained 240-250. I think that I had several causes:
-I filled the water pan and then moved the center
section of the WSM into place. I spilled some of
the water on the unlit charcoal and it took a
long time to dry out.
- I used warm water instead of real hot.
- Since I was down on the Gulf coast I placed the
WSM out of the prevailing South wind. In Port
O'Connor,Tx there are only about 10 days a year
that the wind doesn't blow. Saturday,July 6th
was one of those days!!! I had to take off the
and fan the fire to get it going good.
- Hit the WSM with 4 butts of 6.5 lbs each that
were still cold.

I think all of the above contributed to the problem but the lack of wind was the big culprit.
On a positive note,the butts turned out wonderful.
AS I have said in other postings--IN SPITE OF MY BEST EFFORTS,THE WSM STILL TURNS OUT GREAT Q!!!
/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jason molinari:
[qb] Should i just
light more birquettes initially?[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes. I use to use about what you do, but found I have control over a bigger range if I start with more. I use about 1/2 a Weber chimney full.
 
Kingsford works. Lots of top teams fire up their WSM's with it and win BIG. Lots of folks like to bad mouth it, makes them a real exspurt /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif
But the results speak for themselves (24 awards in my first 8 competitions, including 2 perfect 180's) /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif Like Jim Minion says, one day I'll learn how to cook and then I'll be dangerous.
 
Originally posted by jason molinari:
[QB]Hey guys. The reason i bought kroger briquettes was that i saw on the BBQ FAQ that they are made with only corn starch as an additive, not because they were cheaper.

Does anyone know if this is still true? I just bought some for the same reason, but I also noticed that the company who used to manufacture charcoal for Kroger appears to have gotten out of that business. Who makes Kroger charcoal now?
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