Had a mishap yesterday-my fault though. Fire on top of FB

[Tallbald]

Yesterday I smoked a 6.5 pound butt. Turned out great, with a wonderful bark and slide-the-bone-out tender after 8 hours on my Highland at between 225 and 250, bringing it to an IT of 205. Things were going well and at 10:30 in the morning I came in to enjoy a late breakfast with my wife. Kept an eye on my smoker out on the concrete patio through the kitchen window several times as we ate. Saw movement out of the corner of my eye though and looked at the smoker only to see that the hickory chunks I was warming on the flat plate on top of the firebox had caught fire and 1 foot flames were licking up over the top of the cook chamber. Ran out and using tongs put the flaming chunks inside the firebox. Happened really quick folks, and I'm glad I was watching. Also happy we had had rain the day before and everything around my smoker was damp. No damage to anything. The felt welding blanket over my Highland was fine and the paint on the firebox needs touching up anyway. Hadn't considered that the surface was hot enough to ignite the wood. Just a brain fart moment for me.
Live and learn.
Today I get to do the post-smoke cleanup stuff--new drip pan foil, clear out the FB, clean the grids. Yuck.
Don.

 

[gmc2003]

Ouch, glad you were there and saw it before something happened.

Chris

 

[SmokinAl]

Glad to hear everything turned out OK!
Al

 

[lovethemeats]

You were lucky to be paying attention before anything bad happened. The way that extra plate sits on the top of the door. You would have thought that the air space around it would be enough so it doesn't get overly hot and ignite the wood. Sorry to hear but nice to know not to make that same mistake. Thanks.

Good looking butt. I know that had to taste good.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Wow luck was your way for sure just can't be careful enough can we.

Hey how you plan on serving them bricks? With or with out sauce? :rolleyes: :D

Warren

 

[Tallbald]

I smoked those bricks an additional several hours without ANY increase in tenderness. They were very tough to slice too. My wife and I decided it just wasn't worth the trouble. Even used homemade blackberry BBQ sauce in an effort to moisten them. Live and learn. Don.
Oh. My wife loves my butt too.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Ha hope you mean pork butt :D

Warren

 

[Tallbald]

HalfSmoked questioned how we were serving the bricks so I jokingly explained. The pork butt though was wonderful. Injected it just before starting the smoke with thin, spicy hot vinegar based type dipping sauce. Used hickory and oak exclusively (I don't use charcoal except to get the wood going in the starter chimney) at about 225 to 250 or so. Pulled it at 205 IT after 8 hours nekkid, let it rest an hour and the bone slid out. Used our Kitchenaid stand mixer to shred the pork, divided it up and between my son and us, it's already gone! Don.