First Smoke - Cold weather: 1 - Me: 0


 

b mauro

TVWBB Member
Well I'm waiving the white flag of surrender.

First smoke ever and it had to be in sub-10F weather for 12+ hours just wasn't the best idea.

Starting out, everything looked good - held 300F+ at the grate for most of the night (at least when I was up).

Woke up this morning and the coals where almost out - and ever since then it's been a battle to keep the temp up and as of 2:00pm EST I'm moving the butt inside to finish off in the oven.

I started with the ring filled with unlit K, and threw a full chimney of lit K ontop - that didn't even last me 6 hours. I polished off the rest of my 18lbs bag within 12 hours, and actually used another 20 in the chimney from a new bag.

I'm really hoping that the weather begin so low (5-10F) had a lot to do with this. I had a poor excuse for a windscreen (WSM box) but I think it did its job. Either I need someone to ease my mind or point out what I did wrong!!!

Need some help!
 
I had a similar experience. The cold can be a problem; a good windbreak is a must. I hope you weren't using water in the pan -- also a fuel suck, esp. in winter. Try again if you can rig a good windbreak; even so, expect to use 50% more fuel than a summer smoke. So, you finished in the oven. Hope it was a good save -- the important thing.
 
Thanks Gary - the pork was good. It was a little dry which I found odd since when I pulled it, it seemed very very moist.

For cold cold days and 12+ hour smokes, how much fuel is expected to be used?

Is one bag within the normal expectations?
 
I did my first couple of pork butts in the winter months when the temps were in the 20s, and the wind chill factors were in the low teens. I too encountered the same problem. It's not so much the cold, but wind creates the problem. Therefore, time spent making a windbreak should take care of the problem.
 
We have 0F or below much of Jan & Feb and while I can cook long times it does take babysitting versus the set emp and let it go during the warm months.

Unless I'm cooking for a large group, during the winter I cook smaller butts vs bigger ones and flats vs packers just so I can do a cook during more normal hours where I can get some sleep.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by b mauro:
Thanks Gary - the pork was good. It was a little dry which I found odd since when I pulled it, it seemed very very moist. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I had the same problem this weekend....pork was very moist when pulling, but seemed dried out when eating it. Anyone else ever have this problem?
 
Kevin - not sure what caused it with mine but I think I bandaid'ed it pretty good.

Crockpot with chicken broth and apple juice. It didn't take away from the rub flavor or the smoke flavor - just made it moist.

But I still wouldn't mind if one of our guru's could point out the errors of our ways :p
 

 

Back
Top