One of my daughters gave me a Lavalock basket with minion bars for Christmas. I had a chance to try it out and thought I'd share my thoughts on it .
The basket is well constructed and very sturdy, with the bars it weighs in around 15#'s and should last for quite some time.
I knew the basic concept but as with anything new the first use was a learning experience. I loaded it with Royal Oak and added wood chunks at what I thought would be a good ratio for both smoke and burn time. Some chunks were on top and some were closer to the bottom. I hadn't really seen anything about how to light it so I decided to light some coals in my chimney and add them to the top at the vent end of the firebox.
This worked well at starting the coals, to well to be honest. I added to many hot coals over to long of a section and the fire started running away from me. My CC temp shot up to 300+ degrees with closed vents. I used some tongs and pulled all but a few lit coals out, leaving the lit coals in a vertical rather than horizontal line and replaced them with unlit coals. This method slowed down the spread of the fire and I was able to keep my CC at 225-235 for more than 4 hours without adding wood or charcoal and very little input on the FB vent. After about 4 hours I added some more unlit coals and the fire changed direction back towards the beginning of the chain.
I really like using this method. The basket and bars are top quality and I was able to keep stable temps over a long period and use less charcoal. As an added bonus I had some delicious ribs to eat after my test run.
The basket is well constructed and very sturdy, with the bars it weighs in around 15#'s and should last for quite some time.
I knew the basic concept but as with anything new the first use was a learning experience. I loaded it with Royal Oak and added wood chunks at what I thought would be a good ratio for both smoke and burn time. Some chunks were on top and some were closer to the bottom. I hadn't really seen anything about how to light it so I decided to light some coals in my chimney and add them to the top at the vent end of the firebox.
This worked well at starting the coals, to well to be honest. I added to many hot coals over to long of a section and the fire started running away from me. My CC temp shot up to 300+ degrees with closed vents. I used some tongs and pulled all but a few lit coals out, leaving the lit coals in a vertical rather than horizontal line and replaced them with unlit coals. This method slowed down the spread of the fire and I was able to keep my CC at 225-235 for more than 4 hours without adding wood or charcoal and very little input on the FB vent. After about 4 hours I added some more unlit coals and the fire changed direction back towards the beginning of the chain.
I really like using this method. The basket and bars are top quality and I was able to keep stable temps over a long period and use less charcoal. As an added bonus I had some delicious ribs to eat after my test run.
