First try - What did I do wrong??


 

Paul Dalbey

New member
Hello everyone. Long time (relatively) listener, first time caller here... so to speak. Please bare with me just a bit as I recall my first smoking experience yesterday in all the gory details.

I got my WSM 22 last week as a Father's Day gift and was excited all week to fire it up and make some killer pulled pork. I literally spent hours and HOURS researching everything from smoker operation to meat prep to rub recipes and everything else under the sun related to this first run.

I got my rub well mixed, prepped the pork butt the night before, just as I had read over and over to do, fired up the WSM via the Minion Method, got good heat and things were looking pretty good. The first coals were lit around 6:15 and at 6:45 am, the butt went down. And then it seemed to just not go right anymore.

FYI, I was using KBB with about 4 chunks of pecan to do the work. After removing the fat cap, false cap, and any other major chunks of fat, the pork butt weight in at just under 7 pounds (I think it was 6#, 13oz or something like that.)

The temp of my WSM seemed to take off even though I started trying to pull the vents back at about 200°. Even with all the vents fully closed and the water pan filled, my temps were pushing 300°. As a last resort, I nudged the top vent closed just a hair, maybe 10-20%, and was able to get my temps back down to around 250-275. (As a note, it was a rather warm and muggy morning with the WSM in direct sunlight and temps probably in the mid-80s around this time.)

I had a digital thermometer stuck in the hunk of meat from the beginning. It started at about 38° at 6:45 and by 11:15 or so, it was up to 150°. At this point, the temps start to stall. I had read this would happen and wasn't alarmed, but I thought most people reported this stall happened closer to 160°. I thought 150 was a bit low, but figured it was ok.

Around late afternoon, let's say around 5:00 or so, the butt had been on for over 10 hours and temps were still hovering around 160°. At this point, I started losing heat in the smoker, even though the vents were all wide open again. I opened the access to make sure the charcoal was still burning and not too ashy. They looked good but I get the WSM legs a little nudge just to knock off any ash that was still there and maybe reshuffle the deck a little bit. This helped a little bit, but I was still having trouble keeping the temps above 225°. (Note, I was going strickly by the dome thermometer, which I realize now might not be the best idea, but given the eternal stall, I figured it probably was giving me somewhat accurate info.)

Over the next several, I continued to lose heat and finally had to start throwing in my charcoal. I ended up going through an entire 19# bag of KBB and probably another 50 briquettes of a second bag. Checking the temp again at around 9:00 pm, the pork registered about 181-183°, meaning between 11:00 am and 9:00 pm, 10 hours, the temp had increased only 30 degrees.

By about 11:30 pm, I decided I had had enough and that I had apparently done something wrong. Though I knew 195° was the lower end of the target range, I had hoped to get the hog all the way up to 205° because I generally like my pulled pork just a little drier. I finally took the pork off the smoker after 16 hours and threw it in the oven to finish. About a half hour later, it got up to my desired temperature, so I removed it, placed it in an aluminum pan, and covered it with foil for about 45 minutes. I was able to pull it fairly easily, but the bark seemed over done/tough and it was a bit excessively dry, probably because I set my oven too high at 350°. (Then again, it was about 1:00 in the morning and I was just ****ed off so maybe that clouded my judgement.)

So where did I go wrong? I got the butt on just a little later than I had anticipated. Given a 7-pound meat, I was going by the 1:30-2:00 per pound rule of thumb and thinking it would probably need about 12 hours to all work out. I had intended to get it on around 6:00 am, finish at 6:00 pm, let it rest, and be ready to eat around 7:30. It obviously didn't happen, and I was so disappointed by my first experience. I know this is a great smoker and it had to have been operator error. I just don't know what.

