First Smoke Tomorrow


 
C

Curtis Roy

New member
Hey everyone, I got an 18.5" WSM for Christmas and I'm going to break it in tomorrow with 2 pork shoulders. I don't have a particular time I have to be done but I don't want to be up all night. Is it going to take me about 1.5 hours per pound? I have 2 8 pound (more or less) shoulders. I am debating on whether to use water or not.

Is this going to make a big mess on my patio? If so what should I put under the grill to prevent this?

Thanks in advance...
-Curt

Edit: I am using the "Mr. Brown" recipe. I have bone-in shoulders that are rubbed and in the fridge. I trimmed the fat cap and tied them for good measure
 
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I just did 4 -8lb butts on my 22.5 smoker today and they came out great. You should not have any mess issues if you take everything out on plates and remove on to same.The smoker normally will not leak anything when in use unless you spill something over the sides of it.. I would not use water as the pork has plenty of moisture in them already so added moisture is not needed. It also takes some time to bring the water up to temp and keep it that way. I used a foiled clay saucer in my pan to make it a little more stable in temps....
If this is the the very first smoke it may run a bit hotter than normal since its brand new and not " Smoked " up yet. I was able to start mine with the minion method and then opened all the vents on the smoker till it hit 250. I added the shoulders and then closed the bottom vents to about 30% open and top 100% and it stabilized at about 250-275at dome and 235 at grate and it stayed that way for the next hr. I then took a 5 hr nap and got up and temps were still at 235 at grate area so I just let it go the rest of the time. At 11 hrs I added a few more lit coals and it carried it to 16hrs when I pulled and wrapped the shoulders. This was 16 1/2 hrs total for 32lbs of starting weight ....

Temp and wind will make a difference in your smoke times also. My weather was mid 40s with some mild wind and rain. I had the smoker under a overhang so it stayed dry the whole time
 
x2 on the smoker running hot on the maiden voyage. You'll notice it will be much more stable as it gets gunked up with smoke and smutz. You picked a good candidate for the first smoke. Butts can be pretty forgiving if you keep the smoker from getting too hot and watch the IT, it will be great. Look forward to reading the reports.
 
Just foiled the pan - we'll see how it goes. Used the MM to light it, and put the butts on at 7:00AM. After 1 hour the lid read 212. Things seem to be going pretty well so far.
 
Just an fyi - my dome thermometer is pretty sporadic. It can be significantly warmer on the grate than at the dome. With use and abuse, mine has become unreliable over time. If you have a way to check it with a probe dropped through a vent hole or other method, might be a good idea. Good luck!
 
I have a RediCheck. I just laid the BBQ therm on the grate (reading 302 right now). Dome temp is 250. Got 2 low vents at 0% and 1 at like 20%

Meat is at 142 right now after 3 hours

Now that I think about it, I must have inserted the meat probe incorrectly. That seems a little high for so early
 
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Pretty cool getting the play by play. I did one sat for first time and turned out great. I think you'll be satisfied once you dial it in during the cook. Thanks for the updates.

(Roll Tide)
 
As I suspected, my probe wasn't inserted right. When it read 190 at 1:30 (6.5 hours in) I turned them and measured a few places and it was closer to 172. Now I'm having trouble getting the grill temps back up, even though the dome is reading 225, pretty much. The grill temp reads 190. Should I fire up some more charcoal?

How do I get more charcoal in this thing anyway? Lift it completely off?

qnPLp.jpg
 
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I very seldom have to add any charcoal, but if I do I just open the door and dump some unlit into the charcoal ring.
 
Tom_M said:
I very seldom have to add any charcoal, but if I do I just open the door and dump some unlit into the charcoal ring.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I opened up some vents and it seems to be climbing gradually so maybe I'm okay. If I have to add any I'll follow your recommendation thanks
 
Butts are looking good. You might have had the probe against the bone which can give a higher reading, good catch that it was wrong.
 
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