First Butts on 22 WSM - Some Questions


 
J

John Koch

New member
Sunday I did my second cook on the 22 inch WSM and first pork butts. One was about 7 pounds and the other 8. The weekend before I did ribs and was satisfied with the results.

I woke up at 6, had the meat on the smoker at 7, and hoped to be finished around 7 in the evening and served on Monday. I tried to keep the temp as close to 225 as possible. It was mostly in the 230-235 range. Sometimes the temp would start to go up, so I'd close the vents a little. Then I'd notice them falling so I'd open the vents up. The wind would blow and they'd go up again, etc. Do you guys constantly fiddle with the vents or just leave them alone once you hit your target temp?

At 7 PM, when I hoped to be finishing up, the smaller of the two was still only at 180 internal and did not pass the probe test. I had added maybe 30-40 unlit briquettes around 6:00 because it looked like the meat was still going to need a while. At 9:30 PM, after a little rain, I must have been running very low on fuel. I opened the vents 100% and could barely maintain 220. I added some lump, left the door open for 10-15 minutes, but the temp still wasn't coming up and the smoke from the unlit charcoal was smelling kind of nasty. Finally at 10:45 I pulled them off, added a little apple juice and foiled them, and threw them in the oven at 300 for 45 minutes.

I am pretty happy with the final product, although the process didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped for. I had been smoking on a 22" Weber kettle with a Smokenator, with good results but I didn't like messing with it constantly. That's why I upgraded to the WSM. Well, that and capacity.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
John
 
John, I'm not sure how much advice I can give you because I am new at this also. I did my 3rd smoke and also my first butts this weekend. I used my new Maverick Et732 BBQ thermometer and found out there was a lot of difference between what the lid analog read and the maverick. The first thing I noticed was a major difference in maintaining temps as compared to my second smoke. The problem i had was keeping the temps down, it got to the point where I had all bottom vents about 1/8 open and the top at about 1/2 to keep my temps below 250 degrees. The outside temp was about 95 degrees with little wind so once I got it set there was not much fiddling with it. Your wind probably played a big role in your temperture variations. I had 19 lbs of Butt and pulled it after 12 hours. the internal temp was 185 degrees. I wrapped them in foil for an hour and the result was **** good. I also put on some Baby backs and they smoked perfectly in 4 1/2 hours. I am learing that the WSM smokes things much more efficiently than what I used to use. I can say i really enjoyed myself in my pool with my receiver on the deck where I could see it. The temps for the most part held steady and I got a great aroma all day long of BBQ Pork! Hope to hear more in the future from you.
 
I wouldn't worry to much about not holding 225* for the whole cook, you'll only run yourself ragged adjusting the vents. The temps will run up and down a little during the cook due to either wind, ash falling off the fuel or maybe even a chunk of wood catching on fire, the only real concern is if the temp never stops rising, mine will now run up and down within about a 10-20 degree range of my target temp wich I can live with. As for the internal done temp, once the roast hits the stall it's pretty much up to the meat itself as to when it's going to finish. Your roast is cooked at 180 but it's just not pullable and finishing in the oven seems to be quite the acceptable practice, just because the roast is smaller doesn't always mean it'll cook faster. If you want to speed up the cooking process you can either ramp the heat up or once your roast hits between 165-175 you can wrap with fol which will allow the meat to come up to temp faster but will give a lighter mushier bark
 
I did my first smoke on Sunday also, Not knowing what expect on the amount of time it would take or the amount a charcoal needed. I filled the ring just about to the top of the ring useing the minion method I added a full lit chimney on top of that. After it got to temp and starting to get good smoke, I noticed the door was leaking smoke so it was to hot to mess with. The temp seemed to be in the 250-270 range. I did mess with the vents to try to get the temp down a little bit. After 5 hours I rapped them at 160 and put back on, 3 1/2 hr later they were at 200 just what I was shooting for. So the amount of charcoal worked out good and I trying to fiddle with the door to try to get a better fit. The butts did turn out good. This weekend I'll be trying ribs just hope I can get the temp down this time.
 
