After waiting all week, I finally get to enjoy the object of my obsession. I have four butts at about 8.5 lbs each that went on at 10:00 last night. I know I shouldn't cook that much for a party for my first cook, but the party is what justified the gear. As the temps stabilized last night, I was surprised to find my dome thermometer reading 25 - 35 degrees less less than my Maverick ET-73. I expected the opposite, especially after calibrating them all with boiling water. The dome was reading 200 - 210 and the ET-73 was 225 - 240. I kicked the legs to knock off some ash and went to bed with my temperature alarms set.
Woke up this morning after 9 1/2 hours to see the WSM at 245 and the pork at 167. What an amazing machine. It's 9:00 am, I've had to "stir" the coals and we're in the plateau still holing at 167.
You'd think after poring through this site that I would have avoided all the rookie mistakes. So here's some advice for a newb like me... assemble the upper portion of the WSM before you light the charcoal ring. I figured that charcoal lights slow, so I added 30 lit briqs to my tightly packed ring and began to assemble the gear. Well the apple wood lit off, and when I added the middle section of the WSM, I created an 18.5" chimney to direct the smoke into my face while I added a full water bowl, lower rack, meat, upper rack, more meat, and oh yeah... don't forget the temp probes through the upper vent. By the time I had wiped my hands, the temp was at 225. So much for catching it on the way up. I immediately closed the vents and got things under control.
My second observation is that butts are heavy and slippery. I read that someone placed the smoker probe under top grate and this sounded like a perfect location. In the first 1.5 hours, I kept noticing the temp dropping by 10 degrees and then coming back up. I assumed something was dripping on the probe and I needed to get it on top of the grate. So with my wife carefully holding the lid with the wires going through it, I lifted one end of the grate to get my probe. Well, the meat slid and jammed the grate at a 45 degree angle. I threw off the mitts and reassembled, but it was a panic I didn't need. I suspect that had I left well enough alone, the condensation would have stopped and the temp would have stabilized. (It was 38 degrees outside).
I forgot to take "before" photos of the butts, but I'll get the finished product later.
Woke up this morning after 9 1/2 hours to see the WSM at 245 and the pork at 167. What an amazing machine. It's 9:00 am, I've had to "stir" the coals and we're in the plateau still holing at 167.
You'd think after poring through this site that I would have avoided all the rookie mistakes. So here's some advice for a newb like me... assemble the upper portion of the WSM before you light the charcoal ring. I figured that charcoal lights slow, so I added 30 lit briqs to my tightly packed ring and began to assemble the gear. Well the apple wood lit off, and when I added the middle section of the WSM, I created an 18.5" chimney to direct the smoke into my face while I added a full water bowl, lower rack, meat, upper rack, more meat, and oh yeah... don't forget the temp probes through the upper vent. By the time I had wiped my hands, the temp was at 225. So much for catching it on the way up. I immediately closed the vents and got things under control.
My second observation is that butts are heavy and slippery. I read that someone placed the smoker probe under top grate and this sounded like a perfect location. In the first 1.5 hours, I kept noticing the temp dropping by 10 degrees and then coming back up. I assumed something was dripping on the probe and I needed to get it on top of the grate. So with my wife carefully holding the lid with the wires going through it, I lifted one end of the grate to get my probe. Well, the meat slid and jammed the grate at a 45 degree angle. I threw off the mitts and reassembled, but it was a panic I didn't need. I suspect that had I left well enough alone, the condensation would have stopped and the temp would have stabilized. (It was 38 degrees outside).
I forgot to take "before" photos of the butts, but I'll get the finished product later.
