First smoke with the mini

scrap · Feb 9, 2015

It was about 20-30 degrees with the wind blowin and the snow falling last weekend, but with a fresh mini sitting in my loft, I couldn't resist. I went for some chicken drumsticks on sale. I injected some frank's/bbq mixture in there, rubbed them with my favorite Jerk chicken rub and went on my way. I had some wild temp swings in the beginning but it leveled out around 290 so i went for it.

Mini in the snow

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scrap
Feb 9, 2015

TBS was provided by Hickory ( it seems to be all that's available around me right now)

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scrap
Feb 9, 2015

I had a wind block with the reflectix. It helped stabilize temps but I noticed that the TBS essentially stopped when it was in place. As soon as it was lifted it started flowing again. I ended up ditching it and adjusting my air intakes to get the temp I wanted with the wind that was blowing. I burned a lot more charcoal, but got smoke. Does it help to lift it a bit with rocks to allow some air flow under to the lower vents?

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scrap
Feb 9, 2015

Post reflector temp check...TBS flowing well

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scrap
Feb 9, 2015

The final result was ok in my book. The Jerk flavor was nice on the outside with pockets of buffeque in the center. The roomies absolutely went to town on these and even went so far as to offer to buy next meat of my choice! (that is unheard of in my home so they must have liked them)

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scrap
Feb 9, 2015

Any suggestion on the reflector issues?

pc farmer · Feb 9, 2015

I use the same wind block and love it. Even use it in the summer.

First, what size is it. Mine is 24". The top of the mini is sticking out.

Second, make sure it isn't to tight around the mini. Has to have air flow.

The legs look great.

scrap · Feb 9, 2015

The shield is much higher than the top of the mini. I'll cut it down a bit for the next smoke and maybe see if I have a spare bit sitting around to get it a little wider. Thank you C farmer!

welshrarebit · Feb 10, 2015

Nice looking chicken! Just one piece of advice... If you move to Hawaii you won't have to deal with whatever that white stuff is on the ground! [emoji]9996[/emoji]️[emoji]128526[/emoji]

scrap · Feb 10, 2015

Welshrarebit said:
Nice looking chicken! Just one piece of advice... If you move to Hawaii you won't have to deal with whatever that white stuff is on the ground! [emoji]9996[/emoji]️[emoji]128526[/emoji]

Thanks Welsh! I would LOVE that! I surf almost every day up here and right now the water temp is hanging around 40 degrees.

That means the big-time wet suit comes out. It would be nice to ditch that,pack the mini, and head to HI.

bdskelly · Feb 10, 2015

You folks that fire up your smokers and cook in the melted area have my respect B

pc farmer · Feb 10, 2015

BDSkelly said:
You folks that fire up your smokers and cook in the melted area have my respect B

Ha, in the northeast if we didnt cook in the winter we would only cook a couple months out of the year.

dirtsailor2003 · Feb 10, 2015

c farmer said:
Ha, in the northeast if we didnt cook in the winter we would only cook a couple months out of the year.

I'd say they same, but our normal winter didn't show up this year!

Putting miles on my new bike. Gonna need to do it now as the Forest service will shut it all down with the the lack of moisture!

fwismoker · Feb 10, 2015

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fwismoker
Jan 6, 2014

Looks great! My mini took the ultimate test last winter cooking 350* plus in minus 50 wind chill doing a bird. Just can't beat it. It was coming up to temp in this pic...mighty chilly out there!

welshrarebit · Feb 11, 2015

FWIsmoker said:
P1010924.JPG

fwismoker

Jan 6, 2014

Looks great! My mini took the ultimate test last winter cooking 350* plus in minus 50 wind chill doing a bird. Just can't beat it. It was coming up to temp in this pic...mighty chilly out there!

Minus 50? About six weeks back the temp in Hawaii hit a low of 58* one day and that broke a 120 year old record...

welshrarebit · Feb 11, 2015

scrap said:
Thanks Welsh! I would LOVE that! I surf almost every day up here and right now the water temp is hanging around 40 degrees. Thumbs Down That means the big-time wet suit comes out. It would be nice to ditch that,pack the mini, and head to HI.

The surf here has been cranking!

This is me surfing a long time ago...

View media item 337161

daveomak · Feb 11, 2015

with the deflector tight to the ground, the incoming air has to travel through the smoke which has reduced oxygen... a couple holes or raise it up about 1/4" and see what happens.... 1/4", for the full circumference, should do nicely...

scrap · Feb 11, 2015

DaveOmak said:
with the deflector tight to the ground, the incoming air has to travel through the smoke which has reduced oxygen... a couple holes or raise it up about 1/4" and see what happens.... 1/4", for the full circumference, should do nicely...

That was exactly my plan, along with shortening the overall height.

Welshrarebit said:
The surf here has been cranking!

This is me surfing a long time ago...

View media item 337161

Very cool! Looking for the tube I see... Easy East coast waves are really mushy, but I love my Robert August 9' 2 in the mush and hurricane season is always a blast!

BDSkelly said:
You folks that fire up your smokers and cook in the melted area have my respect B

I like smoking/grilling in the cold. It is where the wireless therm really earns its stripes. You can monitor temps from inside with a warm body and a cold beer!

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