Jeffery Link
TVWBB Member
Post your results Dwain
1st Cook (Overnight) Pork Butts on 22.5" with IQ 110 Out of Fuel in Morning?
- Thread starter Troy Zabransky
- Start date
Gary S
TVWBB Guru
I think you will be surprised at the difference. It takes a whole lot of energy to heat that much water and once everything is burning to that extent, you can't hold back the fuel consumption but the water holds back the temps. Just sayin
Dwain Pannell
TVWBB Hall of Fame
My recommendation: turn up the heat to 250* and let it fluctuate between 225* and 275*. I think trying to maintain 225* simply prolongs the cook and burns more fuel. You're probably dipping to as low as 200*. If you turn up the heat just a bit so you are still in the low and slow range, you'll cook faster and burn less fuel. You should be able to FILL the charcoal ring to the top and add a FULL chimney of volcano fire shooting out the top lit to the unlit ring and get an all night cook out of it.
Just for giggles, put your Mav temp probe in your oven. Set the oven to 225* and see how the temp swings in a range. Your ATC is doing the same thing to your WSM prolonging the cook. ...and burning charcoal.
Scott C.
TVWBB Super Fan
Dwain,
Can you please expand on this comment? I've used my DigiQ DX2 only two times so far, and found not only that it was able to maintain the temp rock solid +/- 1 or 2 degree max, as confirmed by the Maverick pit temp too, but I also noticed a dramatic drop in fuel usage as well. My experience, while certainly fleeting at this point, seems at odds with yours?
Dwain Pannell
TVWBB Hall of Fame
I used to have a pitmaster iQ but have never owned a digiQ. They look pretty cool and I see pros use them at events I've attended. I am not sure if they operate the same due to programming or not.
When I used the pitmaster, I felt as if it had a wide variation allowing a range vs a definite temp. My oven does the same thing (range vs def temp) by turning on and off as required. If the digiQ maintains temps in a tighter range and conserves fuel then that's very cool.
The pitmaster was great for set it and forget it but I prefer a bit less precision -- I don't stress over the variations and discovered the cooker can do it on it's own so I sold it. As a backyard weekend warrior I don't feel I need that precision.
When I used the pitmaster, I felt as if it had a wide variation allowing a range vs a definite temp. My oven does the same thing (range vs def temp) by turning on and off as required. If the digiQ maintains temps in a tighter range and conserves fuel then that's very cool.
The pitmaster was great for set it and forget it but I prefer a bit less precision -- I don't stress over the variations and discovered the cooker can do it on it's own so I sold it. As a backyard weekend warrior I don't feel I need that precision.
Frank Eriksen
TVWBB Super Fan
I have an IQ-110 and that device will keep your cooker at the temp you set. There's little fluctuation. So you may use a bit more fuel. I haven't done 6 pork butts, but for 1 or 2 pork butts or a brisket, I fill the ring completely. Then add a full chimney of lit coals. Here's the deal on WSM's. Even with the Pitmaster IQ-110, you're working with a live fire that will be affected by outside temp, wind, temp of meat upon loading, etc. So even with a controller you can't walk away for 10 hours. I check mine every 2 hours. If you put 6 pork butts on, you gotta figure that its gonna take some extra coals to bring all that meat to 200*.
Scott C.
TVWBB Super Fan
Agreed. While I mostly got the DigitQ and Maverick to avoid having to jump off the couch every 15 minutes to check on the thing and adjust vents, it's ability to maintain the temps so rock solidly is a real bonus. Imho, that temp precision is great in at least eliminating one of the cooking variable, as I learn to adjust the others in my quest for BBQ supremacy!
Dwain,
Youch! 30 lbs of charcoal for a brisket is quite painful to hear for one cook, and one of the reasons that I sold my 22.5" WSM after just one cook (the others being space and lack of usage). I still love my Webers for capacity and short to medium range cooking (up to 6 hrs), but I've gone kamado for overnighters.
Did a 9 lb packer in my large BGE overnight this past Sunday and loaded up maybe 4 lbs of lump charcoal for a 13 1/2 hour cook. Loaded the brisket at 10:15pm, adjusted the vents about 2 hrs in as the temp went from 220-275, then walked away at midnight. Next day pulled the brisket off at a minute till noon - cooker still at 210. Still had about 1/3 of the initial load left. Could have gone 4-5 more hrs easily. No stokers, no more vent adjustments, nothing. Easiest long cook I ever had.
Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
Bottom line is that as "painful" as using 30 lbs of charcoal for a solitary packer sounds, compared to a bge, charcoal is cheap, and you can cook just one OR SEVEN briskets on the big bullets. One uses a lot more charcoal, but since it can cook so much more at a time, it's kind of apples and oranges....
The 22.5 WSM is NOT going to hold 7 full-sized (9 lb +) packers without an additional grate being added (or some really creative shoehorning). The capacity difference is obvious because it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. The XL BGE is a more comparable, with similar capacity to the big bullet.
No knock against the WSM - it's a great cooker. I just wanted to share my experience and outcome of the same cut of meat (and same quantity) on a different cooker.
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Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
Sure, you have to add grates to the wsm for more than four packers, just like you need extender racks for taking advantage of vertical space in a ceramic. Extra grates aren't really that big of a deal, though. I used an extra middle grate in my 18" wsm for chicken and ribs a LOT before getting my 22", as well as using one a few times already in my 22". It works great for doing nine St. Loueys flat on the grate.
But as to capacity, I have no idea how much fits in the XL BGE. For the 22" WSM though, to fit a dozen butts in without vertical crowding you have to have to replace the grill straps with longer ones, dropping the pan a few inches. It's been done by a tvwbb poster with 120lbs of pork butt converted to BBQ. However, if sticking with stock grill straps and just adding a middle and a dome extender grate, 7 packers or 10 butts are not a problem. Half a dozen Weber four slot rib racks and an extra 22" grate will give you space for 27 St. Loueys or baby backs.
Back to the original issue,
Troy - did you do a "flashlight test", or something similar, to check your center section to make sure it wasn't out of round? You could do the same test around the door as well. The WSM will never be completely airtight, but every airleak you can find and seal helps with fuel usage.
Troy - did you do a "flashlight test", or something similar, to check your center section to make sure it wasn't out of round? You could do the same test around the door as well. The WSM will never be completely airtight, but every airleak you can find and seal helps with fuel usage.
Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
That's a good question, but no matter how tight and sealed a 22" wsm is, one chimney of lit Kbb over only two chimneys of unlit is cutting it close for two grates of pork butts.....at least in my experience with a tightly fitting CB door and middle section. I also should add that I've been foiling butts on the 22" with a dry pan.
Charcoal is cheap though, so I pack it in for the big cuts. Weather protection is HUGE, and I suspect that probably accounts for reports of low fuel useage.
Charcoal is cheap though, so I pack it in for the big cuts. Weather protection is HUGE, and I suspect that probably accounts for reports of low fuel useage.
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