Did an all-night cook for the first time, last night, in near-freezing temps (a first for me). I placed two butts on separate racks as usual, and I also placed an 8oz slab of Kentucky Legend ham on the top rack too.
I did the usual Minion Method with Royal Oak lump, and I placed about 6 chunks of hickory on the bare grate and filled it in with lump - to the point it was heaping over the ring. Next, I placed a generous portion (about 8" diameter) of some leftover Jack Daniels chips on top of the lump. I lit a small portion of previously used coals in the Weber chimney and tossed in some left over hickory scraps from the bottom of the bag and let them catch fire too.
The chimney coals and wood were raging well, so I dumped them on the heap, reassembled the stack with the butts and ham slice (around 2:00 am), and let the WSM do its thing. Temps were slow to rise during the first hour, so I opened all three bottom vents. The WSM belched out white smoke (as I have seen it do before), so I paid little attention to it as I knew the smoke would die down eventually. I pulled the ham at 3:30 am, and sampled it.
It tasted YUCK!
Evidently, I was tasting creosote, and it was so bitter, I had to chew gum to get the taste out of my mouth. I put the ham (sealed in a bag) in the fridge hoping the taste would mellow out later on.
It did not.
It was so bad (even the wife hated it), I cut it up and threw it out to the neighbor's cats.
The white smoke was gone, and the WSM was around 250* when I threw on the brisket. I hit the hay around 5:00 am, and pulled the brisket at 8:00 am (internal temp was around 200*). I removed the stack and dumped the rest of the Royal Oak lump before going back to bed. I pulled the butts around 1:00 pm, and they have been sitting, wrapped, in a cold oven until they cool down to the touch.
My wife and I sampled the top butt, and, although we could taste a bit of creosote, we thought it had a good flavor over all. Butts usually mellow out over time anyway, so I assume the meat will be OK when it comes to BBQ time.
Is it best to wait until the white smoke is completely gone before placing meat on the racks? After last night's smoke, I need to reexamine my process.
EDIT: Almost forgot. Since the buts were too hot to pull, we sliced up the brisket and warmed it in a pan of low sodium beef broth for dinner. Even after warming the meat in broth, we thought it was a bit dry (flavorful nonetheless), and we served it up with some mustard-based BBQ sauce (sort of like honey mustard), and we liked it very much.
The pan drippings were sensational! Next time, we will serve the drippings over potatoes or rice.
