over night smoking

[burgi]

OK, so I did my first over night smoke and it totally messed me up. i read on here that people fire up place the meat and then sleep....... am I missing something. I was up till 3 am to keep the temp up. I use charcoal, Kingsford. 

suggestions????????????????

 

[Bearcarver]

OK, so I did my first over night smoke and it totally messed me up. i read on here that people fire up place the meat and then sleep....... am I missing something. I was up till 3 am to keep the temp up. I use charcoal, Kingsford. 

suggestions????????????????

You did better than many of them, because we often have to tell some of those "sleepers" that their meat might not be safe to eat. Some fire up, place & probe the meat, go to sleep, and then wake up 8 hours later with the heat way down, and they have no idea whether they got through the danger zone in 4 hours or 8 hours. You did good!

Once you know your smoker real good, you can probably take a long nap. Some of the more experienced guys do it.

Bear

 

[eman]

Not knowing more details no one can be of much help. Smoker , Modifications , experiance,

What you were trying to smoke,  These are questions you need to answer  for us to know what to help you with.

 There's ALOT more to smoking (overnight or not) than light it, put the meat on and take a nap.

  The folks that do overnights in bed have many hours logged on their smokers and they usually have a UDS or an MES smoker along w\ the proper thermos to wake them if temps get to high or low.

 Give us the details and we can make some suggestions.

 

[burgi]

Thanks Bear, that means a lot coming from you!!!!!!!!

as far as the "whats":

I have an offset smoker with the only mod I extended the chimney down to the grate. i did end up putting foil on the hole to prevent the direct heat on the pork buts, 5 7-8 lb butts. My experience, new-B but getting some smoke in my clothes.........I use a Taylor thermometer. 

 

[alblancher]

If it is a small offset you can just about forget sleeping through a smoke.  To keep thin blue smoke in your temperature range you need to have a fairly small fire and it has to be monitored.  Used one for years and never could get it to maintain stable temps without a good deal of attention.  Even the larger Langs need to be fed every 30 minutes or so.

If your schedule and cooking style calls for overnight smokes you need to look at an electric or propane powered smoker.  That's the reason people that have them like them so much.  A well tuned electric with a good smoke source is as close to set and forget as you will get in the smoking business.

Another option is to realize that you don't always have to finish a smoke in the smoker.  You can finish ribs, chuckies, butts, just about anything in the oven when you get tired.  A couple of good hours of smoke, wrap in foil and then into a slow oven with a timer was the way I handled overnight smokes when it was time for bed.

 

[Dutch]

Well BURGI-there is a reason that these night cooks are often called "All Nighters" and it's because you are basically 'up all night'.  When I do a brisky or butts on the Lang I have a general idea how long they'll take so I'll go to bed early and then get up when it's time to fire up the smoker and but the meat on. Once it's daylight, and my 'helpers' are up, I'll take a 2-3 hour nap and leave the hourly firebox feeding to them.

Those that use the electrics are the ones that can safely 'set it and forget it' and get some sleep. 

 

[SmokinAl]

You may want to look at a WSM. They hold their temp pretty well for hours. I have one with a BBQ Guru and the combo will give you a good nights sleep & the temp won't vary more than a degree or two.

 

[sqwib]

OK, so I did my first over night smoke and it totally messed me up. i read on here that people fire up place the meat and then sleep....... am I missing something. I was up till 3 am to keep the temp up. I use charcoal, Kingsford. 

suggestions????????????????

Yep. sideburner, nature of the beast

 

[floyd]

That wasn't a very good answer for the poor guy! He wants to know HOW, not why not. I thought the minion method was designed for an overnight smoke. also chunks and logs vs briguets.