FIirst Butt cook on my new WSM

[Guest]

I just switched from an offset to the WSM. I got two butts , each cut in to two 4.5 lb pieces per rack. Temp is around 55 degrees outside and foggy. I filled the charcoal ring with as much Kingsford as it could hold. I put one chimney of hot coals over a bed of unlit. It took a REALLY long time to get the temp up to 225 with all vents open. Around hour 3 it came up to 250 and I closed the vents. Water pan was full of hot water. Is this normal? My grocer sold me 13 butts for $40 and a promise to bring him some Q. Thanks.

 

[Jim Minion]

Did you put the butts on straight out of the frig?
It was foggy so wind was not a problem. I don't see this situation as a problem and understand that a WSM does not move air like an offset does, so taking 3 hours to get to 250?, I will assume at the lid, is ok. The smokering on those butts should be a nice size.
Jim

 

[Jim_W]

I had my first cook about 3 weeks ago. I used the Minion method to fire up WSM...cook went perfect, no problems. Butts were my first attempt also. Since then, I have smoked a turkey and a turkey breast. So far, so good..

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Gentlemen. The temp measurement was at the lid with an installed bi-metal thermometer. The butts were at room temperature. 'Seems to be crankin' right along now at 240. It's been 7 hrs and the butts are at 169 internal per the Polder probe. I guess there are worse things to be anal about in life. What a weird obsession this is.

 

[Sonny Jordan]

The butts will probably hold that 170 deg or so for a while. Let it get up to around 190 deg before you take it off.

East Tenn ever settle down after the big Alabama win???

 

[Randy Parr]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>The butts will probably hold that 170 deg or so for a while. Let it get up to around 190 deg before you take it off.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>And herein you will find an exercise in patience...one that I have yet to master. Every butt I smoke gets to that 170-180 point and just stalls... Each time I try waiting another hour to see if it will budge...last time it dropped 2 degrees! The good news is, I have always had wonderful results...although I can't say I can compare with a 190 smoke. Maybe next time...

 

[Jason M. Park]

Yeah, it can get frustrating. I had a butt stall at 172 for just under 2 hours. I thought it would never go up, but it finally did. It shot up to 190 quickly and then settled at 192. I was going for 195, and just decided to pull it off after an hour at 192. As I went out to take it off, the temp was going up agin and it was 194, perfect!

 

[Dave Lewis]

Darren,

It looks like you did everything right, but 3 hours for the temp to come up to 225 seems inordinately long. Using the same procedure you described, with all my vents 100% open, I consistently on temp at 250 in about an hour. I don't adjust my vents down until my lid temp reaches 240, because I've had the temps stall if I do it sooner. Leave the vents 100% open until you're almost on your target temp, then adjust them down to stop the temp climb. Check your thermo for accuracy using the boiling water test, perhaps that was a problem. Or, maybe water from your water pan was dripping down on your coals? Keep trying and see what happens.