How To Get the Mini Hot

garthb4903

First time mini fired up tonight, grilled sausages but the heat was maxed out at 400, but it took an hour to get there.  Any recs on increasing heat in the mini fast?

Mickey

First it will be much faster when you put the High-Que on. 
I am betting you do not have the bottom openings lined up.  
Do you have enough lump in Mini?
Toss the black steel DMFT in the back of the garage (not ever needed). Hell, gave all 4 of mine away years ago. 
Just as a reminder pull spring deal off temp gadge and toss. 
......
I do this way:
ck lump amount (need plenty)
take off cermic top
open bottom vent full
quick lighting with Mapp
close top
if not watched very close will be at 800 in min's 
,,,,,.
Call me when you have a couple of minutes please. 
254.630.8399
mickey
. 

Austin Egghead

ibid to everything Mickey says. I don,t use the High-Que all the time (depends on lump size and temp). 
The one thing that you need to do is keep the mini clean of ash, it needs to breath to get those hi temps.  
Note when you clean out the egg, make sure you put the firebox in correctly.  (I have made that mistake....didnt take me long to figure out I was 180 off...the hole pattern was the give away). 

garthb4903

got it, thanks.  @Mickey, I ordered the highque yesterday so I'm sure that will help.  Plus, it was my first cook and it got to 400 with only 3 small/med pieces of lump!  Pretty impressive, I already love the little guy

Mickey

garthb4903 said:

got it, thanks.  @Mickey, I ordered the highque yesterday so I'm sure that will help.  Plus, it was my first cook and it got to 400 with only 3 small/med pieces of lump!  Pretty impressive, I already love the little guy

Put lump in it!

Hotch

When I clean out my large, I keep the un-burned lump, that is left, for use in my Mini and MiniMAX.
I also recommend getting the Mini Woo and stones from The Ceramic Grill Store. It elevates the cooking grid and the stones allow for indirect cooks and mini pizzas!







These pics show the Woo in action! Both with and without the stones.

chuckytheegghead

Mickey said:

garthb4903 said:

got it, thanks.  @Mickey, I ordered the highque yesterday so I'm sure that will help.  Plus, it was my first cook and it got to 400 with only 3 small/med pieces of lump!  Pretty impressive, I already love the little guy

Put lump in it!

Agree with that. Put more lump in it and the temp will come up. I've never had an issue getting my stock mini up to temp. 

Mickey

What did she name it?

The_Stache

@Mickey let me know how the "more lump" works out.  I'm still not totally sold on the MM heat up cycle.  I've even taken the time to enlarge the lower vent to be the same size opening as the MM ceramic.  My LBGE is AWESOME!!!  Comes up to temp with NO ISSUES... last night the MM was at about 450 full open no top after about 35 minutes full of prelit (chimney) lump!

chuckytheegghead

The_Stache said:

@Mickey let me know how the "more lump" works out.  I'm still not totally sold on the MM heat up cycle.  I've even taken the time to enlarge the lower vent to be the same size opening as the MM ceramic.  My LBGE is AWESOME!!!  Comes up to temp with NO ISSUES... last night the MM was at about 450 full open no top after about 35 minutes full of prelit (chimney) lump!

I believe he was referring to the Mini. Not the MiniMax. 

The_Stache

chuckytheegghead said:

The_Stache said:

@Mickey let me know how the "more lump" works out.  I'm still not totally sold on the MM heat up cycle.  I've even taken the time to enlarge the lower vent to be the same size opening as the MM ceramic.  My LBGE is AWESOME!!!  Comes up to temp with NO ISSUES... last night the MM was at about 450 full open no top after about 35 minutes full of prelit (chimney) lump!

I believe he was referring to the Mini. Not the MiniMax. 

Thanks @chuckytheegghead !