First overnight cook..not a good experience


 
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Stephane Richard

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Hi everyone,

I tried my first overnight for a butt with minion method and for the first time I lost control of the temp. Here how it went

9:00 Fill up the ring full of charcoal and start about 20 charcoals in the chimney.

9:30 The coals were pretty cover with a grey coat so I decided to add them to the unlit coals. I add 4 chunks of apple ( Good size)on top.

By 10:00 the weber was running with the meat in.I did not put any water in the pan because it was 5 degree here.

As for the wind it was very windy but my weber is protected inside a big car shelter so the wind should not be a problem.

For the next 2 hours the temp was running around 230 - 250 at the grate. All bottom vent were close and still was running in 250 and going up.

So I decided to add water and I fill the water pan with hot water. I went to bed and the weber was at 240 so I figured that was not so bad and that it would probably go down as the night continue.

3:30 the alarm of the Et-73 went off. Wake up and the temp was at 190 at the grate .. /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif I add cold water to the pan close to 25% the top vent and wait an hour but the temp wold not come down /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif So decided to go back to bed and see what would come out of this

As of this morning at 9:00 the temp at the grate is at 270 and meat at 179 , I think I can go until tomorrow probably... /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

SO.... What did I do wrong?

Did I put too much unlit charcoal in the ring?

Is there any tricks that would help cool down the weber when need to?

Thanks in advance
 
Stephane,

It appears to me, in my opinion, your problem began at 10:00pm. "I did not put any water in pan..."

Water or sand acts as a heat sink helping to stabilize the temperature of the WSM, IMO, that is it's only function. It seems you had done everything right up to that point. The WSM with no water or sand to take up the heat is going to run hot.

I assume you meant 290 at the grate, correct?

In the future for an overnight cook (or any cook except chicken perhaps) you need to have either sand or water in the pan. If you decide to go with sand you control your temps on the way up. After putting your lit coals on and your meat and assembling the cooker, leave your bottom vents open about 50%, as your cooker temp rises and approaches 210-220 close down your vents and it should settle in nice for you right about 230-245.

On my cooker I can usually leave one bottom vent open at this point about 10-20% and my temps will stabilize and run for hours.

Sorry for the long answer I hope this helps, because if it didn't you're probably sleeping by now.
 
I concur with Bruce---add the water at the beginning to get those good stable temps, and resist the urge to add hot water (that got me in SERIOUS trouble during my cold, windy first cook). Maybe not ice cold water, but not hot. But I also suspect that rascally wind, even if you have a wind break. If it swirls around, it will can and will find a way to get into your WSM and book yer fuel to death!
 
Stephane
A long cook is a controled cook and a dry waterpan is for high temp cooks. The wind made it even more important to control the temp. The good news is you are cooking Butt and it is forgiving.
You will find that once high pit temps are achieved it is hard to get the pit temps back down because you have a lot of charcoal burning by that time. It is much easier to control the pit temp on the way up by keeping the bottom vents closed down to a degree . Another thing that helps is in windy conditions close the bottom vents that are in the wind. I will use only the one down wind vent.
Every cook you get to learn something and I'm willing to bet that the Pork Butt is pretty tasty.
Cheers
Jim
 
Thanks to all for the reply.

A little update.Butt is still in the weber at 180 and the weber is at 265 at the grate.

I learn a big lesson here, no water or sand in the pan is good for cook in the -20 like I did this winter but from now on for sure water or sand I will put in... /infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

I hope this butt will be as good as all the other that I did.

Thanks again...

Bruce...yes I meant 290 at the grate
 
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