first smoke results and lessons learned

[Ed Jones]

Well, I finally got put my new WSM into service today. I BBQ'd two slabs of pork spare ribs using the recipe on this site and 2 4 pound boston butt roasts also using the recipe on this site. I used th e Minion method as recommended and had a little trouble keeping the WSM at 250 degrees (measured at lid). Once I figured out to gently poke holes in the coal bed once and hour to get air flow, the problem was solved.

I used those little hickory chunks fro Kingsford and Kingsford charcoal. The chunks are way too small and need replaced pretty frequently. I'll have to find a source of small logs instead. I used a Polder dual-element digital thermometer to measure the lid temp and the meat temp. Man, that was definitly a good buy.

The ribs turned out better than I could have expected for my first attempt largely thanks to this board! They were on 6 hours and pulled at 170 degrees. The butt roasts were on 8 hours and also pulled at 170 degrees. The pork pulled easily.

Lessons learned: use more than 20 coals to start a full ring of charcoal. Also, let the cooker reach 300 degrees before adding meat. Find a source of larger wood pieces. Maybe I'll ask Pig Iron, a local BBQ joint to sell me some of their hickory stash.

Thanks for all your help

 

[Guest]

Ed, are you a Home Brewer too. That is what i drink with my Que too!

 

[Bryan S]

Ed, glad to here about your success today it only gets better. You can check out smokingwoodchips.com for a huge variety of smoke woods. Shipping is fst and resonable. Happy smoking Bryan /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

 

[Guest]

Glad your first cook on the WSM was a success, Ed! As Bryan said, it only gets better. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ed Jones:
[qb]The butt roasts were on 8 hours and also pulled at 170 degrees. The pork pulled easily.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I am a bit surprised that your butts were pullable at 170?F. I usually cook them to 180?F - 185?F, for slicing and to 195?F - 205?F, for pulling. I think that's close to what you will find others suggest, too. They will reach a plateau at ~ 165?F and seem like they are never going to continue going up. I believe this to be when the fat really starts to render out, creating a cooling effect. Just be patient. When it starts to rise again, it will do so at a slightly faster pace than it was before the plateau. You might like to give it a try, next time. Keep notes.

 

[Ed Jones]

Jerry, yes I am a homebrewer. That is my primary hobby/obsession. BBQ is something I'm just starting to venture into.

Ray, you are correct about the pork pulling. I guess when I said easily, I meant was comapring it to my old method of making pulled pork when I'd cook it in the crockpot. How hot do you run the cooker to get the butts to 200 degrees? I couldnt seem to get it over 170 degrees while keeping the smoker at 250 degrees. But still, it sure was good eatin!

Bryan, I'll give smokingwoodchips.com a try.

Thanks

 

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I couldnt seem to get it over 170 degrees while keeping the smoker at 250 degrees. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>It's like boiling water. When heat is applied, the water temp rises until it hits 212F (at sea level). It sits at 212F until all the water has changed to steam. Assuming you've captured the steam, you can then get the temp of the steam above 212F. Getting the water to "phase change" from liquid to gas requires a lot of energy and the temperature of the water can not rise until this phase change has occurred.

Something similar seems to be going on inside the pork butt at about 170F. My guess is it's the collagen going through a phase change from solid to liquid, though I've never seen any scientific proof of this. When this phase change begins to occur, all the heat energy goes into the phase change instead of into raising the internal temp. Once the collagen has liquified, the internal temp can again rise.

While it's not the best way to make pulled pork, you can speed the process by making more energy (heat) available. Probably the simplest method is to just open the air vents and let the temp rise to 300-325F. Or pull the meat off the WSM and put it in the oven at 325F. I've used the oven method when pressed for time and the results were acceptable if not optimal.

 

[Guest]

Ed,

I keep my temperature between 225?F and 250?F, at the cooking surface, allowing it to rise to the upper end during the 165?F plateau. You might also like to verify the accuracy of your thermometers. Good luck!