All Nighter?


 
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Ken Wilkens

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OK, it's been a couple of weeks since my first pork butt, and I am craving another.
Last time I got up at 4:30am and ate around 5:30pm.

This time I am considering doing 2. Should I just do an all night cook?

Questions: Do I need to get up to check on temps every so often? I have a remote monitor, should I just have that on the grill (as opposed to in the meat) and alarmed for hi-temp? Oh yeah, guess I have to fill the water as well, bummer (may have to do the Brinkman mod).

Just looking for some input.
 
Hi there, you have a few options.
One is cooking 1/2 butts, they should be
done in 8 hours if they weigh 4 pounds
each, cook them in the daytime. You can
cook whole butts with the standard setup
and time it with the remote therm and get
up to fix things. Or you can get the bigger
water pan, refill it before you go to bed,
and have no fear and sleep for 7 hours like
I have done on two cooks so far. They worked
out fine for me. Then stir up the coals and
get it going again till the meat is done.
There are other details about any method you
choose but in reasonable outside conditions
the third one should work for you. Thanks to members of this forum for helping me with
my overnight cooks in the past.
 
Ken,
Whenever the mood strikes me, I cook butts. Daytime, night-time, any time. I have often times started cooking around 6pm with 7-8 lb butts (1, 2 or more at a time). I watch the temps until I am comfortable they are stable (225-240). I go to bed at a normal time (11pm) and set the alarm for 3am at which time, I check the temp, rotate top to bottom, etc and mop the butts. Then it is back to bed until 6am, at which time, I will mop and check the temp of the meat for the first time.

Most of the time, this process works. However, a couple cooks ago, it was windy and my fire must have really heated up cause all the water was gone, temp was 275, and the butts were at 204--falling apart.

To salvage them, I spritzed with some apple juice, wrapped in foil, and let cool for two hours before pulling. I mixed in a little BBQ sauce, mustard, and apple juice and it was great.

In a BBQ competition, I would watch over the cook the entire session, grabbing short naps as I can.

In either case, the que is gooood eating.

Have fun

Dale
 
i'd like to second the motion of checking out the section here on the brinkman charcoal pan. i bought one the other day, after checking it out at the bbq store. they let me test it there on the display WSM and just like described, it gets a better fit than the supplied water pan!!

i made ribs last night, the only reason i didn't use it is the #%@$$%@ stickers on the bottom, i had to soak it in water to take em off. grrrr, who thought of sticking the model number to the bottom really wasn't thinking!!! easy for them to recognize, hard for me to take off!! but anyway it'll definately hold more water and control temp a lot better. i find now that im in control of the WSM, the water pan is my biggest complaint.
 
Don't be afraid of the all nighter... I have done them twice - and if you're not wanting to cut the butt in half - this is the way to go...
As you said, if you only have one remote, put it on the grid and set it for the high temp - Jim says 270*. The probe doesn't need to be in the meat until the morning anyway...
Use the big water pan, the Monion method of starting the charcoal, slather the mustard and apply the rub and enjoy some great Q !! Let the WSM do all the work !
Let us know how you did !
 
At the Montana State Champ this year I had brisket and butts cooking on 2 WSM, went to bed at midnight and got back to the cookers at 7 am. The other cooks said they check my cookers for me because I wasn't coming back evry hour and half (where else would competitors take care of each other like that). At 7am I add water and the cook went on. The main thing is wind, if you have no wind the cook should go fine. If you have wind then give yourself 4 hours of sleep, get up and check the cooker and go back to bed.
Trust the WSM to do it's job.
Jim
 
Thanks to all who posted in response (especially Jim, your charcoal method is awesome).

I did have a brain fart when I wrote the original post /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif I could also wrap up the butt at 150 or 160* and take some time off the cook.

Haven't decided how to approach this yet, I am also toying with the idea of a brisket flat. Have to hit Costco or super WalMart tomorrow....

Thanks again!!
 
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