I overnight, dry smoke pork butts in my 22.5" WSM, usually two at a time. It gives me plenty of leftovers and lots to freeze. Usually the drippings fall into the empty water bowl and get burned up by the direct heat. Last night I thought I'd try something new.
I have a 20" round cake pan I bought years ago that was sitting unused. Last night I decided to put it to work and see what impact it would have on cook time and end result. I put three cement bricks on the lower grate, then put the cake pan on the bricks. There was a little less than an inch of free space all around cake pan.
I fired up the WSM with a little more than a half load of used RO briquettes, and over-topped it with a load of new RO briquettes. I buried 6 big hunks of hickory in the charcoal and made a dimple in the middle of the pile. All vents closed except the top vent. I loaded 6 hot RO briquettes in the dimple and left for a three hour critique meeting for my novel.
When I returned three hours later at 9:00 PM, the WSM was smoking along at 175F, exactly where I expected it to be. That's how I smoke jerky. I reset the lower vents for 225F, pulled the 10.3 lb and 9.8 lb butts out of the cooler, generously massaged them with rub, and loaded them in the smoker. The smoker temp was only 190F when I loaded the meat at 9:30, but came up to 225F over a couple of hours. Time for nighty night.
I woke up this morning at 6 AM. The WSM was cruising along at 229F. I went about my business, knocking the ash off at 8 AM. At 9:30 AM I inserted the meat probes and loaded another full chimney of hot briquettes to ramp up the chamber temp. (The only time I have to add more new briquettes is when my start load is 1/2 used or more.)
End result? Both butts finished at the same time. The cake pan has unburned drippings I can use, and the color turned out mahogany instead of meteorite black. That last point was interesting because usually my finished butts are black as coal. The bark is slightly softer, like I've seen when I wrap the butts in butcher paper. They're both taking a nap now after working in the heat all night, but dinner's looking mighty fine.
Have a GREAT weekend!
I have a 20" round cake pan I bought years ago that was sitting unused. Last night I decided to put it to work and see what impact it would have on cook time and end result. I put three cement bricks on the lower grate, then put the cake pan on the bricks. There was a little less than an inch of free space all around cake pan.
I fired up the WSM with a little more than a half load of used RO briquettes, and over-topped it with a load of new RO briquettes. I buried 6 big hunks of hickory in the charcoal and made a dimple in the middle of the pile. All vents closed except the top vent. I loaded 6 hot RO briquettes in the dimple and left for a three hour critique meeting for my novel.
When I returned three hours later at 9:00 PM, the WSM was smoking along at 175F, exactly where I expected it to be. That's how I smoke jerky. I reset the lower vents for 225F, pulled the 10.3 lb and 9.8 lb butts out of the cooler, generously massaged them with rub, and loaded them in the smoker. The smoker temp was only 190F when I loaded the meat at 9:30, but came up to 225F over a couple of hours. Time for nighty night.
I woke up this morning at 6 AM. The WSM was cruising along at 229F. I went about my business, knocking the ash off at 8 AM. At 9:30 AM I inserted the meat probes and loaded another full chimney of hot briquettes to ramp up the chamber temp. (The only time I have to add more new briquettes is when my start load is 1/2 used or more.)
End result? Both butts finished at the same time. The cake pan has unburned drippings I can use, and the color turned out mahogany instead of meteorite black. That last point was interesting because usually my finished butts are black as coal. The bark is slightly softer, like I've seen when I wrap the butts in butcher paper. They're both taking a nap now after working in the heat all night, but dinner's looking mighty fine.
Have a GREAT weekend!
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