Snake Method in Weber 22.5 Not Working For Me. Help?

[mchar69]

Ha ha Dads, notice Aawa the expert popped up.
Where's he been, anyway?

 

[MisterChrister]

Actually, with the snake method, almost the whole grate is usable cook space. Just use a tongs, a grate tool, a couple forks (whatever!), and give the whole grate an occasional spin in the same direction as the snake is burning. You only have an approximate 6"x8" area of lit coals at any given time; just occasionally rotate your grate to keep the meat from being above that hot spot, and the whole rest of the grate is fair game. I do it all the time, even with 10#-15# of meat on, works great!

 

[dadsr4]

Ha ha Dads, notice Aawa the expert popped up.
Where's he been, anyway?

Who?

 

[dadsr4]

Actually, with the snake method, almost the whole grate is usable cook space. Just use a tongs, a grate tool, a couple forks (whatever!), and give the whole grate an occasional spin in the same direction as the snake is burning. You only have an approximate 6"x8" area of lit coals at any given time; just occasionally rotate your grate to keep the meat from being above that hot spot, and the whole rest of the grate is fair game. I do it all the time, even with 10#-15# of meat on, works great!

With the Minion method, I don't touch a thing until it's time to see if things are done. Unless things are taking over 8 hours. Then I check to see how many hours fuel are left.

 

[AKMIMNAK]

In this picture,

everything to the left of the right-hand side of the bricks is an indirect cooking area.

Here is a recent cook with two slabs of untrimmed spareribs using the above setup. I control the temp using the bottom vents, the upper vents are wide open.

Your minion method pics are not showing up for me. But I think I understand better now with this description and the next guy's.

 

[AKMIMNAK]

He's banking the coals between the right side of the grill and the brick. Brick acts as a heat shield.



Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

So this is essentially a poor man's slow n' sear? Helpful description, thank you. His pics weren't showing for me so this helped.

 

[dadsr4]

Your minion method pics are not showing up for me. But I think I understand better now with this description and the next guy's.

Maybe this will post, it's an old pic. Skip the water pan, it's not needed. Bricks would go to the center of the coals.

 

[dadsr4]

So this is essentially a poor man's slow n' sear? Helpful description, thank you. His pics weren't showing for me so this helped.

The bricks would be in place of the SnS water trough, which isn't needed if you control the temps via the vents.
Maybe this pic will show.

 

[Demosthenes9]

So this is essentially a poor man's slow n' sear? Helpful description, thank you. His pics weren't showing for me so this helped.

That's one way to think of it, though, his method was around long before the SnS was developed. So

 

[Demosthenes9]

With the Minion method, I don't touch a thing until it's time to see if things are done. Unless things are taking over 8 hours. Then I check to see how many hours fuel are left.

You might have to monitor temps and adjust vents more than one would with a snake.



personally, I think both methods work just fine. It's all about how comfortable a person is with either.

 

[93_confirmed]

I suggest going 2 wide on the top AND the bottom to get some extra heat in there.

Definitely on light one end (use more coals then you think you need) and have your meat off centered away from the lit side.

 

[dadsr4]

You might have to monitor temps and adjust vents more than one would with a snake.

Nope, once the temp has settled where I want it, I just set back and wait.