did ribs this past weekend - used minion versus snake - had issues

[ligrill]

I wanted to try the minion method and not the snake method when I did my ribs this weekend.  I placed a full chimney of unlit coals in the weber and lit eight coals and placed them on one side of the bank.  I set my one touch bottom vents to just be open and the top vent all the way open.  I also added about 4 chunks of hickory to the unlit coals.  It was going well for about an hour and half then all of a sudden the temp spiked to 400 at the dome.  I used the binder clip trick to keep the smoke only going out the top of the weber. 

I had a water pan under the ribs and another one over the lit coals.

Any ideas why the temperature got so high?
Should I have used less lit coals to start?

Thanks!

Oh, the ribs were done in about 3 hours due to the temperature spike.

[wyd]

Only thing I can think of is since the minion method is more of a pile of coals vs the snake method is just a few coals is that it took awhile but then a lot more coals lit up and cased the temp spike.  I know when I did the snake method it was easier to keep the lower temps. 

[1buckie]

The Jim Minion method was actually for a WSM.......a few (like 8~10) on top of a whole basket of unlit & then a FINELY tuned flow of air to allow the burn to run low thru the whole pile over many hours.....

you can do something akin to that on a kettle, but most folks will start at one end of a large half moon configuration & it just doesn't quite work the same unless you're really careful with the airflow.....

Here's my own reasoning as to why :

The half moon shape creates a large area of fuel at the middle point.....ripe for the burn to increase a lot = a temp spike, by a lot, most likely.....

To contrast, the chain or "snake" has only a small area of fuel available at any one time.....it can speed up if the vents are way open, but it can only really catch fire on so many coals at once.......usually 4 to about 7 or 8 at most.....in other words, it relies on available fuel much more than available air, while the larger coal pack of a more Minion style perhaps will lean more towards available air than fuel...............the air has more effect, plain & simple.....

Now, if some type of containment basket is used, it would seem to be easier to control a Minion style burn, I would think......let's ask the big dogs :

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/ranch-kettle-methods/msg100703/#msg100703

Look at Saxart's setups & questions, BBQMiller's & Hogsy / Golly's setups for the Ranch kettles......contained baskets for Minions, while the loose but thick packs didn't seem to work quite as well....OK, but not as well......

Now, the Weber baskets, at least the more solid sheet metal type can also have a little of an airflow issue at lower heats because enough of the coals are blocked off from a good easy airflow to slow things to a crawl & then you have problems going the other way....too low.....

A good possibility might be the Weber WIRE baskets, which I think are still available, & are of a much more open design.............

Bricks are another idea, but still there you're maybe getting too much fuel lined up to burn.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then, there's free-form :

These are done with no baskets, unlit coals loaded in & 10 or so lit set in at the TOP of the pile against the wall of the kettle.......



the burn runs FROM the farthest point away from the vents TOWARD the bottom, or where the airflow is coming from....I learned this from the large stickburner folks....saying to always burn back towards the intake....

Like this, sort of....only fewer lit as this was for a higher heat chicken & bunny cookup....

[1buckie]

My question would also be.....where were the lit coals placed at the start?

[ligrill]

My question would also be.....where were the lit coals placed at the start?

on one side of the coal bank

[1buckie]

So it is possible your temp spike came from this :

The half moon shape creates a large area of fuel at the middle point.

Am I describing this well enough ?

.....when the coals burn out into the fatter area, there's much more fuel available, so at that point you have to 'follow' the burn by closing down the vents more, maybe by quite a lot.....I think that's what went on.....harder to tell without pictures, but it seems the most likely cause.....

maybe a setup like my 2nd pic, with less lit coals would work?

pinch the vents down & come up underneath the temp.....that way you're not fighting it back down to a certain point....

Hope this helps some......

[ligrill]

I will try this weekend and report back... with pics!

[1buckie]

Here's one other possibility I thought of.......two short snakes, opposite directions, ribs down the middle, then just rotate the grate a few times to keep from being right over the coals.....................

[CharliefromLI]

Been trying to perfect the fire brick method and  had same issue with half moon : when using minion side to side  the fat section catches too much at once: thinking of modifying  charcoal layout and using something like this: but behind bricks. If coals are aligned in rectangle pattern then there is no thick spot, it's a shorter fat snake . Then it's just perfecting the spacing and air to limit how much lights at once. The only issue will be reduced capacity. Might be able to 4-5 for ribs but doubt it will go long enough for butts.

Please note: the photos are not mine, they were posted here:
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?52022-Snake-Method-vs-The-Minion-Method