Minion Method on offset

[Blutch]

Hey all.. now that I have a custom charcoal basket (thanks to a brother here) and a custom baffle - thanks to the same brother. I am ready to try a smoke on my offset using "the method."

Just want to review the way it works.. full bag of lump or briquets in the basket. wood chunks interspersed in the lump.. light a chimney of about 20 briquets or comparable lump and carefully pour it into the middle of the charcoal in the basket... add wood as needed.

My offset firebox is a bit leaky I think.. particularly around the door.. Fire control can be a bitch sometimes.. how much time can I expect to get out of a large bag of lump using the basket in this way?

Cooking two butts a brisket, some fatties and some almonds on Sat.

Thanks!

B

 

[ushi]

When I first tried to do it on my offset, I wound up with a towering inferno.

Made for excellent chicken. Not so great beef ribs. I think I added too much lit charcoal. I don't have a basket or anything though. I just kind of piled a bunch of charcoal on the grate and put the lit charcoal in the middle.

I've had more success with temp control now, and I get a pretty solid burn out of it. It doesn't really die out for around 5-6 hours. I found to maintain temps I start adding briquettes at around the 3-4 hour mark.

 

[backyardchef]

Hey Blutch...

I think if your firebox is as leaky as you say it is, you might have a hard time with "the method." That technique relies on being able to control the burn, so that it slowly eats away the fuel. You may have a situation where the whole basket is lit before you know it. Maybe not. Just something to keep an eye on. You might want to start with a smaller amount of lit lump to get things moving more slowly.....Just a thought.

Edit: I think Ushi and hit send at the same time....similar thought.

 

[Blutch]

Any suggestions on how to keep this from happening other than starting with less lit fuel at the beginning?

Thanks

B

 

[thillin]

Instead of put the lit coals on top, leave a coffee can sized hole in one corner nearest the cooking chamber. Pour in about a 1/3 lit chimney of coals into the hole. This causes the burn to go against the air flow, and delays ignition. Once your pit is up to temp, close off intake 3/4 closed, or completely closed if firebox is drafty. Exhaust might have to be closed about 1/4 if temps keep rising.

 

[Brauma]

A WHOLE BAG OF LUMP?? Thats a bit much. I normally spread out 1 maybe 1 & 1/2 chimneys full of unlit in my basket. Then put 1 full load of lit on top.

Or, I pile my unlit closer to the vents (air intake) and leave space for my lit to be dumped near the smoke hole so the fumes from the unlit have to pass over the fire before it enters the smoker chamber.

 

[thillin]

And take my instructions with a grain of salt. I use a Klose "S" shaped basket. It cuts down on how many briquetts light up.

 

[JohnMcD348]

I use a basket with removable dividers in it in my BSKD. I divide it into 3 sections, load the two from the airvent forward with unlit coals and then por a chimney of lit coals into the section closest to the smoke chamber. Over time, the other sections light by themselves and I just keep oving the coals forward over time and add more unlit to the now empty sections.

 

[Blutch]

John, do you have any pictures of this setup?

Thanks

B

 

[kpelch]

leaky firebox

i had some gaps in my firebox around the doors and fixed it using foil. scrunch it up to form a "snake" and put it around the edges of the door and when you close it, it is like a gasket, works great.

 

[Blutch]

Ok.. i installed my new baffle - wow - and divided the charcoal basket into three sections with two small pieces of grill.. I'll put lump in the two sections toward the air vent and lit lump into the section closest to the smoke chamber. once the different sections catch fire, should I remove the grill sections dividing them?

I'm going to try the foil gaskets too.. doing 2 briskets, 2 butts, 4 fatties and 3 lbs of almonds.

Can't wait.

B

 

[thillin]

Your deviders need to be solid. To get an idea of what I'm talking about look at the partial dividers on mine here.

