British BBQ Society Forums

I've been looking for the best way to get a long burn 10+ hours and i thought i had it sorted as i was going to use the minion method but looking at a few posts and some people are saying it is not the best way to do it.

How should i be looking to arrange my coals to get a good long burn?

Minion method is the way to go. These comments about taint in flavour from minion method aren't correct.

Personally I wouldn't do minion method with any kind of briquettes, they tend to stink a bit when lighting so you are running a risk of affecting flavour. However, lots of good teams in the US use briquettes for minion method. Also if you look at gravity fed charcoal smokers, they run a progressive burn not unlike minion method and smokers such as Stumps are regarded as some of the best smokers money can buy. Do you think they'd earn this tag if they produced tainted food.

IMHO if you light all your charcoal then you run a greater risk of tainting your food because you have to choke your fire back and will be doing constantly while cooking, every time you pop the lid, you'll feed the fire with oxygen and then the fire will choke again. Visible evidence of this is thick white smoke coming from the smoker.

It is easy to manage a fire with minion method and i can guarantee you that if done properly, you won't get a taint to the flavour.

Steve wrote:smokers such as Stumps are regarded as some of the best smokers money can buy.

+1

Wonder if I can get one delivered before I leave the states. Naw, my wife already thinks I'm a bit off the deep end for bringing my WSM along. True, that.

I have had 18 + hours with my 47cm WSM using the Minion Method and Restaurant lump, no water and a clay saucer. These temps were consistent between 236 upto 250 and the lows at 18 hours being around 220.

.... of course, you could just have done with and buy a Pellet Cooker !!!

Yeh but then you miss out on the excitement of trying to light your chimney starter in the pouring rain with hand-in time rapidly approaching

Some of us are just far too old for that sort of excitement !!!