First, I'll reference my build thread from last weekend.
I wanted to run a full-proof smoke so I went with a bone in butt. Went with a small 5.5# just in case I did mess up somewhere along the line.\
Did a rub with mustard binder last night around 6 pm and wrapped it and it went back in the fridge.
Got up this morning a little after 5 am since I knew I was going to fight the cold this morning. 6°F, but -9° with windchill. had a solid 10-15mph breeze blowing.
I tucked the smoker in the covered area of my carport to block as much frigid wind as I could.
The chimney was not fun to light, it took about 50 mins from first light to cherry/salt & pepper. The cold wind burned the newspaper starter but would not light the coals. I went through 3 rounds of newspaper to finally get the coals to light. Got a lot of heavy smoke billowed in the carport until there was flame coming from the chimney and the smoke died off and flowed out.
Tossed the coals in the basket and gave it a few minutes of blowing heavy smoke before I tossed the lid on to start dialing temp and blowing off the acrid smoke until I hit the thin blue smoke. between gitting smoke down and dialing in the temp took about another 45minutes. Got my probes ready and finally got the butt on the grill and capped it off.
Took everything in me to keep the lid on and just watch my internal/grill temps from the gauge.
For the most part, even with the cold temps, I kept the temps within 250°-270° had a few 20°-25° dips and spikes but adjusting the valve and capping/opening 1 of the other 2 intakes kept her where she needed to be.
After a little over 8 hrs. (3:45 pm) she hit 195° and it was time to pull it.
This is what the butt looked like coming out.
I wrapped in foil and then some towels to keep temp and let it rest in the microwave to keep warm until dinner. The bone did slip right out, too!
Didn't get a pic once fully pulled apart, this was after a few rounds. Turned out good. The crunch from the bark and the stringy tender inside blended well.
The elbows and 12" pipe extensions helped the intakes with not sucking in too much cold air and me with not having to constantly bend.
Also, about 3hrs in, I had to run an errand and swung by Home Depot and picked up a 3/4" gate valve. it works so much better than the ball valve. You can clearly see how much you have open. You can set 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or full open vs guessing with the ball valve.
If you have a ball valve. SWITCH to gate valveIt's worth it and the gate valves are cheaper than the gas ball valves.
I wanted to run a full-proof smoke so I went with a bone in butt. Went with a small 5.5# just in case I did mess up somewhere along the line.\
Did a rub with mustard binder last night around 6 pm and wrapped it and it went back in the fridge.
Got up this morning a little after 5 am since I knew I was going to fight the cold this morning. 6°F, but -9° with windchill. had a solid 10-15mph breeze blowing.
I tucked the smoker in the covered area of my carport to block as much frigid wind as I could.
The chimney was not fun to light, it took about 50 mins from first light to cherry/salt & pepper. The cold wind burned the newspaper starter but would not light the coals. I went through 3 rounds of newspaper to finally get the coals to light. Got a lot of heavy smoke billowed in the carport until there was flame coming from the chimney and the smoke died off and flowed out.
Tossed the coals in the basket and gave it a few minutes of blowing heavy smoke before I tossed the lid on to start dialing temp and blowing off the acrid smoke until I hit the thin blue smoke. between gitting smoke down and dialing in the temp took about another 45minutes. Got my probes ready and finally got the butt on the grill and capped it off.
Took everything in me to keep the lid on and just watch my internal/grill temps from the gauge.
For the most part, even with the cold temps, I kept the temps within 250°-270° had a few 20°-25° dips and spikes but adjusting the valve and capping/opening 1 of the other 2 intakes kept her where she needed to be.
After a little over 8 hrs. (3:45 pm) she hit 195° and it was time to pull it.
This is what the butt looked like coming out.
I wrapped in foil and then some towels to keep temp and let it rest in the microwave to keep warm until dinner. The bone did slip right out, too!
Didn't get a pic once fully pulled apart, this was after a few rounds. Turned out good. The crunch from the bark and the stringy tender inside blended well.
The elbows and 12" pipe extensions helped the intakes with not sucking in too much cold air and me with not having to constantly bend.
Also, about 3hrs in, I had to run an errand and swung by Home Depot and picked up a 3/4" gate valve. it works so much better than the ball valve. You can clearly see how much you have open. You can set 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or full open vs guessing with the ball valve.
If you have a ball valve. SWITCH to gate valveIt's worth it and the gate valves are cheaper than the gas ball valves.
