What's the deal with a can in the middle of your fire ring?

[bostonsmoke]

I've done some searches but can't find anything about this "method". Might be searching for the wrong terms though. 

I've seen some pictures where people have a tin can in the middle of their fire ring with charcoal all around them. Is this a specific method? What does it do differently than minion?

Thanks!

 

[pops6927]

can you snag and copy and paste the picture so we can specifically see what you're referring to?

 

[jjwdiver]

Guessing its referring to how Al does the charcoal in the WSM.

 

[dsorgnzd]

I've seen this method mentioned several times. You take a large can, cut the top  and bottom out, and put it in the middle of your unlit charcoal. When the lit coals are  going good, you pour them into the can, then use a pair of pliers (unless you have asbestos fingers) to remove the can. This leaves a column of lit charcoal in the middle of the unlit. 

I consider the "Minion Method"  simply to mean starting with a small quantity of  lit charcoal  among a large quantity of unlit, instead of lighting the whole thing and  waiting for all the coals   to ash over. Whether you put the lit  coals on top, at one side, or  even underneath the unlit is (IMO) a personal preference.  Some people just load up the charcoal, then start a small spot with a propane weed burner.  The point is to have a small, hot fire  that gradually progresses  through the  rest of the  fuel. This makes it much easier to control your cooking temperature on the way up, instead of having a big, hot fire and trying to throttle it down to smoking temperatures.  I was always too lazy and/or impatient to wait for a full load of charcoal to light -  I'd pour a small chimney of lit into the unlit, assemble the smoker, and put the  meat on immediately. When the temperature got close to where I wanted, I'd start closing down the vents.  I didn't know there was a name for  this approach for a long time, maybe I owe Mr. Minion some royalties?