Ron Fisher
TVWBB Member
So this was supposed to be a brisket cook but I couldn't find any I liked, either too big at 16# or just small flats. I picked up a couple 9# butts instead and froze one for later. Did my typical no sugar rub which is a mix of kosher, coarse pepper, chili powder, smoked paprika etc. This is my 2nd cook on my new to me used WSM 18.5. It is not well seasoned but I did just put on a nomex kit from bbqgaskets.com that really helped with smoke loss.
I decided to do a Midnight Minion with a full load of Kingsford and 3 nice hunks of Alder (my favorite wood that is plentiful here in the PacNW). I went for a dry pan with elevated foil to keep from burning. I put the butt on cold after pouring about 30 glowing coals on top. The temp was about 260 after 20 minutes so I set the bottom vents to 1/3 open and went to bed. Got up at 5am to my beeping temp controller (it was outside so it had been beeping for a long time) which read 330! The butt was 175. That seemed way too hot and too far along for 5 hours. Dampered the cooker down and removed the pan foil and replaced with cold water to stabilize and reduce the temp.
After a couple hours and some sleep the cooker was down to 200 and the butt was 160.. so I opened things up, mopped on some mop sauce and got it back to 250 after another couple hours. I'm 15 hours into it now and the temp is 195 so I'm going to wrap it for a bit. I think it is going to turn out fine after the speed bump.
Clearly I have to find a way to keep my temps down with no water. It wasn't really windy last night and the temps were in the 60's. What do you guys with no water do to keep a full load of coal from getting too hot? I'm thinking that one or two vents closed and the 3rd at 1/3 might have kept the temps lower.
http://s1060.photobucket.com/user/fishman64/media/IMG_2656_zpsgacybmyn.jpg.html
Ron
I decided to do a Midnight Minion with a full load of Kingsford and 3 nice hunks of Alder (my favorite wood that is plentiful here in the PacNW). I went for a dry pan with elevated foil to keep from burning. I put the butt on cold after pouring about 30 glowing coals on top. The temp was about 260 after 20 minutes so I set the bottom vents to 1/3 open and went to bed. Got up at 5am to my beeping temp controller (it was outside so it had been beeping for a long time) which read 330! The butt was 175. That seemed way too hot and too far along for 5 hours. Dampered the cooker down and removed the pan foil and replaced with cold water to stabilize and reduce the temp.
After a couple hours and some sleep the cooker was down to 200 and the butt was 160.. so I opened things up, mopped on some mop sauce and got it back to 250 after another couple hours. I'm 15 hours into it now and the temp is 195 so I'm going to wrap it for a bit. I think it is going to turn out fine after the speed bump.
Clearly I have to find a way to keep my temps down with no water. It wasn't really windy last night and the temps were in the 60's. What do you guys with no water do to keep a full load of coal from getting too hot? I'm thinking that one or two vents closed and the 3rd at 1/3 might have kept the temps lower.
http://s1060.photobucket.com/user/fishman64/media/IMG_2656_zpsgacybmyn.jpg.html
Ron