Near Catastrophe w/ Pork Butts


 
J

Jo Rhi

TVWBB Member
I ran into big problems this weekend with an overnight cook. It was unusually humid here in Ohio all week and all I can figure is that the Kingsford got a bit damp and failed to light. Here's the scoop, let me know what you think.

Did my 2nd overnight this last weekend, smoking four 6.5# butts. Started the WSM at 9:30 pm with a full ring of unlit and 25 lit. Lid temp settled in at about 200 so I closed the vents to 25% and put all 4 butts on at 10:00 pm. Checked at 10:45 and again at 11:30 pm and the lid temp was steady at 225, so I went to bed.

I checked the temp at 7:30 am the next morning and the lid temp had crashed to 140 or below (my thermometer only goes down to 140). I quickly stirred the coals (there were lots of unlit coals in the WSM), opened the vents, then added 15 lit coals. This brought the temp up to 225 and I was able to finish the 4 butts. It took a total of 20 hours to get the 4 butts to 190 but I obviously lost lots of time with my near overnight catastrophe. The results were fine, the butts pulled easily and tasted great.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Rhi:
The results were fine, the butts pulled easily and tasted great. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
The wonder of pork butts. They are nearly impossible to mess up - even when trying!
 
Yes, afdded the hot coals to the ring of unlit, put the WSM together, vents @ 100%, when the lid temp hit 200 I shut the bottom vents to 25% and put the 4 butts on. Lid temp went up to 225 where it leveled off for the next 1.5 hours.
 
John, personally I don't think dampness had anything to do with your burn, although others might disagree. About a week ago I loaded my WSM to the top of the charcoal ring with Kingsford. That night we began 2 days of solid rain (9 inches), a side effect of the hurricane. Then, it was a week before I could cook my brisket and it rained every day, off and on. After all that, my Kingsford lit as usual.

Rita
 
Not sure what to tell ya John as to your temp drop, as I'm still fairly new. One thing I can say is its ALWAYS humid here in south carolina and I've never had a problem with my overnighters due to humidity. Ya know we have that humidity in which u walk outside and it just feels like its raining b/c its so humid. Also my 6.5 pounders usually take 17 hours or so, and thats when I'm only cooking one. You sound lucky as yours only took a few more hours even with that dramatic temp drop. Glad it still came out ok!

Paul
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Rhi:
Yes, afdded the hot coals to the ring of unlit, put the WSM together, vents @ 100%, when the lid temp hit 200 I shut the bottom vents to 25% and put the 4 butts on. Lid temp went up to 225 where it leveled off for the next 1.5 hours. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Therein lies the problem, imo. Waiting to putt the butts on till the temp rose was likely the issue. Though the temps seemed stabilized (actually were) for a while, that hid the problem of the meat mass; the 25% vent position was not enough to overcome it. Next time do not wait to put the meat on. When you dump the lit onto the unlit and assemble the cooker put the meat on then; leave all vents open till you reach 200 and at that point close down the lower vents to 25-30% open and wait til you hit 240-255 lid, cheating vents slightly one way or the other only if needed. By putting the meat on at the outset and leaving all vents open the cooker will be getting adequate airflow to overcome the mass of meat while the temps are rising with the vents open, not after the vents are closed, a harder thing for it to do.
 
This could be the result of ash build up. The Kingsford of late seems to leave more ash then it used to.

That's the main reason that I've switched to lump.

Al
 
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