Smoking Two Pork Butts This Weekend

[adam d]

It's just odd the smoker wasn't going higher... but she's at 257 now... looks like its taking off, so i can cut back my vents

 

[timberjet]

Maybe you have ash buildup over your bottom vents. I have had it happen with my dad's wsm when using lump charcoal and off brand stuff that he got on sale one time. I second what the sailor said about the water pan. I don't use water ever. Especially on a cold night. It robs you of heat and fuel over the course of the smoke and adds no moisture to the meat.

 

[adam d]

She is stable now... i had kicked the ash naturally and i guess it took a bit to go up... but now it's pretty stable

 

[noboundaries]

 
Sooo weird issue. I'm maintaining about 225-228 but it's not going above that.. I have all my vents open wide... I used the modified minion method... anybody know why? is it because I have 16 lb's of meat on there??

If you still have water in your water pan that's a big part of the reason why the temp isn't increasing.  The meat is also a heat sink.  Remember, there's a LOT of water in meat.  Once the water pan boils dry you'll see the temp increase unless you used up too much fuel heating the water and the meat when it is friggin' cold outside.  The cold is sucking a lot of heat out of your uninsulated WSM.  You can always fire up more charcoal in a chimney, ash it over then use the door as a coal chute to add the hot coals to the fire. Then reach in with long tongs to spread the coals around. 

I prefer bone-in myself too but pick up the Costco boneless when I'm smoking for a crowd.  I don't tie them up.  More surface area gets rub and bark.  They smoke faster too when they are not tied up.      

 

[adam d]

So yeah... it's starting to snow. I didn't put the pop-up tent up earlier, as it looked fine outside... well it started to drizzle earlier so I got the patio umbrella out of the basement, put the patio table next to the smoker, and set it up...

Glad I did that... this is what it looks like outside so far (ohh btw about 7 hours into the cook and we're at 239 on the smoker, 156 on the pork... holding VERY steady)

10914769_10203816991080637_1594669155370298383_o.j

• adam d
• Jan 24, 2015

883487_10203816991040636_6736218876534494947_o.jpg

• adam d
• Jan 24, 2015

 

[timberjet]

Good to hear everything is going good for ya. We could sure use some snow here where I live. All we have had most of the winter is ice fog. Get's a little depressing when the street lights don't go off for a week at a time. haha...

 

[adam d]

Ahhh crap.... she's starting to drop in temp on the smoker... 235, 230, 228, 223 now as i write this she's dropped about 10 degrees... guess im going outside to get wet and covered in show, dangit!

 

[timberjet]

You might just have to bite the bullet and put the ez up up. I always have mine up this time of year because inevitably the sky will fall if I don't. Murphy's law. Well, I always have mine up anyway.

 

[adam d]

It would have been easier (no pun) as I'd have more room but I made it work. Came back in the house with snow in my pocket (no joke, i knocked into the umbrella, snow fell down and into my pocket).

I had to add some more charcoal... I mean it has been on for about 7 hours now so that's about right. That's why the temps were dropping. Now i'm back up to about 214... waiting till it hits 225 before I go to bed (or if it doesnt happen in the next 15 minutes, im setting my alarm for 210 and going to bed, as it'll take time for the new charcoal to kick in)

 

[timberjet]

I'm sure it will be just fine. It is a Weber after all. Hopefully it doesn't snow so much the umbrella and table tip over. LOL Snow in the pocket.....priceless.

 

[adam d]

It should start to stop soon, they say it'll turn to rain a bit later on. The umbrella is at an angle as you see so if it gets enough snow it'll just fall off... plus the heat from the smoke outta keep it melted a bit.

Im heading to bed... 219 on the smoker. I set my alarms for 210 on the low side, 260 on the high side and 200 for the meat... let's hope I get to sleep for a few hours unlike last time :)

Im not foiling it this time, just letting the smoker do its thing.

 

[timberjet]

You will love the bark Pictures in the morning. Can't wait to see how the fatty turns out.

 

[adam d]

Ugh, got like 45 minutes of sleep... temps starting to get a bit high. Woke me up at 260, i kept cutting back vents bottom/top, even added another gallon of water... shes climbing to 275 now..

Im gonna let it sit for a bit, i closed off most of the vents, 2 botoms and left one open a smidge and even the top is barely open... trying to bring the smoker temp down.

Porks at 163 right now, both are about the same temp so that's good.

277 as i write this... come on simmer down you smoker you!

 

[adam d]

Soooooo yeah... who was it that said something about the umbrella failing... the weight of the snow snapped her like a twig... it's still covering it, i have it laying on the ground sorta now, lol... ohh well, that only cost me about $100 for that umbrella... DANGIT!

 

[timberjet]

Sorry man. Been there and done that. That's why I was kidding you about it.

 

[adam d]

Now it's raining... the umbrella is sorta helping but man is it a pain to work on the weber out there... its real slippery...

210 on the smoker, 160 on the meat right now... 10 hours in so far. Webers starting to raise back up a bit

 

[timberjet]

water pan+water=trouble.

 

[adam d]

Got woken up, again... seems I get an hour of sleep than I'm up. The weather is most likely the culprit.

Anyway smoker was 210 so it beeped. I added some more charcoal it looked light.

Waiting for smoker to come up to temp so I can go to bed...

Porks at 162... that's right, stall my beauty, stall...

Man it's a mess outside. I have the umbrella still over it to keep the rain outta the smoker... it's more of a drizzle/big drops once in a while now... but between snow that fell + water it's slippery out there.

 

[adam d]

So we're 17 1/2 hours in so far... pork temp is at 176... it was 180 but now it's down to 176... i had to add more charcoal..

Think I should just let it keep going or wrap it in foil?

 

[superdave]

 
So we're 17 1/2 hours in so far... pork temp is at 176... it was 180 but now it's down to 176... i had to add more charcoal..

Think I should just let it keep going or wrap it in foil?

How long until you want to eat?  If you have another 4 or 5 hours, let it go.  If you want to eat in 3 to 4, wrap it.