Things have been pretty hectic around here so there hasn't been much time to work on the smoker. Little by little I did manage to make the changes I wanted so I had to try it again today To see if the changes worked.
I love pork roast.
Trimmed, rubbed and wrapped to sit while I get the smoker ready. Trimmings are also covered in rub.
Had an idea about preheating the smoker. Some guys use a weed burner to help preheat but I decided to go a different route and I must say it was simple and very effective if you use charcoal. I took a small piece of 18 ga sheet I had and cut it to just wider than my
charcoal chimney then bent the corners up to fit fairly tight to the chimney. A hole in two opposing corners allowed me to run a piece of wire thru to hold my new ash pan to the chimney.
Chimney loaded, lit and sitting in the CC. Of course I had to leave the door cracked but the CC still heated to 185 when I pulled the chimney out. And the ash from the paper didn't dirty my CC.
Loin went on second rack with the Trimmings in a foil boat with some holes on top rack to baste the loin as it cooks.
Got distracted and let the temp hit 275 before I knew it so I shut the vents down and the temp stabilized. Temp was higher than I really wanted but whatcha gonna do? Three and a half hours later, it's time.
Coated in mahogany sauce, it went past what I wanted and hit IT of 160 before I pulled it out but no complaints.
Money money money.
First cook was a success. I let the coals burn after I was done just to see and was pleased with the results. Had a layer of charcoal about 2 1/2-3 inches deep and got a steady 260-275 burn for 6 1/2 hours.