No-charcoal minion method; set and forget stickburner

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matadorbait

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Hi All,

For those with stickburners, I think the consensus is that you have to add a split every hour or so (I've seed advice from 45 min to 90 min). And in many threads people talk about active fire maintenance is the biggest/only drawback to stickburners. So my question is this:

Are there any methods to get a longer burn with less maintenance from stickburning?

What I have in mind is this: what would happen if you filled a UDS basket with wood chunks (eg, use a bandsaw) and light from the top? No charcoal at all. Could it work for long cooks and need less frequent re-fueling?

I got the idea from this:

http://www.firewood-for-life.com/top-down-fire.html

When I light up my pit or pizza oven, I use this top-down method, and it works well. But I've always done it with splits on the grate. But what if one started with a basket with wood (not charcoal) chunks?

I've learned so much from this forum: I want to thank everyone in advance for your ideas.

Let the good ideas roll.....
 
This is going to get interesting.:boxing:I would think the basket would have to be bigger and I don't know how you would keep the chunks from lighting too quickly. I would say try it out and report back.
 
One of the things that makes the minion method work is that there simply isn't airflow to all the charcoal all the time. Some of it has to burn off for other charcoal to light. I think the big problem with wood chunks will be eliminating enough air space.

If you packed them tightly in a charcoal basket, it's certainly worth trying.

Usually when people want a nap with their stick burners, they burn a load of charcoal in a basket in the fire box. That buys you several hours of sleep time.
 
I think the FB are too small but it could work for first 2-3-4 hrs then you'd have to go back to adding a split every 45-1 hr cuz it'd be a bunch of hot coals so you couldn't build another stack.........also think Temps would be Too Low

Try it in see and report back.............
 
I'm gonna try it this weekend, once I'm armed (and dangerous) with everyone's ideas. I think the basket would have to be tall/narrow, so that the top layer--the part that's on fire, is not too big. Once it starts, it will be important to shut down the vents to keep it from running away.

I love stickburning, sitting around drinking beer and watching the fire. But sometimes I have other chores do to....
 
matadorbait said:
I love stickburning, sitting around drinking beer and watching the fire. But sometimes I have other chores do to....
Click to expand...

UDS - I've left for 6 hrs during a cook. Or even better would be a Humphreys Battle Box.........
 
The real issue with a stick burner is getting a good draft yet still getting a long burn. To lengthen burn-time you have to reduce the intake and in so doing you lose heat and increase the likelihood of dirty smoke from wood that is smoldering but not fully igniting.
Stick burners must breathe and in most offsets a basket or any other obstruction will kill the draft and lead to headaches.
Stick burners make the best Q in my opinion, it's worth the time and work of tending the fire and operating the cooker the way God made her to. A small hot wood fire with wide open dampers is the way to go.:wink:
 
I'm with old bill on this. "Set it and forget it" with a stickburner might be possible with some sort of temperature-controlled damper system but I think there would be too much compromise in final quality of the meat.

Personally, I'm almost allways doing some sort of other work while I'm Q'ing.
You just got to remember to put some chunks on every 45 minutes or so.
 
SmittyJonz said:
UDS - I've left for 6 hrs during a cook. Or even better would be a Humphreys Battle Box.........
Click to expand...

That's one nice looking smoker.

So far, I'm thinking of trying a 5" diameter mesh basket and a 5" solid-wall basket (on a bottom grate) to see if I can get a 4 hour run with stable temp (ie, the whole thing going up in a big fireball or suffocating in thick white smoke).
 
You have my attention! I'm in as well for some experimentation. I have a Meadow Creek SQ36 that is a beautiful piece of workmanship however it frustrates me terribly because my temperatures are up and down, I'll even get bad yellow billowing smoke at times. I can't seem to get along with it (reminds me of my first wife).

I talked to Jesse from Meadow Creek and he's baffled cause all he hears is how great that model holds a constant 225 degrees???

After reading some of the links here, I'm wondering about a basket with a nice tight stack of wood about 3/4 up then pour on hot briquettes from a charcoal starter on top??? I'm going to try it and let you know!
 
I use the method on the woodburner.org site in my wood stove at my cabin

I am not sure I would want that smoke on my food though.

It is not always TBS.

I dont know how you would control your heat very well either. Heating a cabin is one thing but cooking a brisket is quite another

I guess its worth a try. I dont know

my thought it if you want set and forget then use another type of cooker than a stickburner.
 
Not saying it won't work but sounds like complicating a time honored semi-simple process. While I would enjoy a few hours away from tending our stickburner I question keeping the cook chamber hot enough..Our UDS is very capable of maintaining a steady temp for hours on end..Waylon,however,just isn't wired that way..It is time consuming & requires near constant fire management(every 30-45 min.)..That being said it's not a pain in the arse to operate..Actually its very easy..I liken it to having a big block Chevelle with a small gas tank..Drives the same as anything else,just gotta take more fuel stops!

Give it a shot..Pass along what you come up with..

Good Luck!!
 
ButtBurner said:
I use the method on the woodburner.org site in my wood stove at my cabin

I am not sure I would want that smoke on my food though.

It is not always TBS.

I dont know how you would control your heat very well either. Heating a cabin is one thing but cooking a brisket is quite another

I guess its worth a try. I dont know

my thought it if you want set and forget then use another type of cooker than a stickburner.
Click to expand...
And everyone said,... AMEN!:wink:
 
I have been thinking that a way to make a stickburner work like a minion or gravity feed would be to use an external hopper. Wouldn't be easy to figure out but I think it could be done. My thinking goes like this:

Set up the firebox with a dropdown door/chute on one side. Next to it would be a hopper loaded with splits. A system would be set up that could, on sensing a predetermined temperature drop, open the chute and drop one split down the chute. Connect this door and hopper system to a motor/actuator that is run by an arduino processor http://www.arduino.cc/. This processor would be triggered by it's own sensor or get it's information from a digi-q that would be set up to run air flow. It would have to be set up in such a way that a drop would first be reacted to by the digi-q. If it failed to bring up the temp in a prescribed time frame then the next split would drop. Right now this is just a thought in my head. May one day see if it could actually be done.
 
ag80n said:
I have been thinking that a way to make a stickburner work like a minion or gravity feed would be to use an external hopper. Wouldn't be easy to figure out but I think it could be done. My thinking goes like this:

Set up the firebox with a dropdown door/chute on one side. Next to it would be a hopper loaded with splits. A system would be set up that could, on sensing a predetermined temperature drop, open the chute and drop one split down the chute. Connect this door and hopper system to a motor/actuator that is run by an arduino processor http://www.arduino.cc/. This processor would be triggered by it's own sensor or get it's information from a digi-q that would be set up to run air flow. It would have to be set up in such a way that a drop would first be reacted to by the digi-q. If it failed to bring up the temp in a prescribed time frame then the next split would drop. Right now this is just a thought in my head. May one day see if it could actually be done.
Click to expand...

Stick burners need a clean burning fire. If i opened the door and chunked a split in (like the chute would- with no precision) the fire would smolder because the fire is not built correctly. It takes skill to maintain a clean fire, and a gadget has no skill. And if you wonder why us stick burners go to all this trouble? Because we enjoy it!
 
It sounds like someone trying to get 50 mpg out of a full size pickup, if its 50 mpg you want buy a car rated for that. No offense its just a stickburner isn't designed for that. Low and slow, takes time to get that flavor.
 
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