Use of the minion method and UDS: Backyard & Competition

Hi All,

So I have a team in the UK. Our competition circuit is still very young, last year was my first year competing and in fact I only got my first smoker 2 months when I started competing.

Suffice it to say I didn't know what I was doing and my scores as such weren't great. however I was lucky enough to be on the British BBQ Society time at the Royal last year and I learned a lot.

Because I did almost everything wrong last year it's almost impossible to pick out a single area of concern however I had a discussion today with someone more experienced than me and he portioned a lot of blame on using the minion method.

I plan to continue using the minion method this year and to start using my UDS, but the guy I spoke to reckons minion method taints the food but I don't reckon this is the case from my back yard cooking.

So I wanted to put it out there to my more experienced brethren. Do many of you guys who use upright smokers use minion method in competition? also do many of you use UDS in competition and do you get much success with them.

I've changed all my processes and I've bought some good rubs and sauces from the US to improve my standing. I have a good understanding of cooking and can get texture and tenderness good but I don't want my efforts with rubs and sauces (and lots of practice) to be undermined if using a UDS and/or the minion method is not good for competition.

Your thoughts and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Steve

I only use lump now. The first comp I did, I was just getting over swine flu and didn't take my A-Game. I oversmoked my food and also used Weber briquettes which I think did taint the flavour somewhat.

However since my time on your side of the pond I feel I've really raised the standard of my Q. Like I said in the original post, I got just about everything wrong last year. I just didn't know what they were looking for and my scores reflect that.

(ducking and dodging - I hate these occasionally heated topics)

IMHO

I've primarily used briquettes due to availability, price, and consistency.
In my MeadowCreek reverse flow I didn't have good experiences with wicking or Minion methods, probably a combination of type of fuel and type of smoker (briquette doesn't seem to be ideal for wicking and my MeadowCreek isn't exactly sealed and efficient) and perhaps some inexperience.

When I use briquettes for smoking or grilling I light it all up gray. I mean I get it rolling big time - 2 or 3 minutes on top of a propane turkey fryer in a chimney and then even another 2 or so minutes of 100,000 BTU weed burner on top to make it all ash/gray up sooner. I just don't load raw, unlit charcoal into any of my smokers, my preference. If I want wood flavors added, I'll use wood. I gray up briquettes to burn off whatever they use to make them, as much as I can, to create a clean burning fuel source.

Almost every brand of briquette I've tried gives off a lot of white smoke until it is well grayed and ashed over. Wick burning those same briquettes just seems to extend the length of time of that white smoke.

I've tried to remain open minded on a number of occasions about wicking or Minion, I've tried it in the reverse flow, another off-set, and the UDS. I just didn't like the on-going white smoke the process seemed to produce. In my mind, I see that charcoal white smoke rolling and I can only imagine charcoal flavored food.

In all the smokers I use I light up all the charcoal before it goes in. I do indeed get a huge heat spike, I choke it back, control the flow, and get temperatures to settle where I like to cook. I like taming that fire.

Upside to well grayed briquettes to me? Once you dial in control they hold up a long time, very lasting, and they are pretty stable and forgiving. As I choke them back on air-intake I don't get a re-appearance of the bad white smoke too often. When I do, I let the charcoal breath some more, another heat spike, and choke them down a second time.

I'm certain I'm burning off more cook time during my graying period.
I'm certain I'm probably burning more charcoal than I need for most cooks.
But I know my smokers, keep controlled temps, and turn out competition worthy results.

I've been toying with lump a lot lately, it has surprised me in controlled tests, so I'm more open minded about using it to test out wicking or Minion with it but I am still skeptical because what I do works for me.

My best suggestion would be to try it, burn $10.00 of charcoal and cook a couple cheap cuts, like chickens. Report to us what your experience is.... and bring plenty of food pron pictures with you!

I find that my burn times are great with both UDS and Pro Q Excel using minion method. It's the flavour tainting I'm concerned about. I don't taste it myself but if the person who advised me is correct and I'm wrong then that's not good for me. I'm just looking to guage what other people do and whether they believe that minion with a UDS is good for competition as well as the back yard.

? what is wicking?

Marty said:

? what is wicking?

Click to expand...

I used the term "wicking" and/or Minion method... same same.

You load your fuel/charcoal in your burn chamber or charcoal basket, light one area or end and let the fire wick burn during the cook. You don't light all the fuel at once, you let the fire burn it like a wick.

In an off-set with a smoke chamber length burn box, you fill with wood and/or charcoal and light one end, letting it wick burn its way to the other during the cook.

Some UDS users, since many have circular charcoal baskets, put an empty coffee can in the middle, pile their charcoal around it then remove the coffee can and fill that hole with lighted charcoal.

Rodger, the guy who told me not to use MM was commenting about the Pro Q. What I think happened was that in my first ever compettion I was feeling ill and during the night I put too much wood on my fire and over smoked the meat.

All I wanted to achieve with this post was to see what people's thoughts were on MM and UDS for comps to back up my own opinion that it's good route to go down. I wouldn't want to do my second season and waste all the practice I've done if MM was messing up my food.

Thanks everyone for you input so far.

On-topic additional personal observation: (well, the wife nudged me to post "her" observation)

In my recent experimentations with lump charcoal we've noticed that the wick or Minion method sort of sets itself up in the UDS.

I flame up all the lump - snap crackle pop - super hot coals!
Load it in the UDS, choke back air intake and control the exhaust. The fire can only burn so much with a set intake.

Once my temperatures drop to cooking range, when we are loading our meats, we have noticed that the lump nearly self-extinguishes and sort of sets up its own wick/Minion burn. Normally, the area nearest the air intake that is set open is the only thing obviously burning in the charcoal basket.

For the most part I leave the same intake open for most of my cook. When we've later entered the UDS to flip or move meats, or to remove stuff when it's done, we have noticed the lump has burned in a wicked/Minion manner even though we flamed it all originally.

I have had occasion to move which one of my air intakes is open. We've had a spell of weird winter weather here lately. I'll set up for a 6 hour cook and the wind will be coming out of the south west, as is typical around here, so I'll leave the north east air intake open. I don't want to have the wind forcing air flow in, I want it controlled. When the wind has changed directions on me I adjust and close the air intake facing the on-coming wind.

When I've gone for longer cooks and tests on the UDS, when the eventual drop off in temperatures does happen I typically rotate which air intake is open, giving the fuel oxygen from a different direction. That usually buys me some more cook time without having the shake or stir the charcoal basket.