Here's what I'm thinking I may have done wrong:
- Pork butt straight from fridge to smoker. As I said, it was about 38° when it went down. Should I have let it sit out for an hour or so before putting it on?
- Perhaps I should have thrown more charcoal in the tank sooner? I was shocked I burned through a 19# bag from Sam's in about 12 hours. I didn't realize it would be THAT fuel hungry. Given that bags at most stores are only 15#, I thought for SURE 19# would set me right for a while
- I completely forgot to flip or rotate the pork while it was on the smoker. I had intended to do this around 11:00 or noon, but just totally forgot. I'm guessing that probably contributed to some of the bark being quite overdone?
- I know the pork butt will hit the stall around 160°, but can it happen as low as 150°? And does it usually stall for SO long that it takes 10 hours to go from 150° to 180°?

What else? At this point, I'm like a sponge and hoping to absorb as much knowledge from this group as possible. Having spent many, many hours on here already, I've learned so much just from general posts.
 
I'll answer a few.

1. Letting it sit to "warm up longer" : WASTE OF TIME. The interior will not warm up appreciably.
2. You probably started with too many lit coals from your chimney. I never use more than 12-14 with an 18" wsm. With a 22 I'd guess 15-18 from your chimney.
3. Flip? Dunno if that's needed. IMO no diff in the smoke time.
4. Why remove that fat? It'll melt off anyways (or cut off at the end if it doesn't). Little to no diff IMO.
5. Fat cap on a butt? Never seen that.
6. Temps-- you using the lid gauge? That can vary 10-15o eihther way. Notoriously inaccurate.

I'll let others add to this
 
Last edited:
Well first of all welcome to the forum Paul.
First try is a learning experience and hopefully it gets better with age. I've never made a single butt on my 22, cause that's a beast and a fuel hog and IMO favors a heavy load.
My 18 would be my choice for a single butt, but I'll defer to the single butt big boy folks to chime in.

Tim
 
I really don't think you did anything wrong. Sometimes you get a tough butt.

Myself, I like to cook at higher temps.It reduces cooking times quite a bit. And no water. 275 to 300* works well. You could wrap the butt in alum foil when it hits the stall. That will also speed up your cook.

150* and stall is not unusual.

And get yourself a Thermoworks "Smoke".
 
Last edited:
I'll start off by saying I don't have a 22. I have an 18. But as was said above,I agree you probably lit too many coals to start it up.
To get a 22 up to 300 with a full water pan,you had to go through quit a bit of charcoal just to do that. As was said it's best to just light a few,and sneak up to temp.
One of the reasons I bought a WSM is because i was convinced you had to have a water smoker for moist BBQ. Then I got to reading deeper,and reading how many on here use no water. Then read the Harry Soo thread. Sooo I wrapped my water pan in foil and cooked up some ribs with no water,and they came out great. I havn't ued water since. I am now convinced wrapping in foil somewhere towards the end of cooking with something like apple juice is how to get moist BBQ. Then unwrap the last stretch. You are going to burn a LOT of charcoal keeping all that water in a 22 hot.
I also agree 250 to 275 is where you want to be. While the lid thermometer isn't that accurate,it will get you in the ballpark,and give you something to go by.
A 22 is a humongous smoker for one lonely butt:)
 
Hello everyone. Long time (relatively) listener, first time caller here... so to speak.
Welcome!

FYI, I was using KBB with about 4 chunks of pecan to do the work.
Pecan's a good choice. If you can find some peach, it goes extremely well with pork.

The temp of my WSM seemed to take off even though I started trying to pull the vents back at about 200°. Even with all the vents fully closed and the water pan filled, my temps were pushing 300°.
Don't panic about this kind of thing. You want to bring the temps down, but half an hour at 300F on a 12+ hour cook isn't going to ruin anything. First thing to do is adjust the bottom vents. If you need to you can close all but one and leave that one open just a crack until your temps start getting under control. Close them all completely if you have to. New units tend to be more drafty than ones that have accumulated a load of gunk on the inside so it can be hard to keep the temps under control.

