Earthquake, I use about 3/4 of a standard
chimney starter. I let the coals get white-hot, transfer them to the smoker, and let them sit for a little while with the lid closed and both the chimney and vent about half-open. They're quite hot at first, but once they settle down to 225 or so I throw on a few chunks of hickory and put the meat on as well. From then on out, I just monitor the temperature and add wood accordingly. It if drops under 200, I add four or five chunks. This normally means I'm adding wood about every 90 minutes, but today the wood burned substantially quicker than I'm used to and I had to add more frequently. I've had smokes where the wood won't catch and I've had to add more charcoal about halfway through, but usually pitching in chunks every now and then holds the temp just fine.
The two pictures below are the end result of today's smoke. The first pic is all the hand-shredded meat in a bowl, and the second is a sandwich topped with my finishing sauce. As I mentioned in a previous post, I add a dash of Texas Pete to my finishing sauce for eating. I let the meat sit for about 45 minutes before pulling it, and MAN did it pull. It was crazy how easy it was to shred. For now I'm storing the meat and sauce in the fridge in separate containers, but tomorrow or Monday I'll probably freeze some of the 'cue. Haven't decided whether I'll mix the sauce in with the meat or just bottle it and store it in the pantry.
This is definitely the best shoulder I've done. Naked is the way to go, IMO; it's all in the sauce. The bark is awesome, the smoke ring is deep, and the pork flavor is concentrated and intense. Really pleased with how everything turned out and looking forward to sharing my next smoke with SMF!
