4 Butts in WSM w/Q-view

[SmokinAl]

Our neighborhood has an annual Christmas party & last year I was asked to smoke 4 Pork butts, for pulled pork sammies. They turned out well & they asked again this year. They buy the butts at Sam's & I smoke & pull them. Last year I did them on a MES 40. This year I am using my new WSM 22.5. (birthday present from the wife). I just used mustard & a simple rub ( garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, & brown sugar. The butts were about 8 lbs. each & they all fit on the top rack. I put a drip pan on the lower rack with beef broth & onions in it to catch the juices. I used regular Kingsford blue & hickory chunks. I have been having a problem keeping the temp steady the first few times I used the WSM, but this time I never touched a vent & the temp stayed between 230-235 for 7 hours straight. I've been told that after a few smokes this would happen, but I didn't realize that it would be this easy. At 7 hrs. they all hit 165, I foiled them w/beer & put in a 235 degree oven, went to bed with remote temp probe next to bed. At 1:00 AM (13hours) they were all done. Wrapped them in blankets & into a cooler. Didn't get back to them until about 10:00 AM. Internal temps at about 160. They were juicy, tender, with nice smoke flavor. I pulled them & tossed with juices (de-fatted) from the drip pan. Here's a Q-view of the first one I pulled.

 

[tbakko]

Nice job!!

 

[Bearcarver]

That looks Great Al !!!!

I love it when a plan comes together, and I like your story about it !

Those neighbors gotta love that stuff & you!

Great pic too!

Thanks,

Bear

 

[realtorterry]

What time should I be at the party

 

[coacher72]

Great stuff SmokinAl. Your neighbors are the lucky ones.

 

[jirodriguez]

Great job Al.... glad to hear the WSM is treating you well, sometimes I almost feal guilty about how easy they are to use and maintain temps in. I really love how much you can fit on each rack on the 22.5" WSM's as well, it's nice to not have to worry about stuff fitting. 

Just an FYI - if you load that charcoal ring you can run the entire smoke in the smoker, no need to fire up the oven. When I do a long smoke I stay up and light my WSM around midnight, meat is on by 1:00 AM, I go to bed till about 7:00 AM, I pad out to the covered porch and check that the temp is right where I left it, go inside shower, and them I'm usually ready to foil and put it back on the smoker till it's done.

Unless you have a really cold night or a really windy night the WSM will do just fine. First time I did an all nighter I got up every two hours to check on it...... now..... not so much... lol.

 

[smokinstevo27]

Those 22.5s are beasts, a friend of mine just got one. Built like a tank. That is some good lookin cue Al, you've got lucky neighbors.

 

[bmudd14474]

Al that looks awesome. Great job.

 

[ugaboz]

looking good

 

[SmokinAl]

Hey guys, Thanks for all your nice comments. To JIR, It's been so darn cold down here in Florida that I wanted to fire up the oven to help warm the house up. I didn't fill the charcoal ring all the way, but still had charcoal in there when I shut the vents, so I know it would have gone longer. Thanks for the advice

 

[tjohnson]

Great Job Al!!

Your neighbors are "Happy Campers!"

Todd

 

[scarbelly]

Hey Al great looking smoke my friend - you can move into our neighborhood any time!!