As a last resort, I nudged the top vent closed just a hair, maybe 10-20%, and was able to get my temps back down to around 250-275. (As a note, it was a rather warm and muggy morning with the WSM in direct sunlight and temps probably in the mid-80s around this time.)
On occasion I've had to close down the top vent a bit too. I try to avoid it but sometimes there's not much choice. The direct sun probably didn't help.

Around late afternoon, let's say around 5:00 or so, the butt had been on for over 10 hours and temps were still hovering around 160°. At this point, I started losing heat in the smoker, even though the vents were all wide open again.
When you know you've hit the stall, you can try to raise the temp to 275-300 and it should help it push through.

Over the next several, I continued to lose heat and finally had to start throwing in my charcoal.
I find it better to add charcoal in small increments. I've got a shovel from a fireplace set that I use to add charcoal. It'll hold six or eight briquettes without me having to do a major balancing act. Rather than add a bunch at once I'll add a shovel full, then add another shovel in half an hour, etc. Lighting that charcoal uses heat that would have gone to cooking the food. Doing a little at a time you don't end up with a big temp drop while the new charcoal is lighting. Plus, KBB is notorious for that initial white smoke that some people find rather offensive. Smaller increments produce less of that smoke.

About a half hour later, it got up to my desired temperature, so I removed it, placed it in an aluminum pan, and covered it with foil for about 45 minutes. I was able to pull it fairly easily, but the bark seemed over done/tough and it was a bit excessively dry, probably because I set my oven too high at 350°. (Then again, it was about 1:00 in the morning and I was just ****ed off so maybe that clouded my judgement.)
Most people try to let the butt rest for several hours after removing from the heat. You might want to plan for that in the future.

The dryness probably had nothing to do with the oven temp and everything to do with 16 hours of moisture evaporating from the meat while it cooked. The stall is due to the cooling effect of evaporation. As the meat cooks moisture is pushed to the surface. At just the right (or wrong) combination of smoker temp, meat temp, size of meat, etc. the heat from the smoker pushing into the meat is in equilibrium with the cooling of the moisture evaporating on the surface of the meat. The longer it stalls, the more moisture that's coming out of the meat. You can wrap in foil, which pushes right through the stall by eliminating the evaporation, or you can raise the smoker temp to get more heat pushing into the meat and break that equilibrium. 275F should do it but you could go to 325F without hurting anything. By the time you hit the stall the meat has taken on about as much smoke as it's going to take so shortening the cooking time isn't going to impact the smoke flavor.

- Pork butt straight from fridge to smoker. As I said, it was about 38° when it went down. Should I have let it sit out for an hour or so before putting it on?
Wouldn't have mattered in the least. There's actually evidence that meat takes on more smoke the colder it is.

- Perhaps I should have thrown more charcoal in the tank sooner? I was shocked I burned through a 19# bag from Sam's in about 12 hours. I didn't realize it would be THAT fuel hungry. Given that bags at most stores are only 15#, I thought for SURE 19# would set me right for a while
Home Depot usually has KBB, two bags for $10 before Memorial Day and Labor Day. A guy in the store mentioned 4th of July too though I've never noticed it on sale at that time before. Guess we'll find out soon. Stock up when it's on sale.

Once you get a feel for controlling the temp you can try running with the pan dry. (Cover it with foil first for easier cleanup.) Boiling all that water sucks up a huge amount of heat. That's the point of the water, to make temp control easier by acting as a giant heat sink. You'll save a lot of charcoal by not using water, but it will be somewhat more difficult to maintain steady temps.

- I completely forgot to flip or rotate the pork while it was on the smoker. I had intended to do this around 11:00 or noon, but just totally forgot. I'm guessing that probably contributed to some of the bark being quite overdone?
I don't think I've ever flipped a pork butt. Usually put them on and leave them alone until I start probing for doneness.

The biggest question is, how was the pork? You said it seemed a bit dry, but aside from that how was it? I used to be a purist and would never sauce my pulled pork, but more recently I've taken to making a thin tomato/vinegar base sauce and am not ashamed to sprinkle a little over my sandwich, particularly when the pork has been reheated.
 
