Am I crazy?? Weekend smoke... - Now with QView!!!!!

[heyer5]

Well SMF crew, I haven't lit my smoker since Christmas Eve and I can't remember the last time I made pulled pork, so I'm lighting up the WSM Saturday or Sunday for an all day smoke fest.  Now, the reason I if I am crazy is because the following forecast:

Saturday: High of 6, low of -14, 10-20 mph winds which leaves me a windchill around -16 - -23 with a chance of snow.

Sunday: High of 2, low of -13, 10-15 mph winds, windchills below -15 again, no chance of snow.

Now, I've smoked in cold weather, I've smoked in snow, and I've smoked in some nasty windchills, but never smoked a pork butt during that kind of weather!  I have the charcoal and wood to keep the WSM lit and warm, I won't use the water pan (creates steam, makes it look like bad smoke) due to the amount of fuel it takes to keep the water and the cooking chamber heated.  I'll still use the water pan as a heat deflector though, which helps quite a bit with a sugary rub (I want a tasty bark, not a burnt bark!).

I'll probably do it just barely inside my garage like I've done before as it works as a real, real nice wind block.  I have a little patio on the east side of my house that I could do it on as well as long as I can get it out of the wind enough.  I don't have any insulated blankets or any of that, which I'm not overly concerned about.

Just wondering if I might be the first on SMF to obtain frost bite while smoking meat?!

:)

 

[driedstick]

Good luck and let us know how it comes out NOPE not crazy at all, I love to smoke when its cold 

 

[jeepdiver]

Put sand in the water pan. It will act as a heat sink and help keep the temps level. It will take a little more fuel up front to heat the sand but will help from there

 

[heyer5]

Put sand in the water pan. It will act as a heat sink and help keep the temps level. It will take a little more fuel up front to heat the sand but will help from there

I used to have sand but since we moved, I got rid of it.  It is something I'm looking into doing again, but I won't have it done by this weekend!

I'll try to remember to get some pictures up.  I'll be a bit busy doing some electrical work in my basement while the smoke is rolling!

 

[heyer5]

Well, here is the final product! Its currently -3 outside and when I started it was -12 or a bit colder. The WSM ran perfect, I didnt use anything in the water pan and am pleased with the results! I used a newish rub, which was all homemade but I used a paprika base instead of a brown sugar base. im excited to try it, but I'll be waiting a bit.
Without further a do, the one picture I took (was doing electrical work all day).

working on the picture, im worthless on my tablet

20140302_172824.jpg

• heyer5
• Mar 2, 2014

Ran at 300 degrees for 8 hours, pulled off at 199 degrees, now it's resting :)
I also ran cherry wood the whole time and did not foil at all. Pretty painless smoke overall, hopefully it makes for some good sandwhiches (and tacos, and pizza, at whatever else I can come up with!)

 

[JckDanls 07]

YUM YUM ... believe I could eat that...

 

[heyer5]

I'm awfully critical of my pulled pork and this one was pretty good, but the bark got soft while lightly foiled and the meat was a bit mushy, which is odd because I added no liquid at any point besides a touch of beer while it was wrappes (not enough that I'd be mushy). Not sure if I needed to take it a bit higher on IT (cooked til 199 and then lightly wrapped and covered in towels for an hour).Thoughts?
I've done this a time or 75 so I know my smoker and my cooking style with it but it still seems to stump me occasionally. Still better than most that I can buy but I still want to learn to make my own sauce.

Anyways, thanks for the compliments

 

[heyer5]

Edited for double post