-11 Wind Chill

[jamiew]

Good morning!  Up early to smoke a couple pork butts today.  I tried something different this time...  I soaked them overnight in apple juice and some spices.  I rubbed them with mustard and some butt rub this morning, and am letting them come up to room temp.  I'm not sure the overnight soak will do much, but it didn't hurt anything.  I'm going to use the liquid for my water pan anyway.  I think my biggest challenge today will be the -11 windchill temperature here in South Dakota this morning...  it will be the coldest yet that I've smoked anything in.  I have a vertical charcoal smoker which I only ever get up to about 225....  so wish me luck!

pork.jpg

• jamiew
• Dec 8, 2016

 

[SmokinAl]

Good luck!

That sounds brutally cold to me!

Al

 

[crankybuzzard]

Wish you luck?  I may schedule you for an exam!  -11° would have me in hibernation mode!  

Looking forward to how this works out, and please give us some details on how you keep the temps and such going.

 

[jamiew]

So far, so good! I went back to sleep for a little while after throwing the meat on. I just threw some more coals on at 10, and it's happily smoking away like normal! If anything, a strong southeast wind right into the side damper is helping keep the coals strong. We'll see!

 

[jamiew]

Well, the cold and wind are certainly playing into things.... I'm going to be checking coals at 2 hours instead of 3... last time I went out, no smoke! There were still some smoldering coals, so I filled it with a real good amount and will check more often

 

[SmokinAl]

Do you have any photo's of this or is your camera frozen solid?

We'd all love to see what's going on!

Good luck & stay warm!!

Al

 

[jamiew]

Just ready to throw another round of coals on... just a second

 

[jamiew]

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• jamiew
• Dec 8, 2016

 

[SmokinAl]

Wow!

U Da Man!

Al

 

[jamiew]

Thanks Al, but not quite! It became too difficult to regulate the temp, so I pulled these early to finish off in the oven. They should have still gotten ample smoke time. It was worth a try, but I think I'll be picking and choosing days to smoke this winter! Should still end up with great meat after foiling and finishing.

 

[emsemt]

Is it even legal to be out in the temperature......lol......I will smoke anytime of the year but at that temperature I'd order in. Good job on trying it. Can't even imagine how cold that is. It gets down to low 30's here but only in the morning.

 

[jamiew]

Just foiled them.... I think they'll be just fine. EMSEMT: haha, yeah... there's gotta be a lot of good reasons to live where the air makes your face hurt.... and there are.

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• jamiew
• Dec 8, 2016

 

[paul6]

I will never Complain about having to smoke in 40 degree temps again !!! I am an old Iowa farm boy that now lives in Arizona and that seems kinda cold for this time of year !

 

[remsr]

Hi Jamie!
Generally it is colder here in the St. Paul Menniaplis area then it is there so I know what it's like -20 and -30 wind chills here are common, but it could be worse. Where I grew up 300 miles north of here, In January 1996 the morning my Dad passed away it was -65
Don't know how you feel about the cold but I don't like anything about it. As much as I love smoking I dislike the cold even more and pretty much stay out of it as much as I can. I just did some ribs at 28 degrees that's about my limit. You are brave to attempt a -19 smoke.

Randy,