Mini question

chashans

I am cooking a Pepper Stout Beef roast today. The first half of the cook is in the 230F range. The second half of the cook is in the 350F range. The mini held 220F really well during the first half of the cook. Then when I opened the vents to kick it up to 350F it wouldn't go...it wanted to stay at 200F. Long story short it needed to have the firebox replenished. It was almost plumb out of lump. So, I got about three hours at low temp on one load and I am hoping that the second load at higher temp will last for three hours...but I doubt that it will.

Somewhere on this site it seems to me that the Mini is suppose to be able to cook longer on a load of lump. Is that true? I am using Royal Oak brand.

Mickey

You did not fill it. Fill it each time and just shut it off to hold leftover lump.

chashans

Mickey said:

You did not fill it. Fill it each time and just shut it off to hold leftover lump.

I cleaned it out before the cook because I wanted to make sure that all of the vent holes were open. I then filled to the top of the fire box. Should I be filling above the firebox? I do close all vents when I am finished to preserve the lump.

fishlessman

it takes more heat input if theres liquid in there holding the temps down. with my mini knockoff vision kub i also just use the smallest pieces of lump and distribute it in there so that it packs well, bigger pieces fit looser and you dont get as much lump in there, did ribs last week and burnt only half the lump over about 6 hours at 230 dome

R2Egg2Q

You'll need to fill it until the plate setter pretty much contacts the lump for a long cook like that. A denser, longer burning lump than Royal Oak would also help.

chashans

Thank you fishlessman and R@Egg2Q for the useful tips. I just now added more limp...on top of what lump remained. I got lots of white smoke, I think that I should be thankful that the dish is tightly covered. But what if it had been a brisket. My guess is that it might have been ruined. What are your thoughts?

Little Steven

You are going to have some trouble getting a brisket on a mini methinks. What fishlessman said is the issue. Any liquid qill hold the ambient temp down inside the egg.

Mattman3969

I don't have a mini but i do have a small and a large so I will offer advice based on what I have seen with the small. I have done 1 chuckie on the small and to the best of my memory it took about 7 1/2 hrs. I filled up to the top of the fire ring with rockwood lump and maybe had enough left to go another hr. The first few hrs were at 260* until IT hit 160ish the wrapped and bumped temp up to 350 so it sounds similar  to what you are doin with exception of when you unwrap the meet,shred, mix with peppers and back on the egg to reduce the liquid. I may be out of line but I think you will have a hard time doin this cook on one load of lump. Again I don't have a mini so I am prolly wrong.

bud812

Why didn't you just use your LBGE ??? :-??

chashans

I am trying to learn more about the newcomer to the family.