Did I ruin my butts?


 
D

Danny Odom

TVWBB Member
Smoking 3 butts.

After about 3 hours of struggling to get smoker temp up above 225, I added some unlit Kingsford charcoal.

I noticed an unusual smell while adding the charcoal.

The temps finally got up to my smoking range [230-240 for me], but then I noticed soot covering the butts.

Turns out I had a leak in the water pan but it wasn't obvious since it was foiled. I'm almost 11 hours in and the butts are still only registering about 170. I moved two of them to the oven and foiled them. I foiled the third and left it on the smoker.

I'm guessing they will be bitter and ruined.

Suggestions?
 
There may be some bitterness but I'm willing to bet it won't be all that bad. Pork is pretty darn resilient so, unless the soot was really think, I think you'll be ok.
 
Vincent Carrocci said:
There may be some bitterness but I'm willing to bet it won't be all that bad. Pork is pretty darn resilient so, unless the soot was really think, I think you'll be ok.
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You were right! Thank goodness

I pulled and sampled after they finally reached 195-200. Two of the three were about as good as always. The third was not so bad, but perhaps a bit tougher than the other two.

Pardon the pun, but I needed this place to vent.
 
I've added unlit to long cooks and they turned out great. I don't see any difference in doing that and the minion method having unlit coals
 
Jeremy Cook said:
I've added unlit to long cooks and they turned out great. I don't see any difference in doing that and the minion method having unlit coals
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Just as an experiment, next time you light a chimney of charcoal, pay attention to how long you see white smoke vs how long it takes to for all the coals to ash over.

You'll discover that the fuel stops smoking when about half the coals in the chimney have ignited. That would lead one to believe that a lot of the volatiles in the unlit charcoal in the upper half of the chimney have been burned off before even being lit. I also think this happens inside a WSM while using the Minion Method. After a period of time having been exposed to the heat inside the cooker, the unlit charcoal will no longer smoke even though it has not been ignited. I have no scientific data or information to back this up, but it is based upon more than a decade of observation...for whatever that's worth!
 
I agree 100% I don't see any issue adding unlit during the cook. When I light my Minion cook, it's never more than 20 or so coals.

Jeremy Cook said:
I've added unlit to long cooks and they turned out great. I don't see any difference in doing that and the minion method having unlit coals
Click to expand...
 
So how did you get the leak in the pan? Trauma, or was it rusted through? How old was the pan, and was it out in the weather, etc.?
 
Vincent Carrocci said:
Just as an experiment, next time you light a chimney of charcoal, pay attention to how long you see white smoke vs how long it takes to for all the coals to ash over.

You'll discover that the fuel stops smoking when about half the coals in the chimney have ignited. That would lead one to believe that a lot of the volatiles in the unlit charcoal in the upper half of the chimney have been burned off before even being lit. I also think this happens inside a WSM while using the Minion Method. After a period of time having been exposed to the heat inside the cooker, the unlit charcoal will no longer smoke even though it has not been ignited. I have no scientific data or information to back this up, but it is based upon more than a decade of observation...for whatever that's worth!
Click to expand...

Agree with Vince 100%. The "preheating" of unlit coal seems to either eliminate the start up smoke or such small amounts of coal are being lit at anyone time that the bad smoke is undetectable.

This was discussed on the wkc a while back too: http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/kbb-minion-vs-adding-coals/
 
Adding the unlit should not make the butts taste bad. Pulled pork is pretty hard to just ruin. I would bet it turns out ok.
 
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