Fundamental Theorem of BBQ


 
J

John Richardson

New member
It'll be done when it's done.

I started a 8 1/2 lb shoulder last night around midnight, with the intention of just relaxing & letting the cooker do it's thing and not obsessing over timing or trying to anal-rentive control the temp to +/- 1 degree.. I went to bed around 1:30 when the temp stabilized at about 235. At 6 am, it was 207 with the meat at 149. I went out and tapped the legs and added some more smoke wood and checked the water pan and opened it up, it's back up to 219, but doesn't seem to be climbing any further... I'm hoping I can get it back up to 235 or 240, seems to have a good amount of fuel left.

Once it comes out of the 160 stall, I'll start mopping with apple juice, but for now I'ma leav it alone.
 
Temps will probably rise slowly. If your fuel is ok,and you want the temps to speed up make sure vents are open and/or you can prop the door open for a few minutes.

If the sun and those things don't work, you can always add a small load of lit charcoal.
 
LOL, John. I've got just the opposite going on. All bottom vents have been completely closed since 6:30 this morning. The cooker's been chugging along at 240 lid temp. The sun peeked out for few minutes, and temp went to 250. Back to 245 now.

Enjoy your dinner!

JimT
 
Pretty much as soon as I posted that it started climbing. I've held it in the 230's all day, until the meat got over 170, then I let it get to about 245-250. It just takes a while for it to respond to the airflow. Meat is looking really good, and it's at 184.
 
Just to wrap this all up... The meat came off the grill at 197 internal around 5:45, which was about 17 hours and change after I put it on and when I bought the butt I figured around 18 hours. I rested it for about 40 minutes then pulled (I was too hungry to do the 2 hours in a cooler trick I usually do). It damn near fell apart, and it just oozed rendered fat (I dread cleaning the water pan). Texture wise, the best pulled pork I've ever made. Taste wise, it was up there, although the bark seemed a little more carbony / less smoky. I used the heaping ring I started with and the 6 chunks of pecan I started with plus about 3 more around the 10 hour mark, plus maybe 30 more unlit briquettes (which may or may not have been necessary, but I figured it couldn't hurt
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, and I probably went through 6L of water (I used a wine bottle to add water through the hatch this time, and I added water 4 times plus the "full to the brim" I started with.

I think I may give lump a try on my next cook, I figured I'd start out with the kingsford until I got the hang of fire control. The stuff I'm making tastes okay, but it just doesn't seem to have quite the same oomph as what I've made that was all-wood or lump + wood, and that ammonia-y smell you get after 4 or 5 hours can't be good for the food, although I can't say that I've specifically noticed it in the food...
 
Good luck with the lump. You will notice the flavor difference before you even taste it. The aroma from lump is as pure as it gets.

If you do an overnighter with lump, be sure to use a good quality one. Carefully arrange your pieces so that there are few gaps in between.

Look for lump that feels dense in weight.....you'll get longer burn times (wicked good)........happy smoking.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by craig castille:
Good luck with the lump. You will notice the flavor difference before you even taste it. The aroma from lump is as pure as it gets. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Interesting... I always swore by lump in the past for grilling or for when I used to do my Q in a single-chamber grill. We'll see. I've got 1 1/2 bags of new kinsgford left.
 
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