First Overnighter !! (Kind of Long)

[Guest]

Did my first over night smoke this past Saturday... The meat turned out very good and got rave reviews from everyone... I do however have a couple questions...

I did two 6 1/2 pound butts, which I found on sale here for .79 cents a pound !!! Slathered with mustard and used a favorite rub...

Thanks,

I wanted them for lunch on Sunday so I started my fire using the Monion method about 10:00 p.m. I filled the ring completely with Kingsford and put 18 briquettes in the chimney... After they were grey, I spread them over the unlit, put on 3 small chunks of cherry and 3 small of apple... Filled the Brinkmas water pan with hot water, assembled the smoker, put the meat on the top rack and covered with the lid... At this point it was 10:30 and ALL the bottom vents were wide open, along with the top... When the temp on the top rack got to 195 by my NuTemp thermometer, I closed all 3 bottom vents... I monitored the temp for an hour or so, with it reaching a maximum of 248... Before going to bed at 12:30, I opened ONE of the bottom vents 1/4 only...

I had an alarm set for 4:30 a.m. and got up to find that the temp was staying in the 250 - 255 range... I sprayed the butts with apple juice and went back to bed... I woke up periodically and was able to check the temp on the base unit next to the bed - I LOVE this thermometer... Sure takes all the guess work out of the process... At 7:30 again sprayed the butts and stirred the coals just a little...

Anyway, to shorten this up a little,, by 8:00 I decided that I needed to add some more charcoal... I only got 10 hours and the temps were dropping fast... I keep reading about 12 - 14 and even up to 16 hours on a load of charcoal... I have always struggled with this aspect with my WSM... Maybe I need to check for air leaks, out of round, or some other problem... What I ended up doing was lighting about 10 more in the chimney, and putting these on top of about 15 - 20 unlit briquettes... The meat reached 195 - 196 at the 13 hours mark, so it took about the right amount of time for them to cook...

By the way, I never saw the temps get above 260 until right at the end when I opened ALl the vents about the last 30 minutes... There was no wind and the over night temperature was in the 50's all night...

 

[Jim Minion]

Gary
You can have a pit temp drop anywhere from 6 to 10 hours into a cook, at this point a very easy stirring of the coals will boost the temps back up. If your out of coals them adding more as you did is the right call.
Sounds like it went well.
Jim

 

[Kevin Taylor]

Hey Gary!!

Glad the first time went good! I'll never forget my first overnighter...I finished a brisket in about 6 hours!!! LOL

One way I am able to get much longer burns is to keep my temps in the 225? range. Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying this is right or wrong, simply my way of cooking.

As has been mentioned, the range of temps for slow smoking ranges up to 275?. But, I do find that the lower temps will keep my coals burning longer.

 

[Musky-Hunter]

Gary:

I struggled with the same thing and still do. I do 4-5lb butts and cannot get a full ring to last longer then 8-9 hours. At about that time I add a few coals (unlit) to the ring. Someday, I'm going to see someone elses WSM in action past the 10hour mark and hopefully I'll learn what I'm doing wrong.

ps. On the night I had only 8 hours of burn time, I'm confident the WSM was getting a little too much wind. Next time I'm going to assemble a small wind shelter.