Brian B Philly
New member
Hi All,
So about 10 days ago I did my first smoke on my WSM 14in. The final product turned out great but it was a pretty harrowing experience along the way and one I would like to avoid again.
So I bought an 8lb bone-in pork butt from Wegmans. The plan was to serve it on Saturday, Aug 4th around 6pm, so I put it in the smoker at 1230am that morning in order to give it enough time (I was out of town prior so it didn't have anytime to brine, just went right on the smoker. I did put a rub on it thought.). Used the Minion method for the coals and put them in a Weber chimney starter, using the weber lighter cubes, to get them hot. As soon as the coals were hot I dumped them on top of the rest of the coals, put on the pork but, kept the vents wide open, and waited for the tempater to get into that 225-250 range.
Once it got there I adjusted the bottom vents (I kept the top one open the entire time) to try to control the temperature and then went to bed (this was probably around 1 or so). I woke up a few times in the middle of the night to check on things. The temperature flucatued from being a little too hot, to being a little too cold, but nothing crazy. It was also something that could be adjusted for up or down by closing or opening the vents depending on what I wanted. Woke up around 7 to check on things and everything seemed to be in good shape. Did a few things around the house and then around 11 was when things started to happen.
I had reached the stall temperatue but was just planning on fighitng through it. However, the temperature on the smoker dropped to like 190 degrees. I tried opening the vents but it wasn't getting hotter. I tried stirring the coals and that would make it hotter for a moment but then it went down. I tried lighitning new coals and then putting them in, but that didn't do too much either. I had to resort to lighitng new coals with the chimney starter and then funneling those in. That caused the temp to skyrocket, as you would imagine, but even then it would start to come down. Some coals in there that weren't lit wouldn't lit with the introduction. of new coals. All of this was with all the vents wide open. Basically, no matter what I did, the coals wouldn't stay lit and the temperature just kept dropping. It rained a bit but the coals weren't wet because they were inside and the smoker was covered by a large outdoor table umbrella.
To add another new wrinkle, depsite the issues above I was able to continue to cook the pork butt because I was sort of gaming the system. As the pork butt was reaching the temperature at which I wanted to pull it (195 degrees) it randomly started dropping. It was at 189 and moving right along, and then out of nowhere it dropped to 187. I didn't move the thermometer, I wasn't taking the top off and on. Nothing, it just dopped. I have the Maverick ET-733 thermometer. I waited maybe an hour for it to try to rise, but it wouldn't. Finally at like 530pm I just pulled the pork butt off the smoker. It was definitely done as all of the fat melted away, the bone came right out and it pulled apart.
Clearly, despite my final product, I did multiple things wrong. However, I'm not sure what I did wrong, which is why I'm here! Maybe I didn't light the first batch of coals in the chimney starter long enough? When I added newly lit coals they wouldn't catch with coals that I put in there so I'm really not too sure. But the final product was so good, and everyone loved it, that I am going to continue to use my WSM whenever possible. I would just like the cook to be a little less hectic, that's all.
Open to any thoughts and questions and thanks in advance for all of the help!
So about 10 days ago I did my first smoke on my WSM 14in. The final product turned out great but it was a pretty harrowing experience along the way and one I would like to avoid again.
So I bought an 8lb bone-in pork butt from Wegmans. The plan was to serve it on Saturday, Aug 4th around 6pm, so I put it in the smoker at 1230am that morning in order to give it enough time (I was out of town prior so it didn't have anytime to brine, just went right on the smoker. I did put a rub on it thought.). Used the Minion method for the coals and put them in a Weber chimney starter, using the weber lighter cubes, to get them hot. As soon as the coals were hot I dumped them on top of the rest of the coals, put on the pork but, kept the vents wide open, and waited for the tempater to get into that 225-250 range.
Once it got there I adjusted the bottom vents (I kept the top one open the entire time) to try to control the temperature and then went to bed (this was probably around 1 or so). I woke up a few times in the middle of the night to check on things. The temperature flucatued from being a little too hot, to being a little too cold, but nothing crazy. It was also something that could be adjusted for up or down by closing or opening the vents depending on what I wanted. Woke up around 7 to check on things and everything seemed to be in good shape. Did a few things around the house and then around 11 was when things started to happen.
I had reached the stall temperatue but was just planning on fighitng through it. However, the temperature on the smoker dropped to like 190 degrees. I tried opening the vents but it wasn't getting hotter. I tried stirring the coals and that would make it hotter for a moment but then it went down. I tried lighitning new coals and then putting them in, but that didn't do too much either. I had to resort to lighitng new coals with the chimney starter and then funneling those in. That caused the temp to skyrocket, as you would imagine, but even then it would start to come down. Some coals in there that weren't lit wouldn't lit with the introduction. of new coals. All of this was with all the vents wide open. Basically, no matter what I did, the coals wouldn't stay lit and the temperature just kept dropping. It rained a bit but the coals weren't wet because they were inside and the smoker was covered by a large outdoor table umbrella.
To add another new wrinkle, depsite the issues above I was able to continue to cook the pork butt because I was sort of gaming the system. As the pork butt was reaching the temperature at which I wanted to pull it (195 degrees) it randomly started dropping. It was at 189 and moving right along, and then out of nowhere it dropped to 187. I didn't move the thermometer, I wasn't taking the top off and on. Nothing, it just dopped. I have the Maverick ET-733 thermometer. I waited maybe an hour for it to try to rise, but it wouldn't. Finally at like 530pm I just pulled the pork butt off the smoker. It was definitely done as all of the fat melted away, the bone came right out and it pulled apart.
Clearly, despite my final product, I did multiple things wrong. However, I'm not sure what I did wrong, which is why I'm here! Maybe I didn't light the first batch of coals in the chimney starter long enough? When I added newly lit coals they wouldn't catch with coals that I put in there so I'm really not too sure. But the final product was so good, and everyone loved it, that I am going to continue to use my WSM whenever possible. I would just like the cook to be a little less hectic, that's all.
Open to any thoughts and questions and thanks in advance for all of the help!