Been using my
Akorn for 2 months now.
Load my Minion full, light it, and pour it on unlit briqs down in the pan depending on whatever I'm doing .....if a big brisket or big butt, the lit Minion goes over about twice that many unlit briqs. If I'm doing ribs or chicken, I use about 1 chimney of lit briqs poured over about the same amount of unlit briqs.
Then I close it down for about a half hour while I go inside and get the meat ready. I leave the bottom vent open about 3/4 inch. The top vent is open about 1/4 inch. By the time I get the meat ready the smoking chamber will stabilize at about 250 degrees.
,
The
Akorn thermometer that measures the temp of the smoking chamber reads 50 degrees below registered temps on my
Akorn. Be alert to this as it can really affect your smoke project.
I hang a digital thermometer through the top vent down into the smoking chamber to get the correct temps. Have a remote digital for the meat on the rack.
If you want to keep your temps at 225 degrees, you should be prepared to stay fairly close to your smoker. I find myself tweaking it more than I'd wish. However, after using it about a dozen times so far, my experience is helping me understand the peculiarities of my
Akorn and helping me learn to stabilize the temperature. As we all know, the lower the smoking temps, the more affected it is by ambient temperatures and wind.
This is one fine smoker. Thank you Lowe's