How to do a REALLY long cook?


 

Monty House

TVWBB Pro
I'm considering doing a chuck roll. Not sure if I'll foil or not, so I want to be prepared to have in the WSM for up to 24 hours.

When you know you're going to run out from the initial charcoal load, what's the best strategy? Say, at the 12 hour mark, do you stuff a bunch of unlit through the door and try another quasi-Minion by placing lit atop it?
 
I think you can go 16h+ with a topped ring in the 22" - And after that i would just load some unlit thru the door. But if you cant get over the 12h mark i would take out the lit and start a new minion.
 
I usually have no problem getting to 12 hours with my 22.........usually closer to 14. I have to check on it frequently after 10 hours and rearrange the coals and vents a bit to keep the temp up toward the end.

If I know I'm going to need longer than that, I just add a load of unlit in a ring around the fire. That will give me a few more hours of bliss. I rarely need more than 12-14 hours for what I'm doing though.
 
I definitely would not try stuffing unlit through the door. I don't find the door that useful personally. It's really hard to maneuver around the Water Pan to be able to add fuel. The only time I really use it is if my smoke runs out and I need to add a Wood Chunk.

If you are needing to go over 24 hours, I would start a new Minion. Simply grip the top two sections of the WSM and place it aside. Fill the charcoal ring up and add your lit on top. Then move the top 2 sections back on to the charcoal bowl. The temp in the cooking chamber will drop while you're doing this, but it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes so it shouldn't harm the cooking of your meat.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">You could always (gasp!) finish in your oven. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

that's plain crazy talk

btw, I thought this was going to be a sous vide thread. My concept of a really long cook is now measured in days.
 
What others said. But just for the fun and the practice.

The hot squat works well. Make sure you have a pair of leather gloves. Practice first so you have a good technique. Try it with a cold WSM with the gloves on. I.E. do a test lift.

I have done this way in the past and got good at it. Thing is - as others have posted it's not necessary as you learn how to lift cook temps or modify cooking/prep techniques to achieve the same results in shorter time.

I mastered it using a filled water pan
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I also have a large auto style drip pan handy. You need to lift straight up and circle right over to your drop/rest point. Mine was that pan which the WSM was actually sitting on and it has enough room to accommodate. This way if you spill it stays in the pan. Dry water pan - no worries.

If you drip some water on the coals not a big deal. You just don't want to have been drinking and drop the whole water pan. Practice with a full water pan if you are going to have it loaded during the cook.

An alternate that I found excellent - load coals through the side door. Have a poker or rake (which I've posted about previous) Say from Tejas Smokers. You open the side door, use the rake and stir things a bit. Then load coals/fuel in from the side with those long gauntlet leather gloves or make a slide from HD foil or sheet aluminum that you can get from home depot.

I mastered this technique only to find that cook temps are actually flexible enough that 24 hour cooks are not typically necessary. But it was fun and I like to play withe fire
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If this helps you learn about fire control it's worth it. You never know when you may need to know how to do a hot lift on the WSM. It might not have anything to do with cooking in the end but might have everything to do with correction, say if you dump a full water pan during a cook while trying to move racks around, etc.

I use a dry pan and have learned to adjust cook temps to keep things in range so haven't had to use the technique in a good long while.

Anyway it's a learning curve but this technique is very useful to know and be able to execute well.

Bottom line this technique will hold temps extremely well if you need to "fix something" with the fire. Good one to have in the toolbox if you need it. But - no need IMHO to go to the trouble of installing handles on the sides of the middle section unless you just want to - because in the end you won't really be using it all that much once you have fire control down.

On a side note - the side door technique is also good to master. Good for adding fuel in a pinch but also for adding water if you use water in your pan. Just have a transmission filler funnel handy. If not the HD foil aluminium flashing "chute" will work just as well.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">An alternate that I found excellent - load coals through the side door. Have a poker or rake (which I've posted about previous) Say from Tejas Smokers. You open the side door, use the rake and stir things a bit. Then load coals/fuel in from the side with those long gauntlet leather gloves or make a slide from HD foil or sheet aluminum that you can get from home depot. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't recommend disrupting you coal bed unless you meat is foiled or off the smoker during the disruption. Ash will get sucked up into the wsm and settle on the meat.

just something to keep in mind.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by george curtis:
i cannot think of one reason to cook something that long. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

+1

Cut the chuck roll in half and get the cooking time down to 15 hours or so. In that case, there would be no need to reload. Also, use a waterless cooking method and load the charcoal ring full. I just can't see tending a smoker for 24 hours.

If you must do what you are planning, I'd vote for the hot squat. If I was using water, I'd do it about 3/4 through the first load of charcoal when the water pan is almost empty.
 
In an emergency doing a hot lift has everything off to the side while you are correcting some issue with the fire/coals so no residue or fly ash hits the food.

Side door - just adding coals you won't get any significant fly ash. Using a rake gently to work the coals doesn't cause a lot/much fly ash either in my experience.

Again my comments are simply to suggest it's a good technique/s to learn.

Breaking the chuck roll down or any large hunk like a big Boston Butt etc is the first and best method to reduce duration of the cook.

Even overnights aren't really necessary IMHO.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by j biesinger:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">You could always (gasp!) finish in your oven. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

that's plain crazy talk

btw, I thought this was going to be a sous vide thread. My concept of a really long cook is now measured in days. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I hear ya. Apropos to this thread I cooked some chuck steaks for 40 hours Sous Vide at 57C. A little overcooked (both time and temp) I think, but pretty good!
 
A tip I read from Kevin. If you do need to stir the coals close the top vent first. That will help keep the up-draft to a minimum.
I've done that before and it does help on flyaway ash.

Tim
 

 

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