Gotta get this one right!


 
Charles Howse

Charles Howse

TVWBB Wizard
<nervous>
I'm cooking an 8.67# butt for the wife's family Christmas party.
</nervous>
There will be Hell to pay if anything goes wrong!
icon_mad.gif

I've got everything worked out except bringing the weather into play when firing up using the MM.

The forecast is:
Showers possible. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the upper 30s. Winds SW @ 11.
I'll be starting the fire about 1:30 AM Saturday morning, with my windbreak in place, and the new Maverick.

Is this a cold weather start (20 - 40 briquettes), or extremely cold (40 - 60 briquettes)?
Also, I may be stating the obvious, but I would assume that I would need to fill the ring to overflowing, but be sure that the briquettes I'm using to fire up will not overflow and fall onto the grate. So maybe...fill ring to overflowing, then remove some briquettes to the chimney starter?

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever opened a piñata with a 12-gauge.
 
Charles

Relax. It's next to impossible to screw up a butt cook. It's OK to do a "cold weather" start. Temperatures from the upper 30's to mid 50's do not qualify for "extremely cold" start. Trust me on this one.

Griff
 
Gulp! Just looked at my cooklog for the last butt I cooked.
11/2/05 - 8.9# - 6:00 PM start time - Weather sunny, light wind, high 74, low 31.

It took 20 hours!!! (2 hrs/lb), and I had to add more coals at 15 hrs because the ash was choking the fire.

Unless we get off early Friday, I can't start this one till around midnight. I've planned on 1.5 hrs/lb., and it's GOT to be ready before 6:00 PM. The only other thing I can do is start it before I leave for work @ 1:30 PM.
At 20 hours, that would make it ready about 9:30 AM Saturday morning, + hold time.
I would prefer not to reheat it before supper.

Any suggestions?
 
Well, you could try cutting the butt in half so you're smoking 2 smaller pieces of meat. The other thing that comes to mind is running a higher target temp (250-275). I've done a few cooks where I've been rushed & ran the higher temps and didn't notice any problems with the final product.

Greg
 
charles, I wouldn't try and do it at 1:30 the day before. If you are eating at 6, then you are starting your cook 28+ hours in advance. If you happen to have a fast-cooking butt, you'll end up needing to cool down then reheat, instead of just holding. I find it is easier to speed up than to have to potentially extend it for that amount of time.

like greg said, just bump your temps up to 250/275. And, if you are running a little behind, the answer is in your tagline: "ain't too proud to foil." If you are getting a really long plateau, just help it along by foiling and bumping the temps another 25 degrees. You'll be done in no time.

The only other thing I can suggest is to have everything ready before you leave for work... butts rubbed, charcoal ready, tools at hand, etc. Then you can get it on the smoker quickly.

About the weather... Since you have a windbreak, you don't need to worry. 30-40 degrees is no problem whatsoever. If you get light rain, not a huge deal, but good to cover if posssible. If the rain is torrential, just make sure you can somehow cover it (I started using an old door... put the WSM against the wall, and prop the old door over it, against the wall. It forms a lean-to kind of thing and keeps it bone dry...).

Good luck!

While my butts usually take around 18 hours, I could easily speed them up if I wanted.
 
3 posts in a row...can you tell I'm really nervous about this coming out right?

Planning on 2 hrs/lb, if I put the meat on at 9:00 AM Friday, that would give me 4 hours to stabilize the cooker temp before I had to leave for work.

The cooktime works out to 17.34 hrs, which would make it ready to move to the cooler about 2:00 AM or a little later.

Holding in the cooler for 16 hrs is probably out of the question for safety reasons, so I would have to hold it for as long as is safe, then pull and chop, move to the fridge, and reheat before leaving for the party.

I guess that will have to be acceptable if I plan on 2 hrs/lb.

Planning on 1.5 hrs/lb, and starting at 11:00 AM would make it ready about midnight, after I get home from work, but I would only have about an hour and a half to stabilize the cooker temp before I left for work.

Sheeeesh! What to do, what to do?
 
Greg and Adam,
Great idea! I've been so concerned with the math involving timing to think about a higher target temp.
I think we've resolved this. I will start it as originally planned, after I get home from work, about 1:30 AM Saturday.
After I get up, I'll check the temps, adjust the smoker temp as needed, and foil if necessary.

