Barry McCorkle
TVWBB Super Fan
This past weekend I attempted cooking a 4 1/2 lb Boston Butt using the new lump charcoal from Walmart and the southern succor dry rub from Smoke and Spice (my favorite pork dry rub). End result - terrible and I am not so sure why!
Began with half a charcoal chamber filled with the lump charcoal and approx. 20 lit lump pieces and a lot of the pieces were very small. The 20 lit pieces were started in a chimney and they lit in no time, 5 - 10 minutes and they were grey! Put the lit pieces on top of the unlit and assembled the cooker using no water in the water pan and all bottom vents closed. The cooker temp at that time was 160 and it continued to rise till it hit 280. At that time I closed the top vent to get the temp down to 260. Once it hit 260, I opened the top vent 1/3 open and put the butt on the top grate.
My target cooker temp was 210 so I had to keep the top vent only opened 1/3 to keep it there. Remember, I was not using any water in the pan. One note here, there was no visible smoke coming from the cooker at this time or at any time during the session. I have never cooked with the top vent less than fully open but was willing to do it this time as an experiment.
In 4 hours the temp of the meat got to 150 so I turned it and reinserted the thermometer on the other side of the meat where it now registered 143 degrees. For another 4 hours the temp of the meat never went above 147. When I poked the temp probe in different places in the meat, the outside seemed very tough but the color of the outside was a light brown, not black or charred. It is almost as if the outside layer of the meat was acting as an insulator, keeping the inside of the meat from getting any heat. I kept the cooker temp at 210 up till this point by leaving all bottom vents closed and the top vent 1/3 to 1/2 open.
Finally, I added water to the pan, basted the butt with apple juice and opened the bottom vents and the top vent fully to get the temp to 260+ in the cooker. Finally 2 - 3 hours later the meat temp got to 167 and it was tough as a horse's saddle. Took the meat off and gave it to the dog. Funny thing, the next morning the dog hadn't eat the butt as it was still in his pen lying there untouched.
This was supposed to be an experiment to test the Walmart lump charcoal but I don't know how to comment on it after fighting with the butt all day. I have never had a butt do this in the 3 - 4 years of barbecue. The Walmart lump seems to burn hot and quick much like other lump that I have tried beore. On the bag is says that it is made from oak, hickory, maple and other hardwoods.
Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Began with half a charcoal chamber filled with the lump charcoal and approx. 20 lit lump pieces and a lot of the pieces were very small. The 20 lit pieces were started in a chimney and they lit in no time, 5 - 10 minutes and they were grey! Put the lit pieces on top of the unlit and assembled the cooker using no water in the water pan and all bottom vents closed. The cooker temp at that time was 160 and it continued to rise till it hit 280. At that time I closed the top vent to get the temp down to 260. Once it hit 260, I opened the top vent 1/3 open and put the butt on the top grate.
My target cooker temp was 210 so I had to keep the top vent only opened 1/3 to keep it there. Remember, I was not using any water in the pan. One note here, there was no visible smoke coming from the cooker at this time or at any time during the session. I have never cooked with the top vent less than fully open but was willing to do it this time as an experiment.
In 4 hours the temp of the meat got to 150 so I turned it and reinserted the thermometer on the other side of the meat where it now registered 143 degrees. For another 4 hours the temp of the meat never went above 147. When I poked the temp probe in different places in the meat, the outside seemed very tough but the color of the outside was a light brown, not black or charred. It is almost as if the outside layer of the meat was acting as an insulator, keeping the inside of the meat from getting any heat. I kept the cooker temp at 210 up till this point by leaving all bottom vents closed and the top vent 1/3 to 1/2 open.
Finally, I added water to the pan, basted the butt with apple juice and opened the bottom vents and the top vent fully to get the temp to 260+ in the cooker. Finally 2 - 3 hours later the meat temp got to 167 and it was tough as a horse's saddle. Took the meat off and gave it to the dog. Funny thing, the next morning the dog hadn't eat the butt as it was still in his pen lying there untouched.
This was supposed to be an experiment to test the Walmart lump charcoal but I don't know how to comment on it after fighting with the butt all day. I have never had a butt do this in the 3 - 4 years of barbecue. The Walmart lump seems to burn hot and quick much like other lump that I have tried beore. On the bag is says that it is made from oak, hickory, maple and other hardwoods.
Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.