Testing a modified minion method in the big chicken cooker. Butt went on at 630pm. She is holding steady at 260°. About 1/3 through the coal.
You smoke with bark? I've always removed bark for any smoking as I've been told it gives a bad flavor.
I don't mind, though I don't think much of the bark will burn in this set up. However I don't debark it if we use the firebox either.
Well... The cooker is still doing well. (Maybe another hour of i let it go) But the cook is Beat, into the oven for the night. Normally using it as a stick burner the longest we can go is 4 hours. I am calling it a success, but needs tweaked.
I always run my WSM by the Minion method, that it light it on top and let it burn down. I easily get overnight burns, only need refueling at the 16th to 20th hour when running butts long.
Yes, I learned the minion method with my UBS, but it has since been retired. So I am trying it on a big stick burner (we can fit 27 chicken halves or 15 racks of ribs on it.) TurboDiesel - I used to use 7-9 lbs of charcoal roughly, and could consistently get a 16-17 hour burn.
This is 25 halves on the same cooker from Saturday. Cooking in the rain ... what joy The smoke box is on the back center, it also has charcoal pans and propane for inside the cook box.
Trying to hold temps in the rain is a PITA I guess the minion method is lighting a line of charcoal slowly from one end to another with a water pan for humidity?
that's what I thought - vaguely remember reading about it years ago. It's much more likely to work in larger tighter cookers with even inflow of fresh air.
Here is a good vid on the minion method with baffles if you never heard of it. pretty good control of the burn and helps to extend the burn time
