Smoking meat - Let’s Make Fire: Smoking Meat, Making Sausage, Making Cheese, Making Jerky, Brewing Beer, Canning, Dehydrating

Let’s Make Fire!

Okay so ... you’ve got a smoker, meat, fuel and wood not you need to make a fire! It’s easier than you might think if you have the right tools. I suggest you get a charcoal chimney. You can get them from just about any place that sell grills or smokers – Ace Hardware, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Home Depot come to mind. We’re going to use what’s been dubbed as the Minion Method. It’s called that because it was started by a gentleman named Jim Minion.

Making Fire

What’s a chimney? A chimney is an open ended can similar to a coffee can with a small shelf in it to hold coals and newspaper. There are several pictures from various angles below.

To start your coals;

First take two sheets of newspaper, roll it loosely the long way and place it in the bottom of the chimney can. Leave the center open!

Next fill the can with coals. I use about 10 or 12 of them. It’s good to keep track of how many you used so you can easily duplicate the process for you perfect smoke!

Finally light the newspaper from the holes in the bottom of the chimney in several places. Once it’s lit it’ll burn hot and fast so Set the chimney on something that won’t catch fire and wait. When all the coals start to turn gray all over they’re ready. This will take about 10 minutes!

ECBinion

While you wait for the coals to get hot, add some fresh coals to your smoker about 15 of them and mix in some wood chips or chunks. When the coals I the chimney are all gray dump it on top of the unlit coals in your smoker.

That’s it your ready to smoke some food! When the coal burn down and your temperature starts dropping just add more fresh coals. Again make a note of how many you used and this will make it real easy next time!

In my Brinkmann All-In-One it seems to work out to about a 10ºF increase in temperature for each briquette added to the fire. That’s a good starting point but your results may vary depending on the type of smoker you use, outside temperatures, winds and things like that. They all affect temperature!

Wind Breaks

At this point I think it would be wise to talk about wind breaks. A wind break is just a shelter to block the wind. I can be constructed from anything – preferably non-flammable! Even if you live in an area where the temperature don’t get bitterly cold you could benefit from a wind break. We all suffer with high winds and rain from time to time and with so little time available for our long slow smokes we don’t want it ruined by the weather do we?

Some people get very creative with their wind breaks and build fancy shelters that blend in with their landscapes. Mine is simply several pieces of Styrofoam board held together with pencils to shield the smokers from the wind and snow.

If you have a garage you might want to consider a temporary wind break that you can tear down at the end of a long smoke, if not you may want to consider something more permanent to protect you investment.

WindBreak

I don’t have a garage so this serves as my wind break and my storage shed all year round. It saves me a bundle on fuel as it its constructed out of 4 inch thick Styrofoam board and it’s temporary because it’s held together with pencils so I can move it around at will by just pulling a pencil! It faces my kitchen doors so the front in pretty well protected from the wind and being temporary I don’t need a permit from the town to build it or get an increase in my taxes!

I have to rebuild my structure somewhat to house the three smokers I have now in there and protect me a bit from the weather but for now it works and has for over a year.

ENjoy!

Return to the Smoking Meat Menu