Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
Thought I'd share about my pork butt smoke for the family reunion Saturday. First off, moisture was definately in the air, but my bag of Stubbs made it safely dry down to MS in the back of the car with my wsm. We were down there just a few hours before starting the cook after supper.
I loaded the ring and immediately lit with a torch. No problem. Water in the pan, meat on, and in a short while the temp is 235* measured through the top vent so I shut the vents about halfway. This start-up was with three good sized butts and was as quick as ever in getting up to temp.
HOWEVER, it didn't proceed as expected. I guess all the moisture in the air was just too much. Just a few hours later, I ended up opening the vents all the way when temps started to fall below 225*, and that still didn't do it. Stirring the coals didn't do it. Even lighting a few briqs in a chimney to throw on didn't do the job.....at least not long enough to matter.
The ONLY thing that let me FINALLY get some sleep was to take the cooker off the base and re-torch the coals. Thankfully, the Maverick didn't wake me up after that (around 3am) and I was able to get the pork tender by time to eat.
Anyone ever had anything like this happen? Not a drop of rain ever hit the briqs. The cooker was in the middle of a car port and the wind wasn't too bad. No more tropical smoking for me though unless I have an ATC for the wsm. I suppose a bbq guru or such would've been able to fan the coals enough for no issues.
What say you? If there was an issue with the charcoal shouldn't I had issues from the start? As to quality control issues, there was no more ash than usual. It's like the briqs just refused to burn with the amount of air given, and I should mention that the cooker started doing the very same thing at the very end of the cook before the last butt was tender.
I loaded the ring and immediately lit with a torch. No problem. Water in the pan, meat on, and in a short while the temp is 235* measured through the top vent so I shut the vents about halfway. This start-up was with three good sized butts and was as quick as ever in getting up to temp.
HOWEVER, it didn't proceed as expected. I guess all the moisture in the air was just too much. Just a few hours later, I ended up opening the vents all the way when temps started to fall below 225*, and that still didn't do it. Stirring the coals didn't do it. Even lighting a few briqs in a chimney to throw on didn't do the job.....at least not long enough to matter.
The ONLY thing that let me FINALLY get some sleep was to take the cooker off the base and re-torch the coals. Thankfully, the Maverick didn't wake me up after that (around 3am) and I was able to get the pork tender by time to eat.
Anyone ever had anything like this happen? Not a drop of rain ever hit the briqs. The cooker was in the middle of a car port and the wind wasn't too bad. No more tropical smoking for me though unless I have an ATC for the wsm. I suppose a bbq guru or such would've been able to fan the coals enough for no issues.
What say you? If there was an issue with the charcoal shouldn't I had issues from the start? As to quality control issues, there was no more ash than usual. It's like the briqs just refused to burn with the amount of air given, and I should mention that the cooker started doing the very same thing at the very end of the cook before the last butt was tender.