first time out... not bad...and a question

[Yianni]

picked up a nice 18.5 off craiglist, luckliy I have a 2nd patio under my deck but it was still pretty windy out friday night.

used the rub recipie from the beginner recipie section..was awesome.. inspired me to buy the smoke and spice book off amazon that night

4.5 hours later pretty tasty, I used applewood I think it was great.

Heres the question I used the minion method - 1/2 chimney lit coals on top of 1 full chimney coals. I think I got at least 6 hours of steady 230-250 temps out of it. put them on at 7pm ate them at 1130 I went to bed with the wireless receiver next to me at 1am still holding 250 and woke up around 3 with it at 160.

Does that sound about right for holding temps with one unlit chimney with 1/2 lit on top?

Next I want to try pulled pork so if I just load out the charcol grate (2 chimneys? or just fill er up?, I also have the brinkman pan for water) and dump a lit chimney I should be good for the long haul? Im a little scared to do an over night for fear of losing the temp..

thoughts? comments? thanks!

 

[Lew Newby]

Yanni, the times sound good for an 18.5" WSM with a light food load.

For the Butt, "fill er up", and use a half chimney, or less, of lit charcoal. Butts are very forgiving and cook great at 250°-275°. Temp. excursions above that won't harm the cook. My last Pork Butt cook was with an 8.5 lb. Butt cooked in that range and it took 10.5 hrs. I foiled it at an internal temp of 176° so that reduced cook time a little. Without foil it probably would have taken about 12 hours. I put the meat on at 4:45 AM so it was ready for dinner with time to spare.

If you can cook ribs that good a Boston Butt will be a piece of cake.

 

[Yianni]

Thanks for the reply...I have definatley been bitten by the smoking bug. The tank on my weber grill is currently empty it may not get filled up for a while

 

[Mike P.]

Fill your WSM with coal. Once the smoke is complete, close all 4 vents. Reuse old coal next time.

It's a cycle.

I too have a Weber gasser that has not seen much use of late.