Two butts in my WSM. Hot and Fast. My first Q-View.

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twobeanbbq

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 14, 2013
64
10
New Orleans, La.
So, I decided to smoke some butts for my fantasy football draft tomorrow. I was planning on doing low and slow and cooking for about 12 hours, 2-8.5lb butts. I injected them last night and let them sit overnight. I then cleaned some of the fat off if them today and putty homemade rub on them.
They sat for about 30 mins while heating up the WSM.
I then threw them in the WSM and tried to lock in a 250-265 degree temp, but it was extra hot and humid with wind gusts today. I made a wind shield, but it was running hot. This is also my 2nd smoke on it so I know this running hot is normal. It pretty much wanted to stay in the 280-300, so I let it be.
I put them on at 4:30pm, ready to stay up until the late morning. I looked at them about 3 hours later.
And then two more hours later.
so I had to put them in the pan with apple juice and foil them. At 11:40 pm, 7 hours and 10 minutes later they were at an IT of 195 so I took them out and they're resting right now ready to be pulled. I tasted a piece and it was incredible. I'm blown away by how fast I cooked them, but I couldn't stress over the WSM running hot. Growing pains. This is the finished product with drippings waiting to be pulled.
Will add a pic when it's pulled. And that everyone was my first Q-View. Hope I made everyone proud.
 
Nice Bark covering... Love that
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What was your fuel
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Your temp. problem ?  - take a Weekend and get some Chicken Legs (cheap) and play with the intake baffle and "learn" your Smoker, looking at monitoring the Heat , smoke output , density of smoke , amount of fuel used , in the wind , with a Windblock , etc. and keep the records in a BBQ log.  One of the best things a Que Master can do ... records of mistakes , ideas and recipes .

Just sayin'...

Have fun and . . .
 
I used stubb's briquettes, a split of pecan wood, and some peach wood chunks. That's a great idea, do you have any links to get a good BBQ log?
 
TwoBeanBBQ: I was following your previous thread, and happy to see the pics here! Glad to hear that it turned out great!

I've always had the opposite problem: I usually have to make sure that I'm keeping my temps up. But as I had mentioned, I gasketed my WSM when it was new, so I don't have any leaks for sure.

Everyone says that it will seal itself after a few times, and I do recommend to try a few smokes with chicken to break it in. Here's how I broke mine in (I think I posted this in your other thread to show the gasketing):

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/138825/first-smoke-in-my-new-wsm#post_960590

Right below the first set of pictures, I included the link to this Snake Bitten Chicken rub that I found on this site. I highly recommend it...it has a good kick without being too hot:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/shooter-ricks-snakebite-chicken-rub

Now that I've looked back at my "first smoke" thread, I see that BamaBBQ was right there cheering me on. Per his advice in your other thread, I think I'll head to Lowes one day very soon and get myself a clay saucer. I've read and heard a lot of people talk about the benefits of using water, but it sure sounds like it's not really necessary in a WSM, and I trust the advice from the people that post here.
 
This was today when I served the pork. I poured the pan drippings in with the pork and covered with foil then threw them on the grill to steam the drippings into the meat. I mixed one pan with my BBQ sauce and one without. Both were a hit!
 
Hot and fast, injected and rubbed butts is the only way I do them now.  I usually run around 300-325,throw em on as it is warming up.  One butt is usually done in four or five hours, two in six to seven.  No more overnight smokes for PP.  

BTW those look great!
 
I think it looks great. And you said it was a hit. Therefore you can declare victory. As you've learned, pork butt is pretty forgiving so going higher won't hurt a bit. Your cooker will start sealing up more and more each time you use it. When fully seasoned it will be harder to get these higher temps.
 
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I have been doing fast cooking butts for some time, although not all the way thru the smoke, but after foiling. I then raise temps to 295 to 300. Typically a  8.0 lb butt would take around 9 1/2 hours or so. Butts do seem to be very forgiving. Would not doubt the higher temps contributed to the bark.
 
It was a beautiful and tasty bark I will say. Fat was perfectly rendered and every thing was moist as well. The two 8.5 lb butts took 7 hours and 10 minutes. I injected them so that might've helped for holding up to the hot and fast cook. I may not go low and slow on shoulders again.
 
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