Post Mortem on First Cook--any help gratefully accepted


 

EricS

New member
Hello all--

Brand new WSM owner. My first cook on my new WSM is on the books, and I definitely had some unexpected behaviors I'm hoping you all can explain to me.

I went with a pork butt, since everyone says it's so forgiving. However, it was a BONELESS pork butt from Costco. About 8.5 pounds, and I suppose the bone being already removed is why it was sort of multiple connected pieces instead of being one massive lump. I've only done these sous vide before now, when their “pieciness” doesn't really matter since it's all jammed together in one bag.

Fuel was Kingsford Professional Competition charcoal...because that's what was on sale at Costco.

I used the stock water pan, and filled it with water.

I met a guy who owns a barbecue restaurant, and he's doing all his stuff on Traegers at 180 degrees—which comes out really good, BTW. The reason I got a WSM was that it had the ability to do the lower smoking temps that I could never accomplish—or hold reliably—on my Genesis grill. I didn't think I could maintain 180, so target temp was 210—maybe optimistically low, but it didn't seem unreasonable. I've got an Auber ATC that I hooked up since I knew this was going to be a long cook. Used the Minion method, filling the ring as high as I could, and put in 30 lit coals. Cooker temperature was measured at the top grate, where the meat was.

The setup held reliably within about 5 degrees for about 8 ½ hours. The meat temp climbed steadily to about 155 degrees in about 6 hours and then started crawling. I figured I'd hit the stall, no problem.

But the stall seemed to last interminably long, even from what I've read. The meat temp stayed within 2 degrees for the next 3 ½ hours, then climbed a little over 5 degrees to around 162 and then stayed there for the next 4 hours.

Meanwhile, after 8 ½ hours, the cooker temp started dropping. I stirred the coals around to try to knock off some ash, and when that didn't do much, I added 20 more unlit briquettes.

Over the next 10 hours, I ended up adding more coals in batches of about 20, at around 2 hour intervals. It seemed like there were still coals burning in there, and I would stir and poke at them to try to get ash off and expose the burning ones, but the temperature just wouldn't stay up unless I threw in more. The Auber unit's blower would just run continually until the new briquettes caught.

The meat temp continued to climb painfully slowly. At the 24-hour mark, it was at 185. I gave in to paranoia and boosted my cooker temp to 220. At the 31-hour mark, I called it done, because I just didn't have any more time I could spend. The meat never got above 193, and actually started dropping, getting back to 188 when I pulled it. I tested for doneness starting at 193 with the poke-it-with-a-probe method, but it never had that “like butter” consistency. The smaller bits hanging off were definitely overdone and dry—not inedible, but not great. I suppose next time I should at least tie the butt up so it's a single lump.

Question #1: why the heck did the meat temperature behave like that? I'm inclined to think that it wasn't actually all the stall, since it lasted so long. It's like it never really got out of the stall. And why wouldn't it get above 193? I know a lot of people have said they've done great with "hot and fast" for pork butts, but I'd really like to be able to master the low and slow, at least so I can see if I find a difference.

Question #2: Any ideas why I kept having to add what seemed like a lot of coal? Or does this fuel use sound pretty average? After it was all done, the ashes filled the bottom right up to the coal grate.

Question #3: What's your order of execution for starting out when using the water pan? I had the middle section off to start with, since it's a lot easier to pour your lit coals into the bottom section; I had a cunning plan to get the water heated up first so as not to use up coal trying to heat it, but realized there was no way I could set that center section on and then drop a full pan of hot water into place over a bed of lit coals. So I ended up filling the pan from the hose in situ after lighting up my coals. Is there a better way?

Thank you all for your patience and expertise—I really want to learn from my mistakes here, and it'll save me ruining a lot of nice meat!
 
Re: boneless butt... Tie it with butchers twine. You want a nice compact bundle. The last one I did I ended up folding some of the pieces into a configuration that wasn't natural but made for a nice package. Seriously look at the meat and try to find a way to fold it together into a neat bundle. That may very well not be the way it came out of the package. There's a gap in the middle where the bone used to be and you'll likely do best filling that gap with one of those muscles that's flopping about threatening to fall off. When you've done your pork shoulder origami, tie four or five strings around the way that will best help keep it together, starting in the middle and working outward. You want one string about every inch, inch-and-a-half. Then do one string end to end, wrapping it around each of the cross strings. Take your time. Neatness counts. Sort of. It doesn't have to be perfect but you don't want bits flopping about.

