Finally Pulled the Trigger


 
M

mike_rich

TVWBB Member
Hey Guys,
Finally pulled the trigger on an 18" WSM. According to Amazon, it should be delivered by next Thursday along with a pair of Raichlen gloves and a maverick et732. Next weekend I plan on doing 2 pork shoulders and the weekend after will be a 5 bone prime rib (boned & tied). Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Mike
 
TRY out different methods that you read about here and find out for yourself what you think works best, ie. water or not...foiling or not. It's a much better learning experience than just taking somebody's word for something.

Specifically though, Chris A's cooking topics are most helpful in being well documented so I'd suggest studying them, especially the long butt and brisket cooks. Cook the pork shoulder long enough, and as for the prime rib, I don't recommend searing it directly over the ring, unless you push the coals to the other side opposite the meat. It's a personal preference, but that cut has a lot of fat that can flare up really easy, and personally, I want it to taste like smoked prime rib, not like a flame seared rib eye.
 
Enjoy yourself!
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Allow plenty of time with two butts (and that's a great way to break-in, season your WSM). If you have a deadline (guests), target finishing two hours early on a 1 1/2 hr per lb. basis for the largest butt and assuming that two may take a couple of extra hours. If you finish early to 195*, you can always let it go on for another 10*. If you're still early, wrap them in foil and surround well with towels in a cooler -- the heat will hold for hours. I think it's best to pull just before you eat (HOT Q!), but if you want to pull ahead of time so you can be with your guests, use a crockpot(s) on low to keep the pulled pork hot (you want 140* or more) and moist. (Or anything you can devise to keep it all ready -- like a big covered roaster in the oven. Don't let the temp of pulled pork go below 130* for sure and you want to keep it from drying out. That's why I like to pull before we eat.)

And I like 220-225 on the lid thermo (you may want to verify it with boiling water first
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). Use the Maverick for meat temp -- it's "nice to know" your grate temp, but I prefer to monitor the lid therm. I'm concerned with the grate probe when I got to the shop during the long intervening hours -- nice to be sure my coals didn't smother.

Rich
 
awesome Mike! Congrats on taking the first step towards a very fun time!

One sugesstion I have for someone with a new WSM that hasn't had one before...use water with your first few cooks. It will allow you to control temps easier. Once you get that hang of the WSM a little and have a little gunk build up to also help with the temps, then you can determine where you go from there (water or no water).
 
Congrats mike, very good advice given already, only thing i will add is make sure you have plenty of adults beverages on hand to calm the 1st time jitters. Good luck everything will come out delicious.
 
I remember my first smoke with mine. Ribs, tri tips and chicken for 30 out on a construction site in 103 degrees...I was lucky to have read extensively the tips I found on this site as I fought to contriol temperature and finishing times. Was fun though. Good Luck and have a blast. There is only one "first time" and I was lucky to have shared mine with 30 co-workers and have everything come out great to rave reviews.
 
Congrats on the new smoker! I have one cook under my belt on my 18.5". It's so much easier to use than my kettle smoker. Enjoy!
 
Congrats on the smoker. I just did a 9 pound pork butt and I use the DigiQ 2 Temperature conroller. I set the pit temp on 210 and the meat probe on 195. I wanted it to be ready the next day fresh and hot for my wife and me. I suggest to NOT smoke a pork butt that large. It took 20 hours to get the meat up to 193 and I shut it down and pulled it off. I would recommend cooking at closer to 235 and get the butt cooked sooner. The DigiQ never varied even 1 degree during the cook. The top thermometer on the Weber's have a huge reputation of NOT BEING ACCURATE. My DigiQ 2 and it vary by at least 15-20 degrees most the time, and I checked the calibration on my DigiQ Guru Temp Controller and it is right on the money. To make smoking easy and more enjoyable, I highly recommend a digital temperature controller. I'm not pushing the DigiQ 2 Guru, but I would not trade it for anything either. As the old Sunday Paid Commercial says, "Set it and forget it". Once I had it set, I went to bed and slept all night. I cooked it too low of temp for a butt that large. I would start out with two smaller ones and you will also get more bark on the outside which I really love. Regarless of how you do it, put plenty of charcoal and hardwood of your choice in there cause it takes a butt a long time to cook so you will need plenty of fuel. I leave my top vent 1/4 open and all others shut. I have my DigiQ 2 fan in one of the vent holes in the bottom to puff some air when it needs a little heating up.

I hope this helps, you will learn something new on EVERY cook, trust me.
 
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