Greeting All!
I'm a newbie and hoping to get some guidance.
My step-dad gave me an SnP Pro the other day. It's well used and has seen many smokes.
I tried my very first smoke ever today (2 pork picnic shoulders). I must admit, it was quite the trial. My biggest problem was temperature control. I had a heck of a time getting, and keeping it under 300.
Here's what I did..
1.5 full chimneys of unlit briquettes into the firebox, then about 15 briquettes of lit on top of that, off to the vent side of the firebox. Threw on about 4 chunks of hickory, opened the firebox vent all the way, and closed the lid.
(Then the meat goes on)
Within 20 minutes or so, the temp was over 300. I closed the intake vent half-way, and waited another 20 minutes. Same temp. Now it became a game of constant tending, and chasing temps. Opening the cooking door to lower the temp, closing the vent, spreading out the charcoal...etc.
At about 1.5-2 hrs in, I was able to maintain around 240, then the temp dropped to 200-210. Frustration set in at about the 6hr mark, where the internal meat temp was at 155. I pulled it off, and foiled it, popped it into a 250 oven for the remaining cook, until it hit 198, then rested for 2 hrs and pulled/shredded.
I guess my questions are:
Did I start with too much charcoal? Should I have started with the vent less than fully open? Was that too much wood? Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long post. Hopefully in the future, my posts will be long with Q views :)
On the plus side, once all was said and done, the meat was fantastic!
Thanks!
I'm a newbie and hoping to get some guidance.
My step-dad gave me an SnP Pro the other day. It's well used and has seen many smokes.
I tried my very first smoke ever today (2 pork picnic shoulders). I must admit, it was quite the trial. My biggest problem was temperature control. I had a heck of a time getting, and keeping it under 300.
Here's what I did..
1.5 full chimneys of unlit briquettes into the firebox, then about 15 briquettes of lit on top of that, off to the vent side of the firebox. Threw on about 4 chunks of hickory, opened the firebox vent all the way, and closed the lid.
(Then the meat goes on)
Within 20 minutes or so, the temp was over 300. I closed the intake vent half-way, and waited another 20 minutes. Same temp. Now it became a game of constant tending, and chasing temps. Opening the cooking door to lower the temp, closing the vent, spreading out the charcoal...etc.
At about 1.5-2 hrs in, I was able to maintain around 240, then the temp dropped to 200-210. Frustration set in at about the 6hr mark, where the internal meat temp was at 155. I pulled it off, and foiled it, popped it into a 250 oven for the remaining cook, until it hit 198, then rested for 2 hrs and pulled/shredded.
I guess my questions are:
Did I start with too much charcoal? Should I have started with the vent less than fully open? Was that too much wood? Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long post. Hopefully in the future, my posts will be long with Q views :)
On the plus side, once all was said and done, the meat was fantastic!
Thanks!