First Smoke underway


 
G

George "Lyfa" Riley

New member
My son Collin and I have the WSM up an running and are trying to beat the arrival of Irene! Going to be windy in the afternoon, hopefully we can keep the temps under control.

First smoke is two boneless pork shoulders (Mr. Brown) with apple wood.

I wanted to ask for some comments on about how much wood to use and how often to put more on? I will poke around the forum but figured asking here might get some responses.

Thanks
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Hi George,
We are bracing for Irene too...though she will find your area sooner than ours. I started an 11lb picnic shoulder last night with three nice pieces of hickory and I wasnt planning to add any. The temp is locked in and she's purring along, so I dont want to change anything. I did some ribs last time, used less wood and didnt add any afr the start, worked out well. Im new here, so others may have a different way, but i plan to go with the 3 pieces I started with.
Let us know how things go....good luck and more importantly hope you and yours fare well through the storm
 
George, you using Chunks or chips?
Apple is a nice mild smoke, I wouldn't use more then 3 or 4 chunks.
I just rubbed down 4 bone in butts for my own smoke in about 12 hours. Good luck and be sure to post some pictures!
 
Thanks for the posts Brian and Marc.

We are using apple wood chunks.

Temp has been fluctuating a bit but has been around 225 most of the morning.

We will let you know how it goes and if we beat the big winds!
 
Hope the storm isn't too bad! I use chunks that I split into 1" or so pieces, for fruit wood I use 6-8 and nut woods I use 4-6. 250 is a really good temp for butts, same results as 225 with a shorter cook by 30 min per lb or so.
 
Glenn

Here is a dumb question. What set-up did you use to hold 250. We are sticking around 225 and can't seem to get it to go up. Have been opening lower vents. Would like to speed it up a bit to get it done before things get too bad.

Tough timing for us be we wanted to give it a whirl this weekend.

Rain has started. Winds not too bad.
 
Water in the pan?
How much fuel?
How much lit?
Minion start?
Cold meat?
All these things will influence temps. You should be able to sustain anywhere from 220 to 275.
For shoulders i like 250-275.
At 225, you're going to have a long cook.
If the weather turns on you, foil wrap and finish in oven. This works fine.
 
I take it your running with water. Just open them all the way and throw more unlit in if needed. If you have some really good welding gloves you could remove the pan and foil it, you shouldn't have trouble reaching 275 even with water. The factory gauge usually reads 25-40 lower than vent temps which is the best place to monitor.
 
Thanks to all for the inputs. Will take a while to figure out the WSM but we are having fun in the rain today.

Yes, we are running with water. Think I will start with hot water next time or go without and wrap the pan. Will leave the water in for this time though.

Went through about 14 lbs of charcoal in 6 hours (Stubbs). Still some small coals in there but heat was dropping off. Have added some new hot as well as some unlit. Temp is coming back up now.

Looks pretty good.
 
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