12 lbs of pulled pork on the Weber Kettle in a blizzard...


 
J

James Kim

New member
I'm making supper for 30 people tomorrow so I wanted to make the pulled pork a day early. However, we're in the middle of a blizzard with high winds and a lot of snow over the next few days. Fortunately, I built a plywood windbreak (http://virtualweberbullet.com/coldtemp.html photos 7-10) earlier this week in preparation for the snow. Thanks J. Biesinger for the design, as it worked perfectly!

The temperature all day was -10C (14F), and the snow has picked up in the afternoon. I have 3 x 4lbs chunks of pork shoulder that I rubbed and threw in the Weber Kettle this morning using the snake method. Temperature was steady at 250F in the Kettle. Apple wood was the logical choice for this. 3 hours into the stall, I got tired of dealing with the elements, so I finished it in the oven at 250F until the internal temperature reached 203F. The pork came out beautiful, and I'm pretty sure most of it will be consumed tomorrow!

I currently have a 13 lb brisket in the WSM (using the Python method), and it will be smoking overnight. As I was done with the Weber Kettle, I put the windbreak on the WSM for the night. Temperature has been holding at 250F. I'll have to wake up early to check up on it. Brisket pictures will follow tomorrow.

Here's a picture of the windbreak for the Weber Kettle, plus a tarp on top:

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A picture of one of the 4 lbs chunks of pork as I was wrapping it to finish in the oven:

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The finished product:

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I got cold just looking at the pictures. That pulled pork looks great, also like the wind break. I don't cook outside in the snow and even with what little we get, but we do get high winds here and a wind break would be very helpful, have to make one.
 
That pull pork looks delicious and the wind break is a great idea. Like Rich said we get high winds so that is something we could use for sure.
 
Way to stand up to that weather James. I like to see that. Great planning and preparation on your part. Oh yeah, that pulled pork looks outstanding. Looking forward to seeing the brisket
 
Well done James. I'm just up the road a piece, and it's not so much the temp but the stiff breeze we get. Now I know what to do with the panels from an open baffle speaker project I made once. Will come in handy in the summertime too.
 
So last night I put the brisket in the smoker at 10:00pm and the temperature was steady at 250F. This morning at 6:30am, most of the charcoal was gone and the temperature was at 189F. I moved the live coals to the end of the python and refilled with more charcoal. Eventually I was able to get the temperature back to around 250F, but was fighting -14C (7F) temperatures. With the wind, it felt like -24C (-11F). Fortunately the windbreak did its job and for the most part I had a steady temperature until the brisket was done. Once again, the brisket was done at 199F, as the probe went in like butter everywhere. I wish I had a better picture of the final brisket, as it was the best one I've made to date. The bark was beautiful, the burnt ends were moist and melted in my mouth, and the fat was nicely rendered and slightly sticky. This was the first brisket where I didn't wrap during the cook. I wrapped in foil once it was done and left it in a cooler for 4 hours until guests arrived. Here are a few pics of the WSM in the blizzard and the brisket.

Once again, this was a Sterling Silver brisket, and got it at an excellent price. This windbreak changes everything in the winter, as I've proven to myself that cold windy blizzards won't hinder my ability to BBQ too much. I've got some maple bacon curing in the fridge, so I'll have some pictures of that sometime next week!

Picture of the WSM in the windbreak. The tarp is 4" above the exhaust, and nothing melted or burned. Just had a little discoloration.
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I forgot to start fat side down, so I flipped it over in the morning.
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Finished product before wrapping in foil and letting it sit in a cooler for 4 hours.
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A poor picture of the brisket. This is actually a screen capture of a video. I was trying to be fancy and do a slow motion video, but it didn't quite work out.
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Mark B said:
Well done James. I'm just up the road a piece, and it's not so much the temp but the stiff breeze we get. Now I know what to do with the panels from an open baffle speaker project I made once. Will come in handy in the summertime too.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's definitely the wind that messes things up. The cold I can deal with, and I'll probably add some reflective insulation on the inside of the windbreak to retain some of the heat, but getting the WSM out of the wind (especially in Calgary) has really helped.
 
I've thought about building that type of wind screen, but I'm afraid winds here in Oklahoma would blow it over. I can't see a way to anchor it down. How stable is it ?
 
Lynn, you could mount “shelf brackets” on the bottom edge and put those giant landscaping spikes out tent stakes through the holes. I would think that might do it.
Screw eyes or simply drill a hole at the top pass a rope through to secure the top and put a few stakes on the inside and lash it out to some stakes maybe three feet out? The stakes inside would keep the base from blowing in and the tie outs would secure it the other way.
I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about that stuff...
 
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James the setup looks great and the meat as well. I will be heading out there for the end of the month for my nephew's 1st birthday.
 
Thanks everyone for the comments. Yesterday, I chopped up some of the point, threw it in a pan with a bit of sauce, and added it to a steaming bowl of mac & cheese. The kids loved it!

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