OVERNIGHT COOKS

[Winterrider]

Coffee, coffee, and more coffee to stay awake.
Too many overnight failures lately with smoker shutting down or other causes. "Safety" is the key issue .
It has been stated on here "numerous" times, if doing an overnight cook, have a HIGH / LOW thermometer to notify of a problem. Whether fire extinguished or runaway. People use the excuse that their phone was on silent and didn't alert them, (apparently you weren't prepared for an overnight then ).
There are numerous thermometers available on the market that you do not have to rely on your phone.
The only overnight that I see that may be beneficial would be a brisket (and that can still be planned to do in a day).
Pork butts, crank the heat up and get it done. Jeff had a video of a 5 hr pork butt. I have never had a butt go longer than 11 hrs.
When in doubt, throw it out. Family's safety is #1
Others may have things to add. . .

 

[JLinza]

Not very often, but once in a while I find myself doing an overnight cook. Depending on what and when things need to be done, sometimes can be beneficial. But a good point was mentioned about being prepared. Seems to be a shortage of readiness & thinking ahead these days. If I go overnight, I have a well thought out game plan before the fire is lit. I guess some of that comes from failure, but that's how we learn.

 

[PapaLlama]

I think big events like Father's Day bring in some new faces who don't have the same level of knowledge & experience this community has.

It seems that a few fellow grillfathers found the forum while googling for help. Hopefully they'll stick around!

 

[Inscrutable]

Only addition would be if getting real late but a ways to go, perhaps it can be finished inside in oven, where we have smoke and gas detectors.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Coffee, coffee, and more coffee to stay awake.
Too many overnight failures lately with smoker shutting down or other causes. "Safety" is the key issue .
It has been stated on here "numerous" times, if doing an overnight cook, have a HIGH / LOW thermometer to notify of a problem. Whether fire extinguished or runaway. People use the excuse that their phone was on silent and didn't alert them, (apparently you weren't prepared for an overnight then ).
There are numerous thermometers available on the market that you do not have to rely on your phone.
The only overnight that I see that may be beneficial would be a brisket (and that can still be planned to do in a day).
Pork butts, crank the heat up and get it done. Jeff had a video of a 5 hr pork butt. I have never had a butt go longer than 11 hrs.
When in doubt, throw it out. Family's safety is #1
Others may have things to add. . .

But,,,,,,,,, I have a pellet cooker. Set and forget, right?

 

[yankee2bbq]

Sometimes old school is best. No electronics…..just charcoal and wood. But, I understand, times have changed. Welcome to the new world of bbq.

 

[Winterrider]

But,,,,,,,,, I have a pellet cooker. Set and forget, right?

 

[912smoker]

I do overnight cook frequently but ALWAYS have multiple probes and alarms set. Never seem to get any sleep anyway checking on things


Keith

 

[tbrtt1]

I always have (or have had) 1 or two hands off smokers, simply for overnight smokes. I just did a butt last night for consumption today. I’ll post later.

I only use a tried and true dual probe Maverick. Yes, there are many fancy Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cell phone, etc. contraptions on the market. I’m sure many of them are fantastic. My dual probe Maverick has never, ever let me down. If it’s a Prime brisky , or something I really really don’t want to screw up, I make sure I put fresh batteries in. By today’s standards, it is a relatively simple and crude device. But it works.

I do all my big smokes like brisket and butts overnight. The butt smoke that I’ll post later or tomorrow morning, actually threw an alarm. I was using a pellet pooper, which as most of you know does not produce a hearty smoke flavor. I augment with a pellet tube. Well, the tube of pallets actually caught fire at about 2 AM. It exceeded the maximum temp limit in said pooper and started beeping. So I got up checked it and within five minutes had it taken care of. Then it was back to sleep.

Got up this morning, wrapped/covered the butt to finish it off and was eating around high noon or so.

That’s just my experience. I can’t count the number of overnight smoke I’ve done in the last 10 years without any fails. On rare occasion, I do have to get up at night and check because my Maverick alerted me to a problem. But it certainly saved money and good meat from doom. Actually, I can’t imagine doing a brisket or a large butt without having cruise control and a tried and monitor.

But that’s just my opinion and experience. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Torch&Tone]

Pork butts, crank the heat up and get it done. Jeff had a video of a 5 hr pork butt. I have never had a butt go longer than 11 hrs.

Eh, I've had times where people wanted pulled pork (and/or other smoked meats) at lunch and it just made sense to cook it overnight, so it would have time to rest in the morning. I didn't want to cook it the day before, only to have to chill it and then reheat it.

 

[phathead69]

I think math and meat smoking have something in common. Learn how to do it the "hard way" then move to easier ways. Math - learn long division, mutilplication tables, order of operations etc. then move to calculator and when the number seems wrong or skewed it can be checked. same with smoking, stick burner teaches fire management which in turn teaches the effects of heat and lack of on quality, timing, etc. Before anyone gets mad I'm not suggesting that it is mandatory, but I think some questions would be answered from past experiences on a stick burner rather than a forum. I started on stick and still use it quite often. I also purchased a pellet pooper last year and use a lot also and like it.

 

[JLeonard]

I do overnight cook frequently but ALWAYS have multiple probes and alarms set. Never seem to get any sleep anyway checking on things


Keith

Same here! I try to work in a good nap before I fire up whatever Im cooking on. because I have the wireless stuff and all the alarms set but I dont trust myself to hear them! So I never actually sleep. I may doze but thats it.

Jim

 

[Torch&Tone]

I think math and meat smoking have something in common. Learn how to do it the "hard way" then move to easier ways. Math - learn long division, mutilplication tables, order of operations etc. then move to calculator and when the number seems wrong or skewed it can be checked. same with smoking, stick burner teaches fire management which in turn teaches the effects of heat and lack of on quality, timing, etc. Before anyone gets mad I'm not suggesting that it is mandatory, but I think some questions would be answered from past experiences on a stick burner rather than a forum. I started on stick and still use it quite often. I also purchased a pellet pooper last year and use a lot also and like it.

"You won't be always carrying around a calculator in your pocket!" - every math teacher since the invention of the abacus... until everyone started carrying a cell phone!

 

[texomakid]

But,,,,,,,,, I have a pellet cooker. Set and forget, right?

That's been my experience. probably 15 overnighters but that's with Brisket only. Never had an issues but maybe my time is coming. I would think the cooker is always the factor.

I've only cooked 1 brisket overnight in an offset back before I discovered the pellet cookers. Got all I wanted of that baby sitting job

 

[PapaLlama]

The few times I've had issues with overnight cooks it was almost completely my own fault, not the smoker. I did have a pellet cabinet go out on me once, but I had an alarm set. If you check on your equipment a day before the cook, along with using a smoker you're familiar with, and you have probe alarms set for low ambient, it has worked for me.