No disrespect to Mr Minion, but I don't start a fire like that...

[jerseydrew]

Guru and Minion method works fine for me in my WSM. i have noticed that selection of fuel makes more of a difference then setup. the kingsford blue is fine for relatively short cooks but has a lot of non combustable material so if you have a lot of fuel on a long smoke the ash will block air from flowing well. this can be combated with a welding glove and just moving the coals around a little so the ash falls ( don't go nuts cause you will stir the ash up into food). i like royal oak but it burns too fast. i also like the Wicked good weekend warrior briquettes but they can get costly. 

 

[veritas456]

What's happening is that there is a "Delay" caused by all the unlit coals being in the way of the incoming air. So instead of the coals burning fast with the rush of air, the coals are taking longer to heat up. The automatic controller will then have a easier time setting the temperature because of the lack of "spikes" in temperature. 

The controller seen in the picture is an inexpensive model. Does anyone know how it compares to the more expensive Stoker or DigiQue?

 

[wneill20]

Interesting setup.  I have a wsm and stocker and I typically do the minion method, but last time I used it I had 18 slabs cooking so I needed a lot more coals than I would normally use.  I noticed a bunch of coals on the left and right side didn't get lit at all although the coals closest to the fan where almost all burnt through.  I think I had to rack around the coals from the side toward the middle about half way through.  I normally keep the 2 vents without the fan wide open, but I may try your way to see what happens. 

I would think the air from the fan would be almost entirely blocked off because of the coals in front of it.  Do you notice if the coals burn slower or faster putting the lit ones on the opposite side of the fan?

Not to change the subject but how do you like the IQ 110? i just ordered one for my UDS