[oldbill]

Originally Posted by Bigbob

I am planning on smoking a pork shoulder for fathers day along with a couple beer butt chickens. The issue I am running into is maintain the heat for the long hours on the CG. I was thinking of trying the minion method but I am nervous being that I have not test run it. Any other suggestions? Be easy I am a Noob

I have been cooking on a cheap offset for over 15 years and I've tried everything but have found nothing better than a small clean fire started with a chimney of charcoal and a split or two, then maintained with a split every 45 minutes or so. Charcoal is great for starting the fire with and developing a bed of coals but the wood should be your primary fuel source from there on out. Keep the exhaust damper wide open and use the intake damper for control to keep a good draft going through the cooker. Again a smaller fire is better for control and avoiding a thick smoke which would come from having to choke down on the intake too much. Facing the firebox end toward the wind may help if you can't get out of the wind all together but that can be tricky since wind can change directions several times throughout the day. It's much better to set up out of the wind and let the cooker draft naturally. The heat and smoke will always find it's way through the cooker as it should as long as the cooker is drafting properly. If your particular model of offset just doesn't draft well because of design flaws you may also try propping the front legs up with a couple of wood scraps or something to just get a little more elevation to the stack end as the heat and smoke will naturally always want to go up. If you have time for a dry run try this method and play with it, I think that you will have success with it. P.S. Also be sure and keep ash cleaned out from under the fire grate to allow the fire to breathe!!