First Go-around - WSM 22" and Pork Shoulder


 
B

BlairMancini

New member
After much anticipation (by me) I managed to convince the wife to have a few folks over yesterday. I had a 9 pound picnic shoulder and was going to smoke it with oak and hickory. Woke up at 6, lit the chimney at 6:20, put the charcoal on at about 7ish, and had it up to temp (~275) at about 7:45 so I threw on the wood and the meat and let 'er go. Used a whole bag of charcoal between the chimney and the smoker. I lit the charcoal using the minion method but did not make an empty ring in the middle. I just poured the bag on the grate, inside the charcoal ring, and poured the lit charcoal on once they were ready.

It reached 160 by about 12:45, so I foiled it then. The stall happened about the exact same time...last a little longer than an hour. Lucky, because we were having people over at 4, and I honestly had no idea what to expect w/r/t timeline of the cook.

I was trying to get the internal temp up to ~200-205, but it never got there. I got it up to 189 and it just stayed there. At the same time, the temps in my smoker were dropping. I couldn't keep it above about 260, and every vent was wide open.

After about 45 minutes of that, knowing we were about to entertain our guests, I pulled it off and left it foiled for about 25 minutes. Then I pulled it apart. It was delicious! Moist, smokey but not too overpowering, and it was gone by the time the evening ended. Not even a shred was left. I meant to take a bunch of pictures, but I completely forgot. I was so focused the whole day on my thermometer (Mav 733) that I just never pulled out my phone to snap any.

So, for the first run it was a good experience and the food was good, but I'm trying to optimize my experience for next time. So, a few questions for you gurus out there...

1) I used a water pan, filled it with water, and it never evaporated fully. And still, I had a hard time keeping temperatures stable. Throughout the entire day, I was probably outside messing around with it every 20 minutes or so...opening a little, closing a little, opening, closing, etc. Any advice for keeping it more stable?

2) Toward the end of the smoke, I just could not keep the temperatures up. Does anyone else have this problem? I peeked in the door a few times and I could still see smoldering charcoal. And yet, the last 2 hours topped out at about 264, and would frequently go below 260 (I was trying to cook between 265-285 the whole day.) Any suggestions for how to keep those temps up later in the cook (I have a cajun bandit door, so I don't think draftiness was a problem.) Something I can do with airflow or anything?

3) OK, how in the heck do I clean this thing now? Should I leave the lit-but-not-fully-consumed charcoal on the grate for next time? Or clean it off? Anything else I need to do immediately after cooking (my smoker is already seasoned.)

4) I got really lucky today that the meat was done roughly the same time that my guests were supposed to arrive, but I imagine most of us won't always be that lucky. Any resources you guys use to "guesstimate" the amount of time a certain piece of meat will take? I know it's "done when it's done," but for beef, pork, ribs, etc at around 275, what should I expect, or where can I go to get timeline estimates?

Thanks for everything I've read on VWB...this is a great and informative forum that helped make my first smoking experience a huge success for my guests (though I know it can be even better the next time!)
 
A lot of good questions Blair, im looking forward to seeing this thread develop. I am going to be purchasing a 22 in the next couple of weeks and am trying to learn as much as I can.
 
Blair,
Sounds like the end result was a delicious meal. Congratulations.

As far as getting higher temperatures, if it was me, next time I would get rid of the water in the pan. Just foil the empty pan. Leave a depression for any meat juices falling from above.

Your cooking temperature range is determined by the number of lit coals. The number of unlit coals determines for how long you can cook at that temperature. Although, you will most likely find that without water, you will get higher pit temperatures using the same lit coals you used this time.

When foiling, add your favorite brazing liquid to the foil package. Seal the foil package as tightly as you can. Do not just wrap it. Keep all steam inside the foil package.
 
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1) I used a water pan, filled it with water, and it never evaporated fully. And still, I had a hard time keeping temperatures stable. Throughout the entire day, I was probably outside messing around with it every 20 minutes or so...opening a little, closing a little, opening, closing, etc. Any advice for keeping it more stable? How stable are you looking for? +/- 10 degrees isn't going to hurt anything.

2) Toward the end of the smoke, I just could not keep the temperatures up. Does anyone else have this problem? I peeked in the door a few times and I could still see smoldering charcoal. And yet, the last 2 hours topped out at about 264, and would frequently go below 260 (I was trying to cook between 265-285 the whole day.) Any suggestions for how to keep those temps up later in the cook (I have a cajun bandit door, so I don't think draftiness was a problem.) Something I can do with airflow or anything? Ditch the water in the water bowl. You were trying to get too hot for water. Water boils at 212(ish) so that will keep your temps down. IF you are looking to cook above 250, you have to go waterless.

