Well gang, now that my smoker is assembled and my nuckles are almost healed up for banging them around trying to nock out pieces from the main chamber to mount the side fire box, I am just about ready to smoke. When I decided that I wanted to smoke I never thought about all this stuff of maintaining the fire and keeping the right temperature. I use a gas grill without much trouble. I can't stand lighter fluid as it gives me an instant headache so I am happy not to use it to fire up my smoker. I found a couple electric starters that sound interesting and one in particular that I read about on the Ace hardware page seems to be one that you put several pieces of charcoal in a container that you plug in and when it is ready you toss the contents in the smoker. I plan to use the Minion method as if I understand it means less fire maintainance and more even temperature control so I won't have to bother the wife or children with checking the temperature. Like some of the others on this list I wish there was a thermometer to tell me the temperature in the chamber but I already have a remote thermometer that beeps when the grilled meats reach the right temperature so I hope I can use it to know when to remove the smoked meats. Now all I need to do is season the grill and all its pieces and grab some meat and fire it up and see what happens. If I am successful, will let you know, smile!
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