Fire went out at around 8 hours...


 
J

Joon O

TVWBB Member
Hi,

First off, I'm not using a WSM, I am using a plain weber bar-b-kettle grill and trying to barbecue a 4 lb pork butt using plain indirect heat. This was my first bbq attempt, so keep this in mind when you laugh.
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I started the cook around 9 pm. The fire started a little hot (290 deg at grate using an oven thermo) but I eventually got it under control and it steadied out between 215-260 for the next 6 hours. At 6 hours the fire looked a little low so I added 10 more kingsford coals and went to sleep. The internal meat temp was 160 at this time. I figured (obviously wrong) that this would keep it going for another 4 hours. OOPS.

Anyway I woke up at 7am and the fire was nearly out, just a few reddish coals, internal meat temp was about 150.

I would guess the fire had adequate heat for at least 2 hours after I went to sleep and then died. So thats about 8 hours of continuous cooking, do you think thats right? Remember this is a 4 lb butt.

Should I continue cooking? Should I pull it now?
Finish it in the oven? I guess the problem is I don't know what peak internal temp the meat reached, If it reached 190 I would pull it now. Can you guess how high it would have gone?

I'm fully resigned to calling this a casualty, but I'm curious what you think.
 
It is highly unlikely your butt reached 190--or even 170--during that time but this doesn't mean the butt isn't done, near done, or closer to done than one might think. I'd finish it in the kettle or the oven, pulling it when the meat seems softened and shredable, then wrapping and resting.

"Done" is more a product of time @ temp than internal finish temp alone when one is referring to barbecued meats. You can cook a small butt at 500 degrees and get its internal up to 190 fairly quickly but it won't be done as sufficient rendering time would not have passed. Conversely, you can cook the same butt at 190 and it will be done well before it reaches 190 internal because the slow cooking will have allowed time for rendering.
 
I doubt it's done.

You have either option available ( oven, grille)

It really depends on how much time you have left before you want to serve.

Since it stayed above 150, it's safe to finish.
I'd shoot for a higher pit temp if you decide to finish on the weber (275-300).


You can wrap it in foil to speed it up, or finish in the oven.

A four pound butt cooked at low temps still would likley take 10-12 hours or so. Increasing the cook temp significantly reduces the cook time.
 
wow, thanks for the fast replies.

It's been in the kettle since I posted, the temp is about 195 now, grate is 260, I'm going to try wrapping it in foil and try to get the grate temp above 275. The meat actually looks done, but I'm gonna give it another hour and see.
 
If the internal temp is 195, I'd wrap it in foil and rest it in a warm cooler with a towel or two wrapped around it and call it done.
 
Joon,
I did a lot of smoking on my kettle before I got my WSM. You really have to nuture the coals and wood about every 1-2 hours to keep the heat constant. Unlike the WSM where you can do the Minion thing and go to bed, a kettle needs constant attention.
 
It was at 195 for about an hour. I put it in foil and a ziploc, its resting in the cooler right now. I will pull it soon and post pics.

Off the the grocery store to pick up some rubber gloves...
 
Here's what it looked like, I already had a sandwich and I'm waiting to get hungry again. What do you think? Not much of a smoke ring. I think it turned out okay though considering the problems I had. For next time I think I should have more coals to start with and also start early in the morning rather than do it overnight.
DSC03375b.jpg
 
Setting up a kettle for indirect is not a problem, if you went to the expense of side baskets and a folding grate. The only bad part is that that does restrict the amount of charcoal you can get in there.

Steve Riachlin says add coals and wood chips every hour or hour and a half to stay on top of the fuel situation, which is one reason I would want to move up to a wsm if you get the chance.

Baring for moving up, I would think about only smoking when you are awake or prepared to get up and add more fuel every hour or so.
 
Raichlen tends to over-light and overuse charcoal. You can Minion and restrict air intake and get longer than that.

The meat looks good, Joon.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Raichlen tends to over-light and overuse charcoal. You can Minion and restrict air intake and get longer than that.

The meat looks good, Joon. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Joon is using a kettle, can you minion method in a kettle?

I havn't seen that around, so I was going from: -
1) what I know,
2) what I have read,
3) from what I have seen on TV.
 
Yes, you can. Several people here do and I do myself for some stuff. You set up two mini-Minion piles.
 
by minion you just mean putting a few lit coals with a bunch of unlit, right?

This is what I did, the first pile i had about 50 unlit and put about 10 lit coals on top. This pile alone lasted 6-7 hours, I don't see a need to add coals more than 1-2 times over 10 hours. Anyone see a problem with this? If I did it again I think I would increase the ratio, maybe 60 unlit coals and 5 lit.

DSC03356b.jpg


Here's how the crust turned out. I am interested in getting more smoke flavor, but only to see if it can be done. Personally I don't like it so smoky that it leaves an aftertaste.

DSC03372b.jpg
 
The MMM works fine in a kettle. I've had a problem with it in the WSM in not being able to get into and maintain the correct temp for cooking. I think I could solve that by experimenting with the numbers of unlit vs lit. Easier to just use more unlit.

Paul
 
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