3) OK, how in the heck do I clean this thing now? Should I leave the lit-but-not-fully-consumed charcoal on the grate for next time? Or clean it off? Anything else I need to do immediately after cooking (my smoker is already seasoned.)Clean? just scrub the grates can clean the water water bowl. You can re-use the charcoal, but if it rains between now and then, it might get dampish and be not so good.
 
I don't have a 22.5" but a 14.5" and a 18.5". I have never had to add coals when doing ribs or even two Boston Butts (combined weight often exceeds 18.0 lbs of raw meat). However, I use the "tin can minion" method. I smoke my ribs and butts at 275 degrees or so (sometimes approaching 300 degrees). I use NO water in the deflector pan. I foil the pan with a depression to catch grease. This makes for relatively easy clean up. I foil my butts in a throw-away aluminum pan as per Harry Soo's method after I hit 165-170 degrees. I pull when probe tender (typically runs anywhere from 195-205 degrees internal temps).

I always fill the charcoal pan, use the "tin can Minion method", and use the leftover charcoal in my grills. I always start with new charcoal as I LIKE consistency and I get it that way. No charcoal is wasted;). I normally put the meat on as soon as the temperature in the smoker hits 200+ degrees. No point in wasting smoke time. A couple of adjustments and I am good to go. The 14.5" requires that I wait until it comes fully to smoking temp before I close two of the bottom vents to control temps. The 18.5" however, I try to catch on the way up or it will get too hot. It is much easier to catch the larger smoker on the way up than trying to lower temps after it gets too hot. Just a minor observation...

Dale53
 
Looks like a great cook overall!

Looks like the water in the pan used up extra charcoal and pulled your temps down some.

I did one cook with the water in the pan and haven't used it since. The pros of water in the pan are that it keeps your temps more stable and keeps a moist environment for the meat to cook in.

The cons of water in the pan are that you can't hardly cook above 250 you use more fuel to boil the water.
 
Agree with everything said so far. Either leave the water in and cook a much lower temp (but will take a lot longer), or ditch the water.
 
Blair, I'm also a newbie with the 22.5 WSM...but have been an old stick burner for a long time. I'm still learning with the WSM, but I agree with everyone's advice on the water pan and higher temps. It sounds like yours turned out great...and that's what it's all about.

I've always smoked everything (OK for this conversation, let's just say pork butts/shoulders and briskets) on my stick burners between 250*-300*...mostly 275* because it was so hard to keep them any lower than that. But, I've always heard of people saying they did a low and slow cook at 225*. And, I've always heard them talk about the stall...which I never experienced, from smoking meat at a much higher temp. I did a pork should last weekend at 250*, then a pork butt this weekend at 235*...both with water in the pan. I'm used to mine taking about 8 hours on the stick burner...but the 7 1/2 lb shoulder last weekend took 12 hours at 250*, and the 9 lb butt this weekend took 14 hours. I used a water pan both times...and started them both at 11:00 on a Saturday night. The problem I had last weekend, was when I woke up my grate temp was down to 200*, so I added some unlit charcoal and it climbed back to 250* in 15-20 minutes. This weekend, I used an Auber controller, which kept right on 235* all night and it was still sitting there at 8:00am the next morning when I got up and checked on it. Internal temp was 169*. Once again, I added some unlit charcoal and went in for coffee and breakfast.

Now, as I stated, this was my first cook on anything at this low of a temp. And, it took 5 more hours to get from 169* internal to 200* internal. It may have stalled during the night...but the next morning, it just continually climbed very slowly...something I'm not used to. I've always considered 169* internal as being past the stall, and thought when I got there by 8:00am that it would've been ready in 2-3 more hours at the most. A misconception on my part. But, I will say that, even though I was cussing low and slow while I was waiting on it to finish, I may try it some more, because it was by-far the best butt I've ever smoked. I could tell by feel when removing it from the smoke that it was going to be something special. And, after letting it rest for a couple of hours, I started pulling it. The bone almost dropped out on its own, and came out clean as a whistle. The meat was juicy and tender, with the perfect amount of smoky taste. I used 8 fist-sized chunks of post oak. So, I'm loving the WSM, even if it is making me lazy.

When I started pulling it, and the bone practically fell out.

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