New 22,5 WSM owner - pork butt and baby back ribs help


 
S

ScottFrench

New member
I'm jumping in with both feet and want to do a couple pork butts and several slabs of baby back ribs. Can someone point me in the right direction on a good approach?
 
Pork butts take a looong time to cook, baby backs are fast.

Two butts will cook in about 10 hours at a steady 250F. Baby backs will cook in about 4 hours at 275F, maybe longer at 250F, assuming you wrap for part of the cook. The butts can be held for as long as it takes the ribs to cook. So if I was hosting a BBQ dinner party at 5pm on Saturday and cooking those things, here's what I'd do:

Friday at 11pm, fire up the smoker and get the temp stabilized at 250F, measured at the top grate (not the dome thermometer). Rub the butts while I'm waiting on the smoker to come up to temp because I'm lazy and rub at the last minute. If you want to let the rub sit a while, rub them after dinner on Friday.

Saturday at 12am, butts in the smoke. Go to bed.

Saturday at around 10am, butts should be done. Pull them off the smoker, double wrap in heavy-duty foil, and put in a cooler with towels above and below. They'll stay hot until dinner time.

Saturday around noon, knock the ashes off the coals in the smoker and add about a chimney of unlit on top of whatever is left in there. Get the temp up to 275F. Prep ribs while waiting on the smoker (again because I'm lazy). You could also prep them after breakfast on Saturday if you want to let the rub sit a while.

Saturday 1:30pm ribs in the smoke.

Saturday 3:30pm ribs get wrapped.

Saturday 4:00pm-4:15pm ribs get unwrapped and sauced. Time to start heating up sides.

Saturday 4:30pm-5pm ribs are done.

Saturday 5pm pull/shred the pork butts while the ribs are resting. Slice ribs. Serve dinner.
 
Dave Alvarado said:
Pork butts take a looong time to cook, baby backs are fast.

Two butts will cook in about 10 hours at a steady 250F. Baby backs will cook in about 4 hours at 275F, maybe longer at 250F, assuming you wrap for part of the cook. The butts can be held for as long as it takes the ribs to cook. So if I was hosting a BBQ dinner party at 5pm on Saturday and cooking those things, here's what I'd do:

Friday at 11pm, fire up the smoker and get the temp stabilized at 250F, measured at the top grate (not the dome thermometer). Rub the butts while I'm waiting on the smoker to come up to temp because I'm lazy and rub at the last minute. If you want to let the rub sit a while, rub them after dinner on Friday.

Saturday at 12am, butts in the smoke. Go to bed.

Saturday at around 10am, butts should be done. Pull them off the smoker, double wrap in heavy-duty foil, and put in a cooler with towels above and below. They'll stay hot until dinner time.

Saturday around noon, knock the ashes off the coals in the smoker and add about a chimney of unlit on top of whatever is left in there. Get the temp up to 275F. Prep ribs while waiting on the smoker (again because I'm lazy). You could also prep them after breakfast on Saturday if you want to let the rub sit a while.

Saturday 1:30pm ribs in the smoke.

Saturday 3:30pm ribs get wrapped.

Saturday 4:00pm-4:15pm ribs get unwrapped and sauced. Time to start heating up sides.

Saturday 4:30pm-5pm ribs are done.

Saturday 5pm pull/shred the pork butts while the ribs are resting. Slice ribs. Serve dinner.
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Dave do you use some kind of temp regulator or remote thermometer? I am a newbie and would have a hard time sleeping with a butt on the smoker not knowing how my coals are doing or what the temp was.
 
Jen H said:
Dave do you use some kind of temp regulator or remote thermometer? I am a newbie and would have a hard time sleeping with a butt on the smoker not knowing how my coals are doing or what the temp was.
Click to expand...

Jen, I didn't get a remote thermometer until about 6 or 7 months into having my WSM. I didn't do an overnight cook until about 4 months into WSM ownership, and by that time I was comfortable enough with how well it maintains temp that I could get some sleep. I still don't have an auto temp controller, and not sure if I'm gonna make that jump or not.

My advice to any newbie would be to get familiar with your WSM for several cooks before attempting an overnighter. And even then, I'd probably recommend doing something like a butt (or two) on your first overnight cook. They are very forgiving when it comes to pit temperature fluctuation. If you need to, set an alarm (I usually don't, but I have pets who wake me up w/out fail at 6:00 am) and check your food first thing in the morning (or throughout the night if you feel the need). If your temps have gotten higher overnight than you expected and your butts are done, take them off the smoker foil 'em and pop 'em in a cooler until lunch time.
 
Brian Johnson said:
Jen, I didn't get a remote thermometer until about 6 or 7 months into having my WSM. I didn't do an overnight cook until about 4 months into WSM ownership, and by that time I was comfortable enough with how well it maintains temp that I could get some sleep. I still don't have an auto temp controller, and not sure if I'm gonna make that jump or not.

My advice to any newbie would be to get familiar with your WSM for several cooks before attempting an overnighter. And even then, I'd probably recommend doing something like a butt (or two) on your first overnight cook. They are very forgiving when it comes to pit temperature fluctuation. If you need to, set an alarm (I usually don't, but I have pets who wake me up w/out fail at 6:00 am) and check your food first thing in the morning (or throughout the night if you feel the need). If your temps have gotten higher overnight than you expected and your butts are done, take them off the smoker foil 'em and pop 'em in a cooler until lunch time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Brian. It really makes sense. Practice makes perfect right?
 
The ribs and chicken turned out great. Only issue I had was the chicken took longer to cook than I thought. I ended up finishing the chicken in the oven to get it to the proper temperature. In the smoker, the chicken was at 145 degrees for the breast and 150 degrees for the thighs when I put them in the oven to finish cooking. I wrapped the ribs in aluminum foil when they appeared done and tried to get the chicken to finish in the smoker. I just couldn't get the temp up enough to get the last 15 degrees of internal heat.

The WSM 22.5 stayed a steady 225 - 230 degrees during the smoke. But, I did have to add charcoal as it seemed to burn up fast.

What do you guys do with the nasty water left in the water pan? I had very little evaporation during the 5+ hr smoke. Now I have a wastebasket full of greasy water.
 
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