35 lbs. of Pork Butt Now On The WSM


 
Lew Newby

Lew Newby

R.I.P. 1/26/2024
30 minutes ago I put 4 Boston Butts on the WSM. I'm cooking for a fishing/shrimping club picnic and this is my first cook with a loaded WSM. The meat internal temp. is 31 degrees. They're still frozen in the center but well rubbed. I squeezed on a Fattie for my Grandson. This is my eleventh cook with the WSM and, by far, my largest. It is also my first overnighter. I hope the ET-73 alarm wakes me up. If I can sleep that is.
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I think that with everything I've learned here, so far, that this big cook will go as well as most of my smaller ones. I'll take pictures when I take them off tomorrow. My plan is to rest them in foil for a couple of hours before I pull and refrigerate the pork. Saturday, the club cook will heat it all up for lunch at noon.

Oh yeah, I'm trying something new on this cook. The two lower Butts are on a roasting rack in a foil pan. Tight fit. I'm hoping for a lot of bark this way but we'll see what happens.
 
I will Charles. It took 2 hours for the center to get above 32 degrees but the WSM is cruising and the Fattie is coming off. It's almost at 160. Also, the outside air temp stayed at 91 until 9:30. Balmy tonight.
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I love this site.
 
2:30 AM. The cooker low temp alarm woke me up. The temp was 205. I opened the vents and gently probed the coals. Temp came back up to 225 quickly. The meat is at 161 so it should be in the stall. So far everything is working like it should. At least I got 3 hours sleep and maybe more later.
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This is old hat for a lot of you so I hope I'm not boring anyone.
 
Lew, don't worry. I cook butts completely frozen. Not a big deal. Get some sleep. What kind of charcoal are you using and how full was your charcoal ring?
 
Man...I hope Lew wakes up soon, that's a lot of meat...I'm only 15 mins from Deltona, maybe I should drive up there and check!
 
Zac, I'm using Kingsford Blue and I filled the charcoal ring to the max. You posted at 6:40 and I had just gone back to bed. I got two hours sleep and just woke up. I'm taking pictures to post later. Who's pumped?
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I use the Brinkman charcoal pan and after 15 hours it's still holding water. I did add some charcoal this morning and I'll need to add some more to finish the cook. I may be near the end of the stall because the meat temp has risen 6 degrees in the last hour. I really wanted to make this a low and slow cook and it's working out that way. Since 2:30 the temp has been hovering around 230 and since it likes to cruise there I'm just enjoying the ride.

I fed my grandson scrambled eggs, his Fattie, and toast and jelly for breakfast. When I told him I had made the Fattie last night for him he beamed.

I'm editing because I noticed that the post times are Pacific time. I guess I should have know that. My comment about time was in error.
 
Been cooking 19 hours and only have two butts wrapped and in the cooler. I moved the two lower butts to the top rack because they were really lagging the others. I also lifted the WSM body and emptied a ton of ash. Now I have more temp control.

Initial pictures. I'm a lousy photographer.
 
This is better than reading a friggin' novel! LOVE this website.
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I want to know how this turned out in the end. Please keep more coming. Thanks!
 
The WSM has been cooking for 20 hours and I still have water in the pan. I've used 20 lbs of Kingsford so far. I'm running the temp at 265 to finish the last 2 off. No oven today.
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The meat just hit 190 but it's not tender enough. I let the first butt I removed stay in the cooler for 2 hours and pulled it. Good smoke ring, real tasty and moist. I added pictures to the gallery.
I'm tired but still enjoying the learning experience.
 
I just took the last 2 butts out of the cooker, foiled, and put them in the cooler with a bunch of towels. They passed the probe, probe, probe test I learned here. They both taste good. A piece always pulls loose on the grate. I'm going to take a nap before I pull them and then I'll recap what I learned. It's been a day of firsts and the PM thunderstorms are getting close.
 
Nice cook Lew! That's a crap ton of pork! Sounds like you did well and the pictures look great...I like your make shift BBQ cart too, that is awesome! Get some ZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZ's you deserve it!
 
Charles, I built the cabinet five years ago for two benchtop woodworking tools out of stuff that was left over from other projects. The doors are a different size because the tools were different sizes. Last week I built the top, drawers, shelves, and attached the top from stuff I had in the garage. Tile was leftover from a bathroom remodel but I had to buy thinset and some screws. I've had the drawer slides for ten years (sale) I just used what I had

Now, what I learned in the last 24.
1. Use at least a half chimney of hot coals for the Minion method when the WSM is stuffed.
2. When using water the bottom rack cooks slower than the top.
3. I finally learned how to use the functions of my ET-73 and the alarm wakes me up.
4. Inject the Butts with Chris Lilly's inject. I did before but didn't this time and my bride of 47 yrs. noticed the difference in taste immediately. Good thing she's not going to the picnic.
5. To be honest I was worried that I didn't have the experience to do this but found that I could.

The many, many things I've learned here in 3 months really helped on this cook. My thanks go to the newbies, like me, who asked the questions and to the seasoned veterans who doled out a ton of information. Thanks to you, Chris, for a great board and a site filled with your cooking experience. I'm blessed.
 
Lew, they all look fantastic. As for injection, I never have injected but use my homemade eastern NC sauce gently to add flavor after pulling. Still, to each his (or her) own! Regardless, I'd eat both those 9 lb'ers as they are in a food challenge with anyone! They look that good! Congrats!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lew Newby:
...Now, what I learned in the last 24.
1. Use at least a half chimney of hot coals for the Minion method when the WSM is stuffed.
<span class="ev_code_RED">You got that right, or even more. In certain conditions, I'd start with a full one before I went back to the torch. Making sure the butts are thawed out and using really hot water in the pan will help in getting up to temp as well.</span>
2. When using water the bottom rack cooks slower than the top.
<span class="ev_code_RED">Yes, if there's one butt right over the pan. If it's two on the rack though, not IN a pan, I don't think you'll notice much difference. The butts hang over past the pan and absorb quite a bit of cooking heat, but surprisingly, I've found no need to rotate cooking at low-n-slow temps.</span>
3. I finally learned how to use the functions of my ET-73 and the alarm wakes me up.
4. Inject the Butts with Chris Lilly's inject. I did before but didn't this time and my bride of 47 yrs. noticed the difference in taste immediately. Good thing she's not going to the picnic. <span class="ev_code_RED">Thanks for that observation, Lew. I find his injections salty, but will reduce the salt next time.</span>
5. To be honest I was worried that I didn't have the experience to do this but found that I could.

...I'm blessed.
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</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks so much for all the details, Lew! Looks like you did a great job, and hope you catch up on your sleep. Have a great weekend.
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