Did I screw up?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date

 
G

Guest

Guest
I'm cooking my first batch of butts on my WSM with a Stoker. After about 8 1/2 hours the tempurature spiked sharply downward and then the blower ran for a bit and got overshot up to 250, then the temp came back down under 200. I added a few lit coals to try to get it going, but it didn't really help. I ended up added a good number of unlit coals and about 20 more lit on top of that. I ran out of Kingsford, so the additional fuel was Royal Oak briquettes. Is this going to give my meat an off flavor(adding so much unlit)?
 
The temp continued to spike... the only way to get it up was to open the door and let the fire breath, but it would go right back down after the door went back on. I think the Royal Oaks is old and I seem to remember having trouble getting it to burn in my grill... I wish I had of thought about that before putting in the smoker. I gave up and put the meat in the oven. I was at 160 for the last 3 hours. I did tear a little of the bark and the outer layer of meat off, and it was pretty damned bitter. I really hope my butts aren't ruined, but I think they probably are. I'm a bit disappointed that its 3 in the morning and I'm not asleep with the stoker plugging away. I'll definitely stick to kingsford from now on.
 
I wouldn't think what you did would have any affect on the flavor. I've never had an issue with taste when adding unlit charcoal, and I've smoked with Kingsford, lump, and a mixture of the two.

What type of smoke wood did you use?
 
when you say spike...how hot did it get? Mixing the charcoal and adding unlit is fine. I personally think Kingsford stinks. Your gonna fine they will stall at 165 or so for a few hour...its natural. All the fat and connective tissues are breaking down w/in the meat. If your goal was at 200 degrees, your gonna be there at least 2 hours a lb, too long thats not needed. My desired temps are always 250-275. Esp for butts. Try these temps out next time. load up your ring, add some hot on top and you wont have to touch it until there done.
 
Sounds like your fire either went out or pretty close, and ash buildup was not letting it breath when you added more fuel. Stoker should have been pushing in sufficient air.

I would think that the lump would have been easier to light than the briquettes. It still needs a pretty good set of running/hot coals to self start, but would light faster than briquettes in my view. Unless it was wet?

Might have been better to lift everything off the firebox (intact), set aside and restoke the fire, let it settle a bit then but everything back together. Temps in the cooking area would have stayed relatively constant while you were getting things going. Push the cook temp to 250 for the remainder of the cook.

Or as an interim if you have a long handled tool (I do, for purposes like this) to reach in and rake the coals to shake loose the ash and feed in the fuel from the door. Can be a little tricky.

I think you may have been cooking at too low a temp as well. I usually do 250 for butts. But that's me.

Since the heat picked up with the door open and then dropped after closing it this definitely sounds like you got into a condition where the coals were blocked and couldn't get air.

Don't give up!

Ray
 
I agree..too much ash, thats why I dislike kingsford. If you can get some RANCHER briquets your styling. Much better, longer burns, a lot less ash.
 
Well, the butts didn't turn out. They were greasy, bitter and mushy. At least the meat was only .87/lb.

Where can I buy Rancher briquettes? I'm in Portsmouth, VA.

I buy the theory that I had too much ash and too low of a temperature. Next time I'll try cooking at 250. I really do think there is something wrong with the Royal Oak charcoal I had though... I had forgotten, but I couldn't get it to burn hot in my weber kettle a while back when I was trying to sear a steak. Maybe it got wet sometime? I'm throwing the remainder in the trash.

If I end up in a situation where I need to clean out the ash, what is the best method of doing so?
 
Mushy is a sign of overcooked. You might want to verify your thermometer.

I would not count on getting any Rancher. It seems it was a one time thing at Home Depot, but you can check.

I'm surprised you had a problem given that you were using a Stoker. Did you fill the charcoal ring FULL and not use water?

I think the bitter is due to the bad combustion of the Royal Oak. If the fire was going better and you didn't put on so much unlit and the charcoal was good, you would have been alright, but the combination was bad.

Basically, I think even if you use Kingsford, all you need to do is make sure you fill the ring so you don't have to reload.

