Using Weber Chimney

[Dan M.]

I'm really new to smoking, and have tried ribs and tri-tip so far. The tri-tip came out perfect, smoked it for 6 hours. My question is that I bought 2 Weber chimney's, and light them both at the same time to completely fill the charcoal pan. It seems that from what I've read most people will light one, then add one full of unlit briquettes on top. When lighting two at the same time does it increase the temp. to quickly? Also, I would think that having the meat in the smoker with unlit briquettes may influence the flavor.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Doug D]

Typically, using the Standard Method with a single Weber chimney, one would allow the coals added on top of the lit to become ashed-over before beginning to cook. Therefore, starting up two chimneys simultaneously would only serve to accelerate the firing process, and nothing more.

The Minion Method, employed by many WSM cooks, serves as evidence that starting to cook before all briquets are fully ashed-over is not an issue.

 

[Shawn W]

Welcome Roadie,

Yeah if you light two chimneys at the same time it can be pretty warm in the pit. If you are wanting a slower cook, you might want to adjust your lower vents down and wait a bit until the pit is closer to your target before loading the meat.

But you can still throw your meat in right away and adjust the vents down if you want to to get things going, the WSM should come down to where you want it. I think this could affect your smoke ring though, you could end up with less than if you started out cool and it takes a while to come down.

Suggest you do a Search for Minion Method here and consider trying it. It's great. In short, you load the ring with unlit then place some lit on top and get 18 hours plus of burn time.