Did you notice smoke escaping from around the door or lid, or both?

If so, this will have contributed to the high temps and the fight you had to keep it down. I added a gasket kit to my 18 and it made a huge difference. Unfortunatly part of my gasket around the top section has deterioriated and come away. Straight away I'm having to almost shut the lower vents down.
 
You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for all the wonderful advice so quickly!

I noticed my original post got one word ****ed out, so first off, let me apologize for that. I doubt anyone here took great offense to it, but nonetheless, I certainly didn't mean to throw up a taboo word in my very first post.

As I said, it was about 1:00 am when I finally got to sample the fruits of my labor. Looking back, perhaps it would have been better to wrap the butt tightly, thrown it in a cooler, and shredded it at 5:00 the following morning. Again, another lesson learned. We did, however, finally get to have it for dinner last night. It was a little dry (as one might expect) when it was cold straight out of the fridge, but on the recommendation of my wife's boss, we shoveled as much as we wanted for dinner into a large bowl, added just about 1/8 cup of water and about a tablespoon of butter, and through it into the microwave. When it came out, it actually wasn't bad. I was pleasantly surprised. It re-moistened nicely and had a pretty good flavor. The bark was still just a hair overdone, but all-in-all, not a terrible effort for my first try. And (I hope I really don't open up a can of worms or start a civil war here on the site but...) I really love Western Carolina vinegar based sauce with just a touch of ketchup in it. I found a great recipe that reminded me exactly of the place in Raleigh where I first experienced it. A healthy splash of that really made the effort quite good!

I noticed several folks mentioned that perhaps I used to many coals at the outset and that led to my runaway early temps. I probably used 20-25, but I will cut that back next time to maybe 15-18, especially on a warm, sunny day as it was on Sunday. Should those all be dumped in the middle of my charcoal ring in a pile or spread around throughout? My guess would be to put them all in the middle and let the heat ring slowly simmer outwards.

RE: smoke leak from the WSM joints... It actually wasn't that bad. I had noticed when putting everything together that the curvature of the access door didn't match that of the main smoking barrel, so I had adjusted that pretty well before I ever started. There was just a slight bit of smoke occasionally escaping here and there, but really not much. I also notice a very, very slight occasional puff escaping around the thermometer, but again, not enough to cause me concern. I actually didn't see anything escaping form the two main joints.

RE: water in the bowl. In all the reading I did, I saw time and time again to start with water in the bowl while you're learning how the WSM operates. I believe else where on this site, the water bowl was called "training wheels" for smoking. But that makes sense that it would absorb an incredible amount of heat, especially since I mostly used cool water. Maybe I will give it a try next time running dry and just be very diligent about watching the temps early on so they don't fly away.

I've also seen a lot of talk on here about using things besides water - lots about terracotta plates and even sand. I assume the plate would go IN the pan, not INSTEAD of the pan, correct? What is the theory behind either of those?

Speaking of temperature, I already ordered a new probe. I ordered a ThermoPro TP-20. Anyone have experience, good or bad, with this? I was able to get it for only $48 off Amazon, and it seems to have very good reviews. However, if it is really worth paying more for the ThermWorks Smoke, I would look into that.

Time to go read up on wrapping the butt to push more quickly through the stall next time. Do I need to use foil or does butcher paper work better?

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice! I look forward to continuing to sift through it all and learn more and more as I go!
 
The FOILED saucer sits just inside the lip of the bowl. IIRC, it was a 14" terra cotta UNGLAZED saucer in my 18" WSM (Home Depot carries them). Make sure it is unglazed. Just a raw saucer. It acts as a heat sink.

Don't do sand till you get more experience. I doubt I ever will as the saucer works just fine. Again, stick with water for a few more smokes till you get more experience.

HINT HINT---> put your Carolina vinegar sauce in the "Rubs and Sauces" forum. https://tvwbb.com/forumdisplay.php?71-Rub-Marinade-Brine-Mop-amp-Sauce-Recipes

I know before I tried one, I thought this is not going to be nice (I'm a "red sauce" kind of guy). Well, I tell ya I could almost drink it straight it was so good!
 