Also, just so we're all speaking the same language - a spike is a rise in temp. The drop in temp that you experienced is just that - a drop.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:


I think the bitter is due to the bad combustion of the Royal Oak. If the fire was going better and you didn't put on so much unlit and the charcoal was good, you would have been alright, but the combination was bad.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I Dissagree. That totally goes against the Minion Method.
icon_confused.gif

I just did a double smoke last week. Started with 1/3rd of a ring of charcaol and smoked a big Turkey breast. After it was done 3 hrs I said ah what the heck, I have these 2 hams in the fridge I got from my work. Took off the middle section and dumped another 10 lbs of charcaol on the few remaining brigs about (15 patials) left and a bunch of maple chunks and turned the Guru back on. No bitter or off taste here.
icon_wink.gif
 
Patrick
You did not mention how much wood or what kind of wood you use. Neither Kingsford or Royal Oak should have left your butts with the bitter aftertaste.

If your charcoal was wet or damp then the combination of damp charcoal and wood could have created a situation where you had incomplete combustion. This would explain your low temps in the bitter flavor you had.

You also didn't state what the temp you are trying to achieve or you had the Stoker set at. If the Stoker was set at two low temperature with damp charcoal this can explain the incomplete combustion.

Jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bryan S:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:


I think the bitter is due to the bad combustion of the Royal Oak. If the fire was going better and you didn't put on so much unlit and the charcoal was good, you would have been alright, but the combination was bad.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I Dissagree. That totally goes against the Minion Method.
icon_confused.gif

I just did a double smoke last week. Started with 1/3rd of a ring of charcaol and smoked a big Turkey breast. After it was done 3 hrs I said ah what the heck, I have these 2 hams in the fridge I got from my work. Took off the middle section and dumped another 10 lbs of charcaol on the few remaining brigs about (15 patials) left and a bunch of maple chunks and turned the Guru back on. No bitter or off taste here.
icon_wink.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bryan,
Jim already answered this, but what I was thinking is that the fire was basically smoldering which created the bitter taste. In a normal minion cook, the fire is burning well and you don't have that problem.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bryan S:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jerry N.:


I think the bitter is due to the bad combustion of the Royal Oak. If the fire was going better and you didn't put on so much unlit and the charcoal was good, you would have been alright, but the combination was bad.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I Dissagree. That totally goes against the Minion Method.
icon_confused.gif

I just did a double smoke last week. Started with 1/3rd of a ring of charcaol and smoked a big Turkey breast. After it was done 3 hrs I said ah what the heck, I have these 2 hams in the fridge I got from my work. Took off the middle section and dumped another 10 lbs of charcaol on the few remaining brigs about (15 patials) left and a bunch of maple chunks and turned the Guru back on. No bitter or off taste here.
icon_wink.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bryan,
Jim already answered this, but what I was thinking is that the fire was basically smoldering which created the bitter taste. In a normal minion cook, the fire is burning well and you don't have that problem. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, not really. You add 5-20 lit briqs, or in my case I light 3 spots in my unlit with a propane torch, on top of a boat load of unlit. This varries depending on how much cold meat you are starting with. Then you have the reverse Minion when you add unlit on top of some lit. In both cases you are starting out with, or continuing a cook with a very small amount of lit verses unlit. Of course this is just my opinion.
icon_biggrin.gif
 
Chance are the bitter flavor came within the first 8 1/2 hours not after adding additional coals to the fire. There is not enough info in Patrick's post to know.

If the coals were damp from the beginning incomplete combustion was a problem early in the cook.

Jim
 
Hey Patrick, just try again...we have all been there....believe me. and dont get discouraged. When it turns out great..it will be rewarding.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jim Minion:
Chance are the bitter flavor came within the first 8 1/2 hours not after adding additional coals to the fire. There is not enough info in Patrick's post to know.

If the coals were damp from the beginning incomplete combustion was a problem early in the cook.

Jim </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yeah, that's what I was thinking Jim. By the time he went to add more coals it shouldn't have really had an effect on the taste of the meat.

I'm leaning towards the smoke wood as maybe the issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top