When I started smoking two years ago I chased temps, fiddling with vents, and it drove me nuts. After listening to more experienced voices I shoot for a window and for Pork Butts it's between 225 and 275. I fill the charcoal ring and use about 15 lit coals so I can control the temp on the way up. The vents are full open until I get to 220 and then I set the vents to about 1/4 and see where the temp settles in. If I'm settling in within the range I go inside and check it once an hour or 2.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lew Newby:
When I started smoking two years ago I chased temps, fiddling with vents, and it drove me nuts. After listening to more experienced voices I shoot for a window and for Pork Butts it's between 225 and 275. I fill the charcoal ring and use about 15 lit coals so I can control the temp on the way up. The vents are full open until I get to 220 and then I set the vents to about 1/4 and see where the temp settles in. If I'm settling in within the range I go inside and check it once an hour or 2. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Listen to this man..............
 
Thanks guys. Next time I plan on targeting a little higher temperature and not messing with the vents once the temp settles in.
 
I've been lucky with my 22. I leave the top wide open and only 1 bottom vent open about 1/4 - 1/8 of the way once I hit 200. It pretty much stays between 225 and 250. I use a probe thermometer stuck thru a cork set on the grill by the meat to get a truer reading. The meat takes its own time so I usually cook the day before I'm going to eat it.
 
Hey John, welcome to the forum.

I hope you don't mind my asking, but why 225 was your target temp? I ask because you had a 12 hour window for your pork to cook and at 225 (to me) that was an optimistic goal. I always prefer that my pork get done early, and then hold it in a cooler until serving time.

As far as your question on temps, I start with everything wide open, and when the temp (with the meat on) reaches 25-50 degrees of target temp, I close 2 lower vents to about 1/3 and leave the other open. This usually has my temp settle in right at 250 at the dome. There will be minor swings during the cook, but just let the WSM be. Once mine have settled in and held on constant temp for an hour or two, I'm comfortable going to bed for a few hours and checking it when I wake up.

How were you measuring your cooking temp? Did you use the stock WSM thermo? Have a probe inside? The stock WSM thermos can be off, and you may want to check it in boiling water to see how accurate it is. Unfortunately they can not be calibrated.

Good luck on your next attempt.
 
Hey Clark, I vaguely remember reading something (probably on a forum) that pulled pork is best cooked at 225. I just wanted to give it a try. I thought that 1.5 hours per pound was a good guideline, but maybe I'm wrong. It didn't matter much since I wasn't serving the meat until the next day, but it would have been nice to go to bed before 1am after waking up at 6 to get started.

I measured my temps with a Maverick ET-73 that I tested and is accurate.

I don't think the meat was noticably better cooked at 225, so next time I'll shoot for 250 and a faster cook.

This weekend I'm doing two racks of spares and some beans...

EDIT: I'm kind of afraid to cook overnight since there are quite a few clack bears in my area.
 
I cook pork at 275 to 325.. As long as it's in that range I don't mess with it.

Your indoor oven cycles through a range... most people just don't ever check to see the range.

Last cook I did was two 8 lb butts. I removed the bone, cut each one in two pieces on the flatter side.

Rubbed the interior, rolled and tied each piece, rubbed the exterior, on at 5:30am, foiled at 160, and done at 11:30am. Temps ranged from 275-325, but mostly around 285.
 
do you guys let your pork butts get to room temperature before you start cooking? if they're straight from the fridge to the cooker, that's going to cost you a couple extra hours, especially at 250, I would think... the ones I did yesterday (see photo gallery), I took out of the fridge the day before and set them outside the night before (about 60 degrees here now in summertime) in a bag to give them a little head start.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ulf Rasmussen:
Is there a particular reason for that, or is it just your preference? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The smoke ring only forms when the meat is below 140*, so keeping it in the fridge helps with the smoke ring formation. Also, the meat warms up to room temp pretty quickly so putting it on straight from the fridge doesn't add much time at all to your cook.
 
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