First pork butt cook this weekend


 
Christopher H

Christopher H

TVWBB Fan
So I will be smoking a small (4-5lb) pork butt this weekend with sausages, chicken thighs and mac'n'cheese. This will be my first pork butt cook on my 18.5" WSM. I have a 14" clay saucer double wrapped in foil as a heat sink.

Last smoke I left the WSM unattended and it got hotter than I would like (only 3rd cook in it). I looked at the virtualweberbullet.com recipes and it looks like they suggest a half chimney lit and how much unlit coals should I put in the WSM? It also says keep the top vent at 100% the entire cook and start the lowers at 100% and when temp hits 200, close all 3 lowers to 25%. Does that sound like it should keep me between 225 and 250?

Also for the mac, should I throw that on at about the 4-4.5 mark and put another wood chunk on?

Thanks for the help guys!
 
I just did a 9 pounder and it turned out great! Sounds like you got it figured out. I just used one vent on bottom most the time but I did crack a second one a time or two. I just lit about 8 coals and ran the smoker about 230 6 inches below the meat using the maverick. Started at 10 in the morning and got to 200 at 3 the next morning. Going to run it at 250 next time. It turned out great. The wift gave me a 10n for the first time and shes one tough judge lol. I shut the vents when done and when I opened the smoker the next day and there were about 10 coals left. 17 hour cook and I was ready for it to get done at the end lol. Smoker was in a wash tub in the garage with the doors open and spinner vents in top so there wasnt much wind. Just use a good rub and dont open it more than a time or two.
 
Sounds like ur ready for ur first butt, go for and have fun doing it, remember it will stall for a little while so don't panic when the temp gets stuck around 160* give or take, just relax and let it work its magic. As far as the Mac sorry I can't help u I never did Mac lol, keep us posted and some pics too. Good luck.
 
Hey Christopher, I did my first butt on the smoker last weekend. It was a good size hunk o'meat. I put it on @10a.m. and took it off @ 8p.m. Internal temp was 198 and I cooked it at 255 most of the day. It ran @ 288 for a little over an hour because although I set my alarm for high heat I didn't hit the button to activate it and the heat got away from me before I noticed it. It took a while to get it back to where I wanted it.

I used a half chimney of lit on a full ring of unlit (in the middle) and my fire was good for about 2 hours after I was done cooking (12 hours total). I added water once.

All came out well, and I didn't bother using the crutch. You should be ok with that smaller butt at 250. You will figure out your vents quick enough.

Good Luck!
 
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My 2 cents: Chris shuts he's vents down at around 200°, but keep in mind that he lives in California probably near sea level. Don't know where you're at, but I'm at around 5000' and that doesn't work for me. I'll start closing them down 10-15° away from my target temp. I'll fill the charcoal ring, and then take coals from that, and fill my chimney half to 3/4 full.
I use water and boil it on the stove before I add it to the water pan.
 
Jay said:
Sounds like ur ready for ur first butt, go for and have fun doing it, remember it will stall for a little while so don't panic when the temp gets stuck around 160* give or take, just relax and let it work its magic. As far as the Mac sorry I can't help u I never did Mac lol, keep us posted and some pics too. Good luck.
Click to expand...

I've done them before but on an ECB.
 
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