1st Cook (Overnight) Pork Butts on 22.5" with IQ 110 Out of Fuel in Morning?


 
T

Troy Zabransky

New member
Long time 18.5 wsm owner with a new 22.5 and new IQ 110 temp controller.

Did a cook last night of 6 pork butts average weight of 8 pounds each before trimming.

Empty water pan was foiled.

Put 2 full weber chimmneys of kingsford original in ring and added 1 more lit chimmney (minion) on top.

Cook started at 7:30pm and temperature quickly stabilized at top grate at 225 as set on IQ 110.

When I checked this morning at 7am temp was 100 on lid and upon opening access door no fuel was left in chamber.


What do I need to do ensure my fuel lasts through the night?

Add more charcoal at beginning of cook? if so how much

Before I hit the sack add more charcoal to chamber? if so how much

Will adding a clay saucer help retain more heat and make the fuel more efficient and last longer?

Any answers to my questions or any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA
 
Clay saucer may help. I did a run last night with my WSM 18.5 and IQ110. Got 12 full hrs @ 225. I have a foiled clay and some sand in the water bowl.
 
No idea how much 3 chimneys fills up a 22" ring, but mine burns thought quite a bit of fuel. I'm still learning the WSM ways, but I saw your results coming from a mile away. My last butt cook kicked off at 3:30am with 30 lit briquets on top of a fully packed ring of lump charcoal and it wasn't enough to go the 12 hours. I have no idea how these guys get the long burn out of a single ring of charcoal.

My thread here - http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?38132-Long-smoke-question
 
With my 18.5 I did an 11 hour cook for 2 pork butts and had close to a third of the coal left when I shut it down. The speed at which your coal gets used up (and the temps your Weber runs at) is controlled the the air settings of your vents. I don't think using saucers or water will change how long your coal lasts, their function in the cooking process is to prevent high temperature spikes during the cooking by absorbing some of the energy the coal gives off. I would experiment with your vent settings and the amount of coal used (more needed) and also how the coal is arranged and burned. I saw an interesting video recently using what the maker called the "fuse" method for the coal ring- which was basically creating a broken circle of coal in the coal ring and lighting 1 end of the break and letting the lit coal slowly move around the circle throughout the day untill it was used up. That may be worth a try.
 
Chad Bman said:
No idea how much 3 chimneys fills up a 22" ring, but mine burns thought quite a bit of fuel. I'm still learning the WSM ways, but I saw your results coming from a mile away. My last butt cook kicked off at 3:30am with 30 lit briquets on top of a fully packed ring of lump charcoal and it wasn't enough to go the 12 hours. I have no idea how these guys get the long burn out of a single ring of charcoal.

My thread here - http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?38132-Long-smoke-question
Click to expand...

I can't get that long on the 22s. Maybe on the 18 with right conditions.
 
I was able to get about 11-12 hrs on my 22 before it drastically dropped temps due to hardly any coal left with KBB. When I stirred the ring I was lucky to find hardly any coals at all left in there and it was mostly hot ashes keeping the heat. This was while cooking 4* 6-8lb butts day after New Yrs.
To start I put a small coffee can(both ends removed) in the center of my ring and then filled around it full to the top of the ring. I started about 1/2 chimney and when ready put it in the can in the center and then pulled the can. Had a nice slow burn to the outside edges over night. I ended up dumping another lit chimney full in about 12hrs and it pushed me to my 14 hrs with cook time to spare. Ended up having some coals left that got choked out in the end. It was about 45-50 out and mild wind and kept temps at 235 area pretty steadily.
Higher heat burns will certainly burn up more charcoal an lower ones may burn it up slower..A few factors can play in to how fast it goes
I do have a 16" foiled clay saucer in mine for above cook and no water in the pan.


Troy- Howdy neighbor
 
I will normally fill the ring on my 22" halfway with kingsford, and then twist/shake the ring back and forth a little so the coals settle. Then I fill it to the top, and twist/shake again so that the coals are packed in good. I then spread just under a half chimney of lit coals on top center. I normally get a 14 hour burn easy. With that said, I have never cooked anymore that 4 butts at once.
 
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Robert V said:
I will normally fill the ring on my 22" halfway with kingsford, and then twist/shake the ring back and forth a little so the coals settle. Then I fill it to the top, and twist/shake again so that the coals are packed in good. I then spread just under a half chimney of lit coals on top center. I normally get a 14 hour burn easy. With that said, I have never cooked anymore that 4 butts at once.
Click to expand...

The reason I added the 22 WSM to my existing 18 WSM was increased capacity. I was cooking 4 butts on the 18 and up to 6 using a ProQ Stacker add on.

I plan on doing 6 butts again for the next cook but will start the cook later in the night with maximum charcoal at the start. That will give me a chance to check on it well before 12 hours has past.

