First Smoke - pork butt - advice needed!

Hey guys - first off I want to say thanks for all the information here. I've been reading threads here for the past month.

This week I'm planning on attempting my first smoke and from everyone's advice it seems like pork butt is a good first smoke for its "forgiving" qualities.

I'm guessing that smoking one meat for the first smoke probably simplifies things.

So my main question is - would you recommend only smoking one butt on the top rack? Or should a second one be thrown on the lower rack (or even something else on the lower rack)?

Part of me feels like I shouldn't waste the lower rack realestate during a smoke. But thats why I'm asking here.

Thanks in advance!

For your first smoke, pork butt is the way to go. I would do 1 pork butt on the top rack and baked beans on the lower rack.

Hope all goes well for you and if possible, we would love to see pics.

b,

Welcome! The 1st smoke usually involves beginner's jitters and excitement; we've all been there. The butt is an excellent choice for the reason you mention. Evan has a good idea with the beans, but keep in mind the beans won't cook for the same length of time. Personally, unless you're cooking for a large crowd, I'd cook the 1 butt this go around. After you get a feel for temp control and other operating functions, by all means; maximize the use of the space. Adding additional meat, dutch ovens, etc. to the wsm will skew your cooking times (if you use them as a guide)as you'll have introduced an additional heat sink to your set up. This will cause your wsm to take longer to get up to proper cooking temp. If you do opt to cook something else on your trial run, consider selecting something that cooks at the same temp as your pork butt. Either way, remember, the meat is done when it's done. One can't simply go by time alone. Each piece of meat is different. If you haven't already, I encourage you to reference the excellent cooking guides Chris has written that are found in the Cooking Topics section. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Paul

It's as good a choice as any. If you like pulled pork, make pulled pork. If you like ribs, make ribs. If you like... you get the idea.

To answer your question even one butt makes a lot of pulled pork unless you have a big family or something. Once you really feel like you have everything exactly how you like it and the novelty of doing a long smoke has worn off then you can really load it up so you don't have to do it again soon.

Thanks guys - I'm really stoked for this first smoke - can't wait.

I'm really looking forward to some pulled pork - but I'm also really looking forward to trying some BRITU. I've been stocking up on some Kingsford this week - and trying to find some apple or cherry wood (can't find anything other than hickory).

I'll be "trying" to plan out the butt and also the baked beans like evan suggested.

After the pork butt I'll be going directly to ribs!!

I did just one butt yesterday. http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...80069052/m/853106624

I debated on doing two, but it made a LOT of meat. I don't have a vacuum sealer yet, so I'm glad I went with just the one.

Pulled pork is best off the pit. Wanting bbq is a good excuse to bbq, anyway! You could always try a few stuffed peppers as well, but the cool thing about the little wsm is that you don't feel like you're wasting by just cooking what you need.

Just give yourself enough time for the cook! That's most folk's mistake in smoking butts for pulled pork.

Thanks for all the input guys.

Well I put the butt on last night - man is it cold out there. I think we hit 9F last night.

When I first put the butt on I was reading 250F at the lid and 320F at the grate. That was with all bottom vents at 1/3 and top fully open. It was staying constant at 11:00pm when I first put it on and my last check at 2:00am.

However....... at waking up at 6:45 it looks like I ran out of fuel. I quickly added more fuel to get the temp up to 230F, and the butt is at 165F and climbing.

I know that wind is the biggest enemy, and cold will just use more fuel. How much fuel should I expect to use when temps are close to zero? I'm almost done with my first bag of Kingsford (18lbs)??