Overnight fail?


 

KevinT

TVWBB Member
Hello all

I have a question for the group. Fired up the 22wsm about 7pm last night and threw 4 5-6lb pork shoulders on at about 8. Temp was about 230. Used 20lbs of royal oak briquettes and threw a full hot chimney on top. Pecan apple and cherry chunks. Checked it at midnight and all was good.calm night...no wind...temps in the 60 deg F range. Here's the weird thing...at 6am i checked it out. The wsm was almost out of charcoal and the wsm temp was down around 100. The shoulders were at 108-112. I lit a fresh chimney and added coal and had the wsm back to 225ish quickly. I have done overnights before and was shocked that the charcoal went so fast but my real question is......is the meat still good or did it spoil?

Thanks in advance! Kevin in Palatine IL
 
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that is weird that the WSM blew thru all that charcoal so quickly. you didn't notice any big temp spike I guess. my only thought would be that maybe too much lit charcoal on the unlit? causing the fire to get too big too fast?other than that I have no clue.
as far as the spoilage question , that is a poser. if the meat is for a big function you have to be worried because there are other people involved. me I would not worry for my own self because pork butt is cooked so well done I figure a germ cant survive. but I ask myself , would I serve that to my 2 year old granddaughter , (the apple of my eye) and I say "probably not" even though that's slightly irrational.
so...my brain tells me the meat is fine. but my heart says better not risk it.
 
cook it up beyond 160 to 200 or so and it should be fine. A full chimney is a lot of lit charcoal to start minion method. I use 12 to 15 lit coals.
 
I'm preparing to do an over night smoke of a $100 brisket tonight... did you have to post this today??? ;)
 
Update... pulled butts at 197-203. Tasted fine. Not sick after an hour so should be fine. :)

They are foiled and in cooler for serving later this afternoon.

Thanks for advice and Happy 4th !!!!!!
 
Glad they came out OK. Think Dustin's comment about using a full chimney to start the cook was spot on. I start a minion cook with 10 - 12 briquettes.
 
I also side with Dustin and Cliff. I usually start my minion cooks with around 15 briquettes.
 
If you got the butts to around 200° there's no way that you could get sick. No germ is going to live through that.
 
I know folks think the 22 eats charcoal but i've owned one for years and respectfully disagree. I get great burn times. But i've not tried a really long burn on Royal Oak Briquettes. Maybe they don't burn as long as the OEM recommended KBB.

Other questions are: did you use water? Water increases fuel usage which is why so many go to an empty pan/sand/clay saucer configuration.
 
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Yes I used water in the pan. I have done this exact same cook before and had no problems. The wsm ha been great at holding temp and not wasting charcoal..... One bottom vent and the top vent open and she chugs along in the 230-260 range. .....just a strange one....... Might have to go with a therm that will ping my phone with temp alerts... Oh well....turned out fine. Ribs today on the mini. Everybody have a great day!
 
I know folks think the 22 eats charcoal but i've owned one for years and respectfully disagree. I get great burn times. But i've not tried a really long burn on Royal Oak Briquettes. Maybe they don't burn as long as the OEM recommended KBB.

Other questions are: did you use water? Water increases fuel usage which is why so many go to an empty pan/sand/clay saucer configuration.

I just did an 8 hour cook @250 with a full 18 pound load of KBB, and I probably have about 7-8 pounds left.
 

 

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