In the future I'd like to do 8 butts. I could then easily add more fuel early in the morning to help compensate for the 60+ lbs or so of butt.
 
I`ll try and sniff out your next cook since your in the same county :) I`m on the Durham Wake border by Oak grove area myself.

Robert, I`ll have to try your shake the ring thing next cook and see if it will pack them in more. Might get me a tad more burn time.
 
The more you put in the WSM the more fuel it will use. Especially with the IQ-110, which cranks up to maintain temps with little fluctuation.
 
The 22" also has more volume to keep heated in addition to the extra meat mass so it will burn fuel faster than an 18" even cooking the same amount of meat. About all you can do is top off the ring with unlit just before turning in for the night and check it again in 6 or 7 hours. I do know a clay flower pot base will let me consume less fuel in my 18" using a BBQ Guru powerdraft than when using water. Only thing I don't like about the clay pot base is if the temps go higher than you want it is much harder and slower getting them down than with water and water is a better moderator of energy at 212* (it's a considerable jump in energy to have water go from the liquid state to the steam state which is one reason it makes a great temperature moderator for a smoke at 225*). I'm much happier letting my WSM run on water and the power draft while I sleep than the clay pot base. I look at it this way, fuel is cheap and I like my sleep.
 
Way too little unlit, way too much lit.

My last cook I got 13 hours of burn time before there wasn't enough fuel to maintain 225.

I use Kingsford Competition. I put about 3 fist-size hunks of wood around the edges of the ring, then dump a whole bag in the ring. 3 more fist-sized chunks go around the edges of that, then about a chimney's worth more unlit goes on the pile. I make a little hollowed area in the middle of all that, then fire up about 10 briquettes and put those in the hollow. Water pan was unlined and foiled, outside temp was about 50F and drizzling rain for the 2nd half of the cook.
 
I agree with Dave ^^^. I don't have an ATC, but I don't start cooks off with any more lit than one chimney filled to the top of the handle. This also lets me leave a little space around top of ring for wood to start smoking slowly by placing chunks outside of where I pour the lit in a center depression. I just leave vents all five vents at 100% until in my cooking range. Try a better briq or good lump, and pack it in tight and high.
 
I have a 18.5. On a long cook I will put as much charcoal as I can get in there, before I add the lit charcoal. I have even thought about a extention to the charcoal basket, so I can get even a little more in there.
 
Just wondering out loud, but I don't understand why folks won't just fill the ring to the max on a long and large cook. While I understand that it's nice to be able to predict exactly what you potentially could use, but the reality is, once the cook is done, just shut the vents and save what's left. If you wire the ring to the coal grate and install handles, once everything cools off, just lightly shake the left over coals, and leave them for next time. Sure beats the heck out of risking running out of fuel during the middle of the night.
 
I always fill the ring. A bag of Royal Oak Lump costs $6.48 at Wally World. I can't get a full bag in, so I'm maybe using $5.00 in charcoal to fill the ring and I actually try to arrange and fit the charcoal in to avoid big voids etc. On an overnight cook I would never think about anything less than a full ring. Sure couldn't get any sleep.

Cooking 230-275 I only use 12 briquettes to start the fire. That is plenty. It may take a few more minutes to get up to temp, but that's no big deal. The 12 lit will get it to 230-250 eventually even if you had no other charcoal in the cooker, just wouldn't last very long. If I have any unburned, I use it next cook. Don't get the throwing it away.
 
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I made this basket when I had my 22. My idea was to burn down rather than across thinking it would reduce fuel consumption. I agree with others, you have to fill the ring and do not use so much lit. The ATC will increase the burning to what it needs to maintain the temps you set. Fill the ring and leave no airspaces.
 
6 eight lb butts is a lot of cold mass to get up to temp which will affect burn time, like the others stated take a little time to arrange the briquetes for a tighter pack and fill the ring full. So tell me how did the butts turn out did you rotate top to bottom at any time? I have a few requests from several folks and have been wondering about doing 6-8 butts at one time.
 
The last packer brisket I cooked, I put a whole bag (15 lbs) of Stubb's and a little bit more (5 lbs?) to COMPLETELY fill the fuel ring. Then I started a FULL chimney to put on top. I had a full water pan and got 11 hours at 30* overnight temps. At 11 hours I added the rest of the second bag for a total of 30 lbs to finish it at 13 hours...but I could have cooked longer because there was fuel still burning when the brisket was done.

Tonight I am doing two butts with a dry pan and a foiled clay saucer to compare the difference. I have a FULL ring with a whole bag of Stubb's plus a little bit more again and the temp forecast is about 30*. We'll see what the difference the water vs clay saucer makes. With this set up, I anticipate I'll have the vents closed off more to maintain temps so I expect to burn less fuel.
 
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