Last edited:
Hi Paul, I sent you a PM with my contact info, I’m up in the Chicago area. Feel free to reach out, be happy to share insights or answer questions.

The thermometer you ordered will likely help, as opposed to the grill thermometer.

The advice I have given some of my friends who have started out is to think of the meat you are doing as more of an appetizer- as opposed to a main course. If all goes well, people will fill up on the appetizer, and the can take home the burgers or whatever in a doggy bag, or you can save them for the next day. This takes a lot of the pressure of delivering something to people to eat off out of the equation.

Try to remember this is a bit more of a journey, than a specific point a to b trip.

You also have to remember that your smoker is new, and a couple of cooks will break it in. You’ll get to know it better and better as time goes on.

Feel free to reach out, happy to walk you thru what I do, for whatever it may be worth.
 
Welcome Paul. I think you did a great first cook. Homework matters. Overtemp is common in new WSMs and the water in the pan likely saved you from overtemping even more. As your smoker goes through more cooks, it won't go as high with a nice patina. Consider trying it without the water later on.

Though it is important to know your pit temp, it is also very important to see if you have enough coals. The 22" is notorious for eating fuel up like nobody's business. If it's taking a long time, open the door and take a peak. If the coals are low or you can see the grill supporting the coals, it is time to add coals. If you are lucky, you won't need to add coals until after you foil. I prefer to add coals after the meat is foiled so if ashes fly up, it won't touch my meat. Also, you can crank the temp up to 300 after foiling. Unless you have alot of sugar but it sounds like you won't.

That leads me to my biggest advice which is to foil after you think the crust is set (looks good). At this point, the crust is set but the inside is still moist but not tender. Foil so you can stop losing moisture and push through the stall. Then probe every once in a while until it is tender. Or as you like in temperature which I think you said 205. Also, no reason to remove any fat unless you are competing.

I hope you enjoy your unit and many more cooks.
 
Last edited:
Welcome aboard Paul and congrats on a successful cook. In winter time you'll need those extra hot coals. As everyone is saying you and your cooker will have an easier time with each cook. Your cook sounds like my first cook on my 22 and that was last year but I've cooked on WSMs for 7 years. Give yourself a little credit.

When I hit the stall I wrap with heavy duty aluminum foil. By then my bark is set. Enjoy your next cook.
 
Paul,
Butts are fairly cheap, VERY forgiving, and easily found.
The only thing I think you might have been “overzealous” on might have been fat trimming, I trim very little on the fat layer, it’s not a bad thing. The fat will render off during the cook.
When you’ve done four or five butts, your smoker will “Tighten up” with gunk at joints and less air will enter the barrel.
Don’t worry about it, your experience will come, just smoke more and it will all make sense.
I use an 18and it’s not uncommon for me to I’ve a full bag for an overnight smoke, the 22 is a hungrier beast, I have one and can not justify using it unless I’m smoking a HUGE amount of food. My average number of “smoke feast” guests is under 20 so, I can do enough butt on the 18 for that number.
The folks here will help you just like they helped me, literally from all over the world! I’ve made friends with these people, it’s a fun hobby. First butt, big step, the rest will all be much easier.
Good temperature probes will help quite a bit but, in all honesty, I did my last one old school, on the kettle, starting high heat and then cut the vents way back on the bottom no thermometer, no probe, not anything but bone pull, it was great!
 
Welocme Paul,
Like Kevin, my first impression was that maybe you had a smoke leak.
One way of testing it is to close all vents (bottom and top) once you are through smoking and check the next day if there are any coals left.
If not, the WSM let in enough air for the coals to finish.

It looks like you are in a fairly high temperature area. I am as well.
In summer, I use the water pan to be able to keep the temperatures down.
In winter, I smoke without water

Good luck..
 

 

Back
Top