No-charcoal minion method; set and forget stickburner

[SmittyJonz]

Well I went to Store and when I got back Smoke Chamber was at 350* (no meat) and Smoke was not TBS but light enough to cook on. It's been going 2.5 hrs and still has plenty of wood left. It took 2 hrs to get to Temp and smoke to thin out but this may work for 2-3-4 hrs smoke after 2 hr warm up .........I closed intake a lil and it's leveled out at 300*ish

[Bludawg]

[SmittyJonz]

1 hr later and its cruising along 275-280*............

[SmittyJonz]

Another 1 1/2 it was still 260* - I looked in FB mostly large coals with half a split burning- I went ahead and stirred it up a bit.

So I lit it at 12 - would've been ready for meat at 1:45 and would have cooked 3 1/2 hrs (till 5:15) before needing tending. Now I'd think I'd have go back to 1-2 splits every 45-1 hr as it's a large bed of coals now.

[SmittyJonz]

Anybody else experiment today ?

[matadorbait]

Took a little while to finish eating the costco shoulder clod I did last month--you really need eaters to help with this hobby. Anyway, this weekend I gave it a try. I started with a 4# grass-fed packer from texasgrassfedbeef.com (which is my regular supplier). Grass-fed aint cheap, but the gap with grain fed is closing fast (and not in a good way).

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Meat is trimmed lean--no fat cap. I put the trimmings into render pot.

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Lightly rubbed with salt, pepper, and garlic.

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Started with 5.5 splits. Wasn't sure how much to use or how much would fit in my firebox. This is almond wood with a bit of oak. splits are on my 12x12 chopping block.

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Broke the spilts down a bit to improve packing. In retrospect, I should have done less--they fit fine and bigger wood burns slower.

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Firebox, viewed from top. Its not nearly full, but I was worried about having some headspace for the fire, so I didn't add any more. Dryer lint used for tinder nest along with a scrap of wax from a candle stub. The pipe on the upper right is a firebox bypass that allows secondary air into the top of the fire. This means the fire gets fresh air from top and bottom: this results in a cleaner burn.

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and we're starting up.
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The big picture. The smoke chamber is running 123C (about 260F) and the IT is 58C (135F).

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TBS. It was white for the first 15 minutes or so, but lightened up considerably around 15 - 30 into the cook. It stayed TBS for 2-3 hours and then when totally invisible (ie, just charcoal left). This picture is 1 hour from match.

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Rendered the trimmings for cooking. Beef fat fries!

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At 4 hours I needed more wood, I think, so I sawed a longish split in half and chucked it in.

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This is the firebox, 6 hours from match.X

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Pulled at 6 hours, rested 2. The IT was 85C (185F) but I cooked until probe-tender (just recorded the IT for reference).

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Sliced fine. I think the smoke ring is smaller than usual for me, but that may be because I didn't use a water pan or mop at all. Normally I use a water pan and get more ring.

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Next time I'll fill the firebox higher and expect to get a full 6 hour cook from a single load. Not sure if the reduced smoke ring was caused by drier chamber or what. The smoke was strong for the first 1-2 hours during gassification. Once gassification was over, it was like a charcoal cook.

We ate the point and some sweet corn fresh from the farmer for lunch. Smoke flavor was spot-on (no creosote, not too heavy, not too light)--at least for a stickburner.

[ButtBurner]

this is pretty interesting.

I think I am going to try it this weekend on my El Dorado.

[matadorbait]

On the El Dorado--the firebox looks sufficiently large for this, but I wonder if the firebox is insulated enough.

I think the key to success with this is an insulated FB, which allows choking down on the firebox full of wood without producing white smoke. OR, you would need a good, tight wood loading scheme to limit the size of the fire.

Let us know how your test burn goes. I almost didn't put meat in the chamber 'cause I thought it had little chance of success....

[ButtBurner]

Originally Posted by matadorbait

On the El Dorado--the firebox looks sufficiently large for this, but I wonder if the firebox is insulated enough.

I think the key to success with this is an insulated FB, which allows choking down on the firebox full of wood without producing white smoke. OR, you would need a good, tight wood loading scheme to limit the size of the fire.

Let us know how your test burn goes. I almost didn't put meat in the chamber 'cause I thought it had little chance of success....

we will see.

Smitty's bandera is not insulated. it seemed to work for him. I am not going to put any meat on it, just try a burn

I really dont think the firebox is airtight enough to control the fire

its worth a try

[Yendor]

I just added gaskets all around on my El Dorado because I believe I can get better fire control with it. I was getting about 2 hours at 275-300° out of some splits on my last cook in it before i sealed it all up. I will be running a test burn this weekend with some wings to see how she does.

Keep in mind I had already worked on sealing up the all the seams and the lower vent door on the right side of it. My biggest issue was that my FB door is bent and leaked really bad. I partially fixed that with a seal of aluminum foil. The Nomex gasket I have should deal with it completely.

[ButtBurner]

Originally Posted by Yendor

I just added gaskets all around on my El Dorado because I believe I can get better fire control with it. I was getting about 2 hours at 275-300° out of some splits on my last cook in it before i sealed it all up. I will be running a test burn this weekend with some wings to see how she does.

Keep in mind I had already worked on sealing up the all the seams and the lower vent door on the right side of it. My biggest issue was that my FB door is bent and leaked really bad. I partially fixed that with a seal of aluminum foil. The Nomex gasket I have should deal with it completely.

Mine is pretty good, its an older one. I can get it running where I want it, like my other stickburner the way it is.

[Trailer Trash]

I just welded up a "Minion Box" for my Meadow Creek SQ36. Solid 11 gauge walls with a mesh bottom 12" X 12" X 8" high (in a maze type Minion pattern). I packed the bottom with beer can size pecan, filled to top (5") with Kingsford and started one end. It smoldered and had a messy charcoal smelling smoke for a couple hours until the briquettes were fully ignited across the top. Then burned great w/ very thin, pure pecan burning smell for almost 4 hours. Excellent temperature control (best I've had).

This weekend I will pack the bottom with beer can size pecan as before however, I will then pour already started hot briquettes over the top of the pecan and hopefully bypass the smoldering period and get right to cooking... Yet to follow.

[ButtBurner]

as promised I am giving this a try.

I loaded up the El Dorado yesterday afternoon when I got to the cabin

no meat, just a trial run

actually worked good. Lots of smoke but its blue after it heats up.

Still leery, I put a fatty doused with SM spicy apple on it, I was curious as to the smoke taste.

It was just fine

so today I am rolling with a pork butt

I will start a new thread, but here is the firebox loaded up