I still need to figure out this minion method trick...I still can't believe you guys trust your smoker to smoke for 12 hours without tinkering with it...especially overnight
Minion method is easy. Nearly fill up the charcoal area with unlit charcoal. Use a chimney starter to light about 1/2 to 3/4 of a chimney of charcoal until it is going real well. Pour the lit on the unlit, and crack the vents to about 25%. As far as walking away for 12 hours, that is not the case, although I sometimes wish I could when smoking a whole brisket (18 hours +). What I do is get the unit nice and stable on its temp (usually takes about 1 hour of fiddling) then put my smoker temperature probe from my ET-73 in the smoker, and set the high and low temp alarms. You can then walk away, and it will start beeping when it goes too high or too low. Usually that means fiddling with my WSM about every hour or so to either add smoking wood, water to the water pan, or adjust the vents. It does make for a fitful night sleep, usually getting up every hour or two. The weber does hold the temperature really well though, and I have had it go for 4 hours without having to adjust the vents for temperature - rock solid 223-235. If you are looking for help, there are a couple good places I have found. http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/ is awesome, and lots of the information is applicable for any wood-fired smoker. Also http://www.barbecuebible.com/board/ is an awesome forum for all things smoked.
I did my first smoke on my WSM with water, then on all subsequent smokes I've replaced the water in the pan with sand that is foil covered, of course that idea came from the VWB site.
I've also used fire bricks wrapped in two layers of foil. After trying the methods, I generally prefer the water - easy to clean-up, and easy to remove (because if you want to cook over 250, you need an empty water pan). For some of the stuff I do, I actually cook it at about 350 in smoke (whole chicken, whole turkey, salmon fillet, or marinated pork loin like the higher temp). When I do this, I start the cooker with the minion method, and put a EMPTY foil-lined drip pan in. This catches the grease, and deflects the flame away from the food. If you cook without the water, you need to be very careful to line the water pan with foil very well, though, or it will be a bear to clean. Ask me how I know.. :mad:
Anything high heat I do I my Weber kettle, and I've only had to replace the sand once, that is how I learned how tough it is to clean. I now double wrap the pan with foil... I did purchase a Brinkman charcoal pan to use as an over sized water pan, but I've never used it since I switched to sand before it arrived.
Ive got the WSM smoker...no need to get out and go to BBQ restaurants, as I can make a mean pulled pork,and ribs....when I lived in Buffalo, I would travel to Rochester to Dinosaur BBQ....great BBQ, Great Beer selection!!!
When I think of BBQ, I think of brisket, sausage and ribs. I use to live near one of the Rudy's locations and would always stop in for gas and a 1lb of lean brisket and a sausage link. Next time you're in the area, try Cooper's in Llano, Kreutz or Black's in Lockhart. So many good places in the small towns in the area. Nothing better than BBQ and a Shiner!! Yeah, their BBQ has gone downhill. I would eat somewhere else before going to their concerts.
Rudys is awesome! We order their rub and sause from their website frequently! Lucky for me I am moving to Texas here in a few weeks so I can have it anytime I want!! And my dad tried the minion method to cook a few pork butts and he said it worked like a charm. Kept his smoker at 200-225 all night. Said he started it at about 6pm and walked away from it. Woke up about 1am, threw another 2 handfuls of charcoal on it, and at 6am when he woke up the temp hadn't moved a bit. I'm gonna have to try that sometime!
