Minion Method and Horizontal Smoker with Off-set Firebox

[over zealous]

Have Brinkmann Stillwater with Firebox. Did a trial run without food, monitoring temperature and quality of smoke. Used one full chimney of Royal Oak lump charchoal out of the sack and into my new charcoal ring, placed four sticks vertially, and then 1/3 of lump charcoal with mild ash over it.

The heat was simply out of control for one hour, before I got it down to 250 degrees and entirely too much smoke initially. Got the hang of it the last several hours, keeping it down to 225 to 250, with an occasional stick laying across the charchoal ring which would eventually fall in.

I suspect that I used 50% more lump and 3 times more wood than I needed initially. However, I did have to tend the fire quite a bit the next several hours to maintain smoke quality and I am unsure about the procedure in general. Is one supposed to use this method in a vertical smoker with an off-set firebox? If so, is lump charcoal the right choice?

Any experiences and/or suggestions will be most appreciated.

Thanks, Don

[JamesB]

The two most important things about using the Minion method, for me at least is... You must have control over the air intake. Your smoker should seal up pretty much air tight so that you can contol the amount of air that the fire has access too...

Second is that you must control the temp on the way up. You start with your base of unlit coal/wood and add just enough burning matter to get the party started so to speak. Start with the intake open just enough to allow the temp to come up very gradually. Once you start getting to withing 50° - 75° degrees of your target temp, start closing the intake to slow the rise...

If you allow the fire to come up too fast and you over shoot your target temp, it is difficult to bring back down...

My $.02

James.

[krimson_cardnal]

Thanks JamesB.

I've just started with a SnP and have been working on fire technique. I've managed to construct a raised fire platform/bin out of expanded metal. I've been building the fire on the smoker end of the firebox 'cause it seemed most logical and looked like that's what folks were doing . Next smoke I'm pulling it down to the inlet end of the fire box and going to use metal plate to direct the air under and up thru the fire platform.

I'm hoping for better inlet control and avoid the hot end in the smoker chamber. I've done the mods and will post them w/ pics in the cooker forum.

waddaya think K_C

[over zealous]

James, Sunday I followed your suggestions & had a very satisfactory result, getting a 4 hour burn out of one chimney of Royal Oak, using only 4 sticks; temperature was easy to control and for the first time ever I got that light blue smoke. Thank you so much for the very helpful suggestions. Don

[bennynac]

what about the out-take? Do you leave that fully open?

[over zealous]

Bennynac, I have used anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 chimney open. Don