 

[smokinbadger]

Not only do the dividers need to be solid, it's better if there is an air gap between a pair of baffles, like in the Klose basket. This prevents the charcoal from getting lit too early, due to heat conduction across the baffle. You want to have the charcoal nearest the food chamber burn first and the flame front to progress through the S-channel away from the food chamber to the firebox inlet.

I have both a homemade basket for the Bandera and a Klose basket for the Klose. The principle with both is the same: Fill all but the food chamber end of the basket with unlit charcoal, leaving enough room for a chinmey full of lit charcoal. Dump the lit charcoal in, and close the lid on the firebox. This is very important, as frequently opening the firebox, especially for longer periods of time will allow the unlit charcoal to light up "out of order" spiking your temperatures. My first attempt with this was a really hot disaster, but I got it mastered pretty quickly.

 

[Blutch]

Does the unlit actually touch some of the lit charcaol in this S-shaped thing or is there space? I suppose I could use bricks or something to create this effect in my basket?

Thanks

B

 

[thillin]

Yes it touches. Is just an "S" shaped pile that burns against airflow. I was getting abougt 5 hours loaded 3/4 full. I havn't messed with the basket in almost a year. I'm about to try a few new techniques though. You just don't want all of it to light at once.

 

[JohnMcD348]

What I do with mine is remove the divider when I see the other coals are ignited. I'll push the coals up closer to the smoke chamber and replace the divider. After awhile I pretty much just have the bacsket divided in half. That way, All I have to do when the side close to the air vent beginss to light, I can remove the divider, push the coals up closer to the smoke chamber side and replac the divider. I then place unlit charcoal back into the now empty section.
I don;t have any pics but I plan on using it Sunday to do a couple slabs of ribs and my first real try at chicken. I'll take a few pics and try to get them posted later on Sunday night.

 

[Kevin]

What I do with mine is remove the divider when I see the other coals are ignited. I'll push the coals up closer to the smoke chamber and replace the divider. After awhile I pretty much just have the bacsket divided in half. That way, All I have to do when the side close to the air vent beginss to light, I can remove the divider, push the coals up closer to the smoke chamber side and replac the divider. I then place unlit charcoal back into the now empty section.
I don;t have any pics but I plan on using it Sunday to do a couple slabs of ribs and my first real try at chicken. I'll take a few pics and try to get them posted later on Sunday night.

John, and a few other's here have described exactly what I do. Not exactly "the method", but a modification of it. Lit coals are moved nearest to the smoke chamber, unlit coals nearest to the air intake. What you are doing is retarding the advance of the fire onto the unlit coals by forcing it to advance against the flow of air coming in through the intake.

Not to try to oversimplify things, but fire requires 3 things.
Fuel (briquettes, lump charcoal or wood)
Oxygen (air from your "regulated" intake vents) this is your only method of control other than the amount of fuel, ie size of the fire.
Ignition (the burning coals)

Any nasties from the fillers in the unlit coals are burned up as they pass over the hot coals before entering the cooking chamber. Sounds like a science experiment but it really is not that difficult. I love playing with fire. It's my favorite thing to do when cooking.

Hope this helps. I did not mean to sound condescending in any way. Just trying to pass on what I have learned.

Most of all, have fun and relax. We all need to do that a bit more.

 

[Blutch]

COol. I really appreciate all the great explanations of this.

Anyone know how I can retro fit my basket with dividers? I don't weld either.. will need some kind of hillbilly-jethro mod.

B

 

[Blutch]

Two butts and two big packer briskets got to 195 in 9 hours and temps were not very high.. kept it under 250 for the most part. It was much hotter near the fire box in spite of the great baffle I installed. The meat is in the cooler for now.. I'll let you know how it turns out.. This size meat at these temps usually take 12-13 hours to get up to temp, so i don't really get it.. I had the probe stuck through a patato right at meat level throughout the cook.

Perhaps I need tuning plates as well? this offset works differently every time I use it.

Thanks for all the help here.

B