Should I bring my Cooker up to temp before putting meat on?


 
K

KenB

TVWBB Fan
I would think that even though you bring the temp up to where you want for the cook, once you put the meat on the temp will drop quite a bit. How long does it usually take for the cooker get back to temp after putting your meat on? Do you need to heat the cooker up to higher temp before putting the meat on?
 
Are you slow cooking or high heat cooking? I'm assuming your talking about a kettle since this is in the barbecue forum
 
IMO, to get back to original T depends on tons of factor. How much meat do you fill in; the IT of meat; water in the waterpan; external T; ATC or not;
Probably I forgot a dozen more!

For the second question, the problem is normaly its quite hard to pull back the cooking T. So when meat has stopped to keep down T you will find with a bigger fire than you want. Maybe just some degrees more. Just some.
 
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ChuckO said:
Are you slow cooking or high heat cooking? I'm assuming your talking about a kettle since this is in the barbecue forum
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Why assume a kettle ?
I thought BBQing insinuates indirect heat vs grilling insinuating directly over the fire.
 
Ken, in your profile you say your favorite grill is the WSM 18.5", so I assume you're asking about the WSM.

I don't pre-heat the WSM. I used to do that years ago but not anymore. I just light the cooker using the Standard Method or the Minion Method and add the meat. Yes, the cooker temp will drop initially when you add meat. As Enrico says, there's no hard and fast rule about how long the cooker takes to recover temp because there are so many variables. If you add 6 ice-cold pork butts, it may take hours for the cooker to recover. If you add just 1, probably within the hour.
 
The only reason I wait is to let the wood chunks get rid of some of that thick white smoke you get when you first put them on the coals. Temp meat goes on really doesn't matter except on anything I cook by time at a certain temperature.
 
Phil Perrin said:
I'm a light it and put the meat on sort of guy. Works for me,but YMMV.
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Works for me too. Once the coals are dumped from the chimney into the ring of unlit coals I fill the water pan and add the meat. I start with two of the lower vents open and once it gets to about 200 degrees I shut the two vents by 50%.
 
Thanks for the replies. I guess the two biggest variables are meat poundage and temp of the meat. I don't add the center section and lid to my WSM until the smoke stops billowing and the wood is charred over.
 
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