MDPeterson
New member
Just got a WSM 18 for Father's Day and have already learned so much reading this website and the boards. I've only had a chance to do two cooks, but I'm loving it so far.
I first did a dry run with charcoal only, just to get a feel for maintaining the temperature. I got it to about 260 and it stayed there for almost 13 hours without me touching anything, so I foolishly felt like I knew what I was doing.
My first cook was a pork butt, which was just over 9 pounds before I trimmed off the fat cap. I went with the Southern Succor rub. Since it was going to be a Sunday dinner, I put it on late Saturday night and was hoping to get the cook to last 16 hours, so I was looking for 225 temperature-wise. I got it to 225 at about 1 in the morning and put the pork on. I had the top vent fully open, but only one bottom vent open about 25%. By 1:30, it had gotten up to 250. I didn't want the temperature to rise anymore (because I didn't want it to cook too quickly), but I couldn't close the last bottom vent completely. So, I made the mistake of closing the top vent a tiny bit. Waited a bit and the temp stayed at 250, so I went to bed. Got up at 8:30 and my temperature was down to 150. Got a new batch of coals started in the chimney and added them and got the temp up to 260, since now I was behind schedule! Only turned and sprayed the pork once (about 11 am), and the meat got up to 195 (I was really hoping for 205) by 5:30 pm, so I took it off and let it sit for half an hour before pulling it. Had a really nice bark and really good flavor, but felt a touch dry. I had it on a french roll with Sweet Baby Ray's and coleslaw and it tasted great. Family all loved it.
My second cook was less successful. I smoked turkey tenderloins using a recipe I found on another site (couldn't find one on here). Took forever to get my coals hot - I had to do two chimney starters because the first one just wouldn't get going. I was going to cook them at 275, but it took at least an hour before the temperature even started going up, so by the time it was over 200, I threw them on. After about 50 minutes, I turned them (I was planning to cook them for 1:20, but knew it would be longer because of the lower temp) and the temperature at that point was only just above 250, but starting to dip. I kicked the legs to clear any loose ash and the temperature really started to take off on me - got over 300 before I realized that I had left the lid slightly ajar when I turned the meat! Turkey finally got to 165-170 internally after about 1:45. I thought the taste was pretty good, but the consistency was a bit odd. Not sure if it was my cooking skills or the tenderloins themselves.
I think my next attempt is going to be a Santa Maria-style tri tip.
I first did a dry run with charcoal only, just to get a feel for maintaining the temperature. I got it to about 260 and it stayed there for almost 13 hours without me touching anything, so I foolishly felt like I knew what I was doing.
My first cook was a pork butt, which was just over 9 pounds before I trimmed off the fat cap. I went with the Southern Succor rub. Since it was going to be a Sunday dinner, I put it on late Saturday night and was hoping to get the cook to last 16 hours, so I was looking for 225 temperature-wise. I got it to 225 at about 1 in the morning and put the pork on. I had the top vent fully open, but only one bottom vent open about 25%. By 1:30, it had gotten up to 250. I didn't want the temperature to rise anymore (because I didn't want it to cook too quickly), but I couldn't close the last bottom vent completely. So, I made the mistake of closing the top vent a tiny bit. Waited a bit and the temp stayed at 250, so I went to bed. Got up at 8:30 and my temperature was down to 150. Got a new batch of coals started in the chimney and added them and got the temp up to 260, since now I was behind schedule! Only turned and sprayed the pork once (about 11 am), and the meat got up to 195 (I was really hoping for 205) by 5:30 pm, so I took it off and let it sit for half an hour before pulling it. Had a really nice bark and really good flavor, but felt a touch dry. I had it on a french roll with Sweet Baby Ray's and coleslaw and it tasted great. Family all loved it.
My second cook was less successful. I smoked turkey tenderloins using a recipe I found on another site (couldn't find one on here). Took forever to get my coals hot - I had to do two chimney starters because the first one just wouldn't get going. I was going to cook them at 275, but it took at least an hour before the temperature even started going up, so by the time it was over 200, I threw them on. After about 50 minutes, I turned them (I was planning to cook them for 1:20, but knew it would be longer because of the lower temp) and the temperature at that point was only just above 250, but starting to dip. I kicked the legs to clear any loose ash and the temperature really started to take off on me - got over 300 before I realized that I had left the lid slightly ajar when I turned the meat! Turkey finally got to 165-170 internally after about 1:45. I thought the taste was pretty good, but the consistency was a bit odd. Not sure if it was my cooking skills or the tenderloins themselves.
I think my next attempt is going to be a Santa Maria-style tri tip.
