Mark R (LR)
TVWBB Super Fan
I did my first overnight smoke with my 18.5 WSM over the weekend and have a question about doing combos like this in which one meat takes a lot longer than the other. I did a 9.2 lb, bone-in, pork butt on the bottom grate and two slabs of loinback ribs on the top grate. From a time & temperature standpoint, it went incredibly smoothly, holding 225 - 230 like a dream. I'm learning to absolutely LOVE the tri-fecta of a WSM, Maverick ET-732, and Stubb's charcoal. I got 17.5 hours of smooth, consistent temperatures without ever having to mess with the fuel. I even got a full 8 hours sleep without any alarms going off.
The problem: I put the pork butt on at 10:30PM and put the ribs on at 10:00AM the next morning so they would be ready at about the same time. I didn't add any new smoke wood when I put the ribs on. The pork butt turned out great, but the ribs didn't have much of a smoke ring and didn't have much in the way of smoky flavor.
The question: When doing different meats like a pork butt and ribs that take such different amounts of time to smoke, how would/do you handle getting enough smoke to both without overpowering the pork butt or under-smoking the ribs? Would you suggest starting them together, taking the ribs off when they're ready, and just reheating them later? Would you add more smoke wood when you add the ribs? Other? Thanks!
The problem: I put the pork butt on at 10:30PM and put the ribs on at 10:00AM the next morning so they would be ready at about the same time. I didn't add any new smoke wood when I put the ribs on. The pork butt turned out great, but the ribs didn't have much of a smoke ring and didn't have much in the way of smoky flavor.
The question: When doing different meats like a pork butt and ribs that take such different amounts of time to smoke, how would/do you handle getting enough smoke to both without overpowering the pork butt or under-smoking the ribs? Would you suggest starting them together, taking the ribs off when they're ready, and just reheating them later? Would you add more smoke wood when you add the ribs? Other? Thanks!