Cold weather - big smoke - need advice


 
Scott Segrin

Scott Segrin

New member
I'm hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. What better time to fire up and fill the WSM 22".

Tuesday (dinner at 5pm) will be a whole turkey (14 lb), partly de-boned and butterflied open, on the bottom rack and two butts (7-8 lb each) on the top for pulled pork. Wednesday (dinner at 2pm) will be two smallish (10 lb.) brisket packers on the bottom and six racks of ribs on the top (plus leftovers from Tues night).

I've never smoked this much meat at once, nor have I smoked in temps as cold as what's being predicted - high of 11 on Tuesday, 7 on Tuesday night and 20 on Wednesday. I am putting the WSM in the attached garage (with the door open of course) to keep it out of the wind and snow. I am assuming that I'll need a lot more charcoal that I normally would - maybe double? What about wood? Any adjustments on that? Cook times? The same - as long as I get the smoker up to my target temp? Each smoke will be about double the meat of what I've ever done. How do times change for that? Bottom vents open more than normal? What if I can't hit 225-250? Anything else I can do? All tips and advice appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi Scott,

WSM in the attached garage? Even with the door wide open this is a major no-no IMHO. The smoke & CO will penetrate the walls of the garage and into the house and whoever is in the garage will be gassed. Wind is your biggest problem but placing a WSM inside an partially enclosed area (like a garage) is asking for trouble. Try to locate the WSM out of the wind or fabricate an insulated sleeve.

I'm not sure you need to partially debone and butterfly the turkey. Brine and season it as you normally would then smoke it whole. Good idea on having the butts on top. You won't need more smoke wood (I learned here that you want the smoke to kiss the meat) but you may need more charcoal. Do you have a gas grill handy? After the meat gets to around 160F, it no longer absorbs smoke flavor so you can transfer the meat as needed to your outside gas grill or kitchen oven to finish. I would go with a Minion start with a full chimney and full rings on both days.

The cook times will vary due to wind and meat placement; the meat on the lower rack will take longer to cook. Keep the top vent wide open and use the bottom to control temps. With all of that meat, your WSM will take longer to get up to heat up before it locks in.

Two 10 lb full briskets or do you mean 2 10-lb flats? I can't get full packers that small in NVa. Make sure there is a layer of fat on the briskets to keep it moist. I don't cook ribs (too much work for so little meat) so others may chime in on that.

Backwards plan on the time. Make sure you include adequate rest time (20-30 mins turkey, 1 hr for foil wrapped butts, briskets in a cooler with towels).

I hope this helps. Good luck. :)
 
OK, Gene, you convinced me. Suffocating and poisoning my guests on Christmas is probably a bad idea. WSM will go in the screened patio - open on three sides. I've grilled in there a bunch in winter without any problems.

I looked, and briskets are close to 11 lbs, but they do have a point. I thought they were small too. Usually the ones I get are in the 15-16 lb range, but these were the only two they had so I bought them both.

So (anyone) do I treat this as one 20 lb brisket for purposes of calculating cook time, or because it's two pieces will it cook faster than that?
 
Scott Segrin said:
OK, Gene, you convinced me. Suffocating and poisoning my guests on Christmas is probably a bad idea. WSM will go in the screened patio - open on three sides. I've grilled in there a bunch in winter without any problems.

I looked, and briskets are close to 11 lbs, but they do have a point. I thought they were small too. Usually the ones I get are in the 15-16 lb range, but these were the only two they had so I bought them both.

So (anyone) do I treat this as one 20 lb brisket for purposes of calculating cook time, or because it's two pieces will it cook faster than that?
Click to expand...

In my experience, once the WSM gets to temp, the meats will cook on their own, relatively independent of each other. Keeping the dome on and limiting wind exposure will speed the cook. Plan on cooking to 190-195 int temp then test for tenderness using a fork/probe, usually int temp 205. To speed things along at 180-185 int temp, separate then pan/foil the flats and caps separately and finish off in a conventional oven or gas grill. Save the au jus. Drain the fat off, mix in some leftover rub and incorporate this into your sauce.
 
Your screened patio is a much better place to cook. Looks like Gene N has it right on the brisket.
Just don't be too firm on your dinner seating times, as BBQ is more often than not done when it is done,
and not when we want it to be.
 
Meat temp has nothing to do with the amount of smoke flavour and smoke is not absorbed into the meat it is adsorbed which means it clings to the surface of the meat. At a certain point ones taste buds will go into sensory overload and you won't taste it if it gets more of a smoke flavour but everyone is different when it comes to that. You may have noticed that the next day your leftovers seem to have a smokier taste to them. This is because you were hanging around the smoker while you were cooking and your Olfactory sensors and taste buds have become overloaded and desensitized to the smoke.

You have a large heat sink with that much meat so if you put the meat on to a cold smoker it will take a lot longer to get it up to temperature and will use a lot more charcoal to keep it there.
 
Phase 1 of the cook - pork butts and turkey - was a success. It was -1 degree F when I lit the smoker yesterday morning (which I wound up having outside in its typical spot.) Apart from using a lot more charcoal than I typically would, the WSM performed like it would on any summer day. Held at 260-270 all day long. My charcoal was running down at the end, so I pulled the butts when they hit 180, foiled them and finished them in the regular oven. When they hit 195, I turned the oven off and left the door open for 15 minutes or so to get some of the heat out. Then I closed the oven and let them sit there for an hour before pulling. They were outstanding. Briskets went on at 9pm last night. Got up this morning at 430am and the WSM was right on 250 and you never smelt anything so good on a winter Christmas morning. Amazing device.
 
Scott;
It looks to me like you made a wonderful cook (and adapted using the oven when necessary). Kudos!!

Sounds terrific.

Thanks for sharing with us (it is 21 degrees here and I don't know if I am ambitious enough to try a smoke in these temperatures, let alone at YOUR temps:confused:.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
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