The Minion Method is a way of loading a charcoal smoker so it burns slowly and steadily for many hours without constantly tending the fire or repeatedly adding fresh charcoal. Instead of lighting all your charcoal at once, you fill the chamber almost completely with unlit charcoal, then add a smaller amount of already-lit coals on top or buried in the middle. I personally have landed on the drop it on top camp, as I want to expedite the start time. The lit coals slowly ignite the unlit ones around them over time, giving you a long, steady burn instead of a short, hot one.

Here’s a real example: a four-pork-butt smoke I did on my 18-inch Weber Smokey Mountain while on a staycation, prompted by my oldest daughter making a short visit and requesting barbecue. I picked up four butts at a decent price — $1.69/lb., for a total of 33 pounds before trimming.

 I trimmed off the large fat cap from each and seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, cumin, and turbinado sugar, about 8 hours before starting the smoke.

 Setting Up the Minion Method

To set this up, I almost completely filled the charcoal chamber with unlit charcoal, then buried several hickory wood chunks in the middle. 

 

 Using a chimney starter, I lit about 40 pieces of charcoal and added them on top of the unlit chamber, along with a few more hickory chunks for immediate smoke. Since this was going to be a long smoke, I also filled the water pan with warm water — this adds moisture during the long cook and helps stabilize the smoker’s temperature.

Conventional wisdom says to let the smoker come up to temp before adding meat, but I don’t follow that on long smokes. Since the minion method keeps lighting fresh coal throughout the cook anyway, I put the meat on right away.

 

 Shortly before 8:30 p.m., I loaded the pork onto the smoker — two racks, two butts on the bottom, two on top. With everything assembled, I left the top vent fully open (as always) and closed two of the three bottom vents, leaving the third about half open. I monitored the temp and adjusted that single open vent until it settled at 225°F. After a couple of steady hours, I headed to bed.

I’m an early riser, so I was up at my normal 4:30 a.m. and checked the temp — still holding strong at 225°F, proof the minion method was doing exactly what it’s supposed to. I rotated the pork, moving what was on the bottom rack to the top. I also spritzed with purple grape juice, which helps with bark formation (thanks to the sugar content) and gives the bark better color.

I walked the dog and played a round of golf. By the time I got back, the smoker was still holding steady, and at the 14-hour mark I added additional charcoal. Internal temp was at 170°F at that point, still needing to climb to 195-205°F to finish.

 The Finish

Finally, at 2:30 in the afternoon — 18 hours from the start — the pork reached the desired temperature. The aroma was incredible, and it had a great bark on it (it looks like it might be burnt in photos, but it wasn’t even close). I removed the butts, double-wrapped each in foil, and placed them in a cooler with towels to rest.

That evening, I pulled two of the butts — we ate about half of one for dinner, and the other was pulled, vacuum sealed, and frozen. The video below shows the bone removal and pulling process.

Here is the completed product ready to eat.

 The final two were refrigerated still in the foil and then sliced like a brisket, and vacuum sealed and frozen.

 Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minion method? It’s a charcoal-loading technique where you fill the smoker mostly with unlit charcoal and add a smaller amount of already-lit coals on top or buried inside. The lit coals gradually ignite the surrounding unlit charcoal, producing a long, steady burn for many hours with very little fire management.

Do you need to let a smoker come up to temperature before adding meat with the minion method? Not necessarily — since the minion method continually lights fresh charcoal throughout the cook, the meat can go on right away rather than waiting for the smoker to fully preheat first.

How long can the minion method keep a smoker running? In this cook, the original charcoal load carried the smoker for about 14 hours at around 225°F before I added more charcoal. The entire pork butt cook ran about 18 hours..

Can pork butt be both pulled and sliced from the same cook? Yes — in this cook, two butts were pulled fresh and two were refrigerated whole and sliced like a brisket the next day, showing both methods work well from the same smoke.

For the full rundown on how I approach pork butt from start to finish, see The Complete Pork Butt Guide