All-day smoke of an 8lb pork shoulder on a wsm mini build. This is what happened.


 
C

ChangL

TVWBB Fan
5:30am
I filled the bottom of my wsm mini with a full load of charcoal, lighting up only a chimney full, and leaving the rest unlit. My shallow pie pan was filled with water at the bottom of my pot. But just as I set the pot on to the charcoal, the light pie pan tips and spills the water over half of my lit charcoal! This almost ruined my whole cook, as I had to leave for work in a few minutes. Fortunately, the rest of the lit charcoal was hot enough to get it started, so I left it as is. But this prompted me to start thinking of another water pan solution (http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?49347-I-found-a-water-pan-that-fits!).

6:00am
The pork shoulder is set for the day. I will return in 10 hours after work.

At 4pm, this is what I came home to (aside from the sweet aroma around my neighborhood):


The thermometer reading was at the lowest point, but the pot was mildly warm and there were a few hot coals still radiating heat.

Since I was at work all day, I have no idea when exactly the fire went out over the past 10 hours, but I bet it stopped due to blockage of ventilation in the bottom--even though I did the upside down tuna can trick.

I had about a chimney’s worth of unused charcoal left. Lookin’ forward to reusing these for a future minor grill.


Nevertheless, the pork was done, and the fattiest portions were soft, moist, and finger-lickin’ good! Time to make some al pastor tacos and bbq sandwiches!


BTW, a friend came by and said that I was lucky that no raccoons came by to steal my food! I better be prepared for that next time!
 
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ChangL;
The pork looks delicious.

I use no water when I use my Mini-Joe Gold, my 14.5" WSM, or my 18.5 WSM. Water could be construed as " an accident waiting to happen". Now, of course, that is just MY opinion and many successfully use water routinely and without incident.

I have no problem maintaining temperatures without water and frankly, can see little benefit to using water. In the beginning before a smoker is "gunked up" water makes keeping low temperatures a bit easier but after I had three or four cooks on my smokers, it was obvious that water was something I could benefit from NOT using.

I just foil the water pan/heat deflector and a side benefit is it offers MUCH easier cleanup and when doing a high heat cook, it makes it MUCH easier to get high heat.

I do ribs at 275, Boston Butt will also be done at 275 in the future (it's just simply quicker and the same quality of product is produced), and chicken gets done at 300-350 degrees (with a careful finish over direct to crisp the skin).

FWIW
Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Looks like some nice Pork bud, well done. I am with Rob, quit using water a long time ago, pan foiled then filled 3/4 with sand gravel mix and then foiled on top which is what I replace for a clean up.
 
Nice pork roast Chang. I too don't use water. Maybe sometimes add 1 bottle of beer to the water pan.
 
Good looking pork Chang! I also quit using water a couple years ago. I have a clay flower pot base that I double
or triple foil instead. When I finish cooking I just remove the top layer and ready to go again. I found that it holds
temps a lot better than water, but of course your mileage may vary. It works for me.
 
Pork looks great! I use the clay saucer wrapped in foil, a lot less of a mess to deal with vs. water. I use my Mini a lot and have found that 8-9 hours is a stretch without a fuel reload. Most I've gone is just a tad over 9 hours and still above 200. That was on a very warm day with no wind at all.
 
and it came with a handle for eating it too. hog legs looks awesome, bet there was some grunting going on - twice actually once when the water spilt, and once when you tore into the meat with your teeth.

good cook.

don't lift the lid...
 
Chang, I gotta say, you're a brave man leaving your grill/smoker lit while you were at work. I would be worried all day that something would cause it to turn over or a hot ash fall out and catch something on fire. That said, 10+ hours without adding any coals is not a stretch with my mini. I have a js gold, but you should be able to achieve this with the silver as well. Lose the water, and for that matter, I'm not a fan of the terra cotta saucer either. With these little smokers, optimum usage of your fuel is a must, and if you're heating water, or a clay saucer, you're (IMO) waisting precious fuel. I use me steamer tray (cut down to size) wrapped in foil as a diffuser. I see very little heat being absorbed into the foiled tray, thus, more of my fuel is spent heating the meat instead of other things. Again, this is just my experience, and I am by no means an expert. But I feel certain that if you loose the heat sink and use more of a baffle/diffuser, you will achieve the long cooks we all are after.
Tim
 
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