Did the ribs, 2 pork butts this weekend...advice?


 
B

Bill Herns

New member
Ribs came out great although I think I need to add more wood chunks once into the smoking process.
How much time can I expect two butts to take...I'm guessing 15-16 pounds. Looks like it could be rainy and windy. Has anyone used Kingsford Competition Charcoal? It is supposed to burn a bit hotter and longer.
Thanks.

I have already bent the door a bit...lost heat and smoke with the ribs. Once I figure the picture process I'll post!
 
I just did 2 butts 8lb Ea on my 18.5 top grate running about 225 and took about 16 hours using kbb. That was my fist time doing 2 butts at once. It really slowed the cooking process.
 
I'm not sure a charcoal that burns hotter will do any good, if you choke it off by closing the vents. If you want to burn hotter, just open the vents. Even with a full water pan, you'll be over 300 in no time.
 
This past weekend I did two bone in Boston Butts on my 18.5" WSM. It was windy and the smoker wanted to run hot. I let it. The two butts weighed 15 lbs. I put one on each grate. I smoked right at 300 degrees (about 304 to be exact:rolleyes:) most of the time. I put each in a throw-a-way pan and foiled tightly at 170 degrees). After checking for tenderness at about 190 degrees I let them run until at 200 they were ready to pull. The time was right at six hours total smoking time. We had injected these but used no finishing sauce. The pans allowed us to save the juices. My wife, Marilyn, de-fatted the juices and froze them. She pulled the pork and we had a nice supper of pulled pork, etc. and the rest went into the refrigerator to cool and let the flavors meld.
The next day Marilyn vacuum packed the pulled pork in about one lb. portions. She'll use the thawed juices to add a bit of moisture and flavor when she heats the pulled pork for as we need/want it.

Smoking at a higher heat lost NOTHING and allowed us the finish several hours ahead of schedule. Guess who's going to be running "high heat" pulled pork in the future:rolleyes:). By the way, the bark was exceptional...

I used four tennis ball size chunks of applewood in the initial load of Kingsford Original. There was a good bit of charcoal left after the cook that I will use in the grill (I use new Kingsford when doing long cooks because it is consistent). I use a dry water pan (normally foiled to catch the grease). I put the foil on the top with a significant dip in it to make sure the grease doesn't run over. This leaves an air space between the foil and the bottom of the pan so the grease doesn't burn and taint the meat.

FWIW
Dale53
 
I smoked two pork butts this weekend on the 22 WSM. They were about 10 pounds each. The WSM settled in around 280 and it took about 7-8 hours. I wrapped when they got to 170 and pulled them off when they were probe tender around 203*.
 
Bill, I use Comp K exclusively. Yes, if you're looking for high heat, this will run hotter than BB. That said, 250° is 250° regardless of what you use. I prefer the flavor that Comp K imparts better than BB and it produces less ash. I just reloaded. I've got 12 bags in the car.
 
I just did two butts (16.5 lbs after trimming) on the 22.5'' WSM with KBB, and it took 10 hours to get to 200 internal. I maintained a 250-275 temp range for ~7 hours. Once the bark was set at the 7 hour mark, I foiled and moved to a 275 oven. 3 hours later, they hit 200 and I pulled it out to let it rest for another 2 hours at room temp. The stall seems to go by dramatically faster when cooking 250-275. If you want to go with this higher range, you can get it done in 12 hours, including resting time.
 
I used Royal Oak lump on my last smoke, and the temps hovered around 275 for the most part, if not higher, with water in the pan.

I'll have to try a bag of Kingsford Competition soon.
 
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