My deck has a roof, so a drizzling rain is no problem.

Do you think starting the fire with 30 briquettes would be appropriate for the weather conditions listed above?
 
you won't need 30. 20 is plenty. I'm smoked in far colder weather and never needed more than 20 to get it going (though I'm sure I've never smoked in weather as cold as our friend Griff...)

Good luck!
 
20 it is, then!
I'll report the results in this thread (if I live to tell about it.)

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
Your pet groundhog has ever bitten more than one of your thumbs off.
 
Well, it's Friday morning, and I have a challenge before me...

Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low near 45F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Luckily, my house (26 x 52) runs NE to SW, the deck faces NW and my windbreak should protect the smoker from those strong winds.

1 more cup o' mud and I'll start getting things ready.

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever fallen off your roof and had your fall broken by a disassembled car engine.
 
Originally posted by Charles Howse:
roflmao!
As soon as you said, "Trust me...", I looked at your location.
'nuff said!
icon_wink.gif
Click to expand...

I would say that Griff is the cold weather cooking expert here lol.
 
Well, we got off early today, and I was able to start the fire around midnight.

Wind's not too bad, only S @ 7 right now.

I jumped the gun a little, spread the lit coals just a little before they were all grey.

12:33 - 200° at the grate, moved all bottom vents to 25% open.

1:37 - only at 238°, and rising slowly. I'm thinking that maybe next MM cook, I'll let it go to 220° before going to 25% on the vents.

If not at 250° by 2:00, I'll open them just a little more. Gotta get it stabilized soon so I can get some shuteye.

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever written in a buddy on the Presidential ballot.
 
Good luck on the cook, hope it comes out well. I'm new to smokin' and I just did my first cook last weekend, a brisket that came out great. But I don't have the guts to smoke anything for my wife's family Christmas party. Maybe next year.
 
Bro, you almost can't mess up a Butt! Take one. If it's a family party and there will be other things there to eat, take one for a "test". I'm sure it will be great. Just be careful not to "Over smoke" it. Some people don't really care for a lot of smoke flavor if they're not used to eating it. Good things about butt is there is so much mass, by the time you are done pulling it and mixing it up, the smoke flavor is spread out throughout the meat.
Tell you what, make it, and if it doesn't go over very well, pack it in some dry ice and send it to Pa. I'll eat it! I'm sure you'll do fine.
wsmsmile8gm.gif
 
Charles,

If your hunk o' pork gets stuck at a plateau and you're running out of time, just double wrap in foil and pop it in your oven at around 300°. That will speed up the cook considerably.

Relax !!!!

Al
 
Notes on cooking with the Maverick ET73 -
This was the first time I had used it for a long cook. It gives me too much to think about, just checking the display every few minutes...chased the temps 'till 4:00 AM trying to get it stabilized around 250°.
Finally succeeded, with all bottom vents @ 5%.
<proud> Was not awakened by the alarm, but was prepared to shoot it and go back to sleep. </proud>
Got up 1 cup of coffee ago, with the meat @ 172 and smoker @ 272. Closed 2 vents completely, thinking about closing the third and fighting it down.
Maybe it will start to plateau soon. It's cooking too fast to suit me, but no need to panic...yet.
icon_wink.gif


--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
It’s a family tradition to hand pull a tooth during each solar eclipse.
 
Now almost 10 hrs in...
Meat @ 186°, smoker @ 251° with all three bottom vents closed completely for the last 90 mins.
'course I was asleep between 134° and 172°, but I haven't noticed a plateau...yet.

Smoker temp suits me a little better, now. Will let it drop to about 240°, and crack 1 vent.

Need to start thinking about making sauce for the party. That means somebody will have to clean up the kitchen.
icon_frown.gif


I'll make some Lexington vinegar sauce (mild and hot), and maybe some No. 5 (hot). Both recipes courtesy Steve Petrone.

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever wrapped a Christmas present in tobacco leaves.
 
12:30 here now.

Meat @ 193°, smoker @ 238°, all bottom vents still closed. I think I'll leave everything alone for now.

I think I'm on track for finishing in plenty of time, since I started about an hour and 15 minutes before I had originally planned.
icon_cool.gif


Sauces are made, Titans game is on, will have time to watch the Colts game before leaving...so far so good.

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
The window of opportunity for you to make anything of yourself was broken by kids playing baseball down the street.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top