Question #1... The meat temperature behaved that way because your smoker temp was too low. If you're running 210 and shooting for an internal finish temp of 200 or so, it's going to take a VERY long time to get there. And the meat will likely be bone dry. Water works its way to the surface of the meat and then evaporates, resulting in the evaporative cooling that is responsible for the stall. If the smoker temp is too low the heat working its way into the meat is defeated by the evaporative cooling and the meat just sits there at the same temp, or maybe even goes backwards.

The bog standard low and slow for pork butt is 225F. You wouldn't ruin anything pushing it to 250F, and then on to 275F when you hit the stall. Unless you like cooking pork butt for 24 hours.

If you absolutely insist on 210 as the cooking temp, wrap the butt as soon as you hit the stall and you've got decent bark. Wrapping will prevent the evaporative cooling and allow actual cooking to continue.

Question #2... If there's still water in the pan a lot of the heat is going into boiling the water. Basically the same thing that's happening with the meat. The evaporating water literally sucks heat from the environment. The water provides a good buffer that makes temperature management a lot easier, but it is going to consume a lot more charcoal than cooking with a dry pan. Since you have the automatic temp control unit, I'd try with a dry pan next time. Cover it with foil. You'll thank me when it's clean up time.

The other thing is that as the ash builds up it starts to block the air flow and makes it a lot harder to keep the fire going. The WSM really wasn't made for a 24 hour cook. Going that long may well require breaking it down and emptying the ash before reassembling and continuing the cook. I'd try to get it done in under 18 hours.

Question #3... Don't sweat the water pan. If you're using water, just fill the pan however is convenient. The energy required to get the water from initial temp, assuming it's above freezing, to the boiling point is peanuts compared to the energy needed to boil the pan dry. You'll save a little bit of charcoal by starting with hot water but if you're that concerned about saving charcoal you should leave the pan dry and learn to control the temp strictly with the vents. That will make a big difference in your charcoal usage.
 
@JayHeyl explains it all a lot better than I ever could :cool:
I fully agree.
If you really want to start of with hot water in the pan, then just boil a kettle and fill the water pan. Don't lug a full water pan around (except maybe when using the 14.5", but even then I wouldn't)

Good luck with the next one.
Another great thing to try that's quite forgiving is meat loaf (in case you don't want to do another pork butt)
 
JeyHeyl gave you good advice. I cook butts between 225 and 275 depending on how much time I have for the cook. An early cook with my 18.5 was 5 good sized bone in pork butts at 225°. The last one came off at 24 hrs. and your cook reminded me of that one. Frustrating. I now cook a little higher and foil my butts when they hit the stall so that finishes them faster. I have a pair of welding gloves and I've put full water pans n after I put the lit coals on. Welding gloves are very useful around the WSM.

I suspect that your meat wasn't perfect but still tasted good so your first cook was a learning experience and a success. You learn something on almost every cook and it gets smoother with practice. You'll find what works for you and it will probably be different that what I do. Have fun with it.
 
I remember my copy of Smoke & Spice preached sub boiling or 210 for smoker temps. I got on the 275-300 train round 05 and never looked back.
I remember a quote from one of our respected members> ( And I Paraphrase) The only magic that happens when cooking at 225 is it takes longer. I'll still do overnights, but prefer early riser butts for everyday dinners.
Maybe if I got some heritage breed pork I would go back to true L&S but for the commercial pork like we get in the supermarket ( the other white meat) I wouldn't bother.:)

Tim
 
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Everything that Jay said!
And Timothy’s paraphrased quote!
Maybe the guy with the Traeger failed to tell you that he just has to set his temperature fill the hopper and wait but. I have a real problem with cooking at 180 for that long, I’d run out of beer!
 
Thanks very much all. I'll definitely try the next one on higher heat, and truss it within an inch of its life.

Frankly, beer supply wasn't an issue, but that's a good reminder.

If only those Costco butts came in a 2-pack--oh wait, they did! Off to the backyard for round two!
 

 

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