Ideal time to add Boston Butt


 
J

JHerritage

New member
After lighting my coals - and adding my hickory wood chunks - how long should I wait to add my 8 pound pork butt?

1. Immediately - when all the white smoke is jetting out the top? Or
2. 30 - 45 minutes later when the smoke has become thinner, clearer?

Thanks.
 
I wait until my temps have stabilized at the temp I want to cook at (250-275), then I put the butts on. Usually takes about 20 minutes or so, and the white smoke is usually gone by then.
 
You'll probably get nearly as many opinions on this subject as there are members of these forums, but like Chris, I like to put the proteins on just after I dump in my starting charge of lit charcoal from my chimney starter and have placed my wood chunks. My reasoning is that some of the smoke will condense on the cool meat as everything is warming up. Since I use lump, I don't think that there is very much "bad" smoke initially, but there may or may not be some with briquettes. I tend to think that there is more bad smoke when using logs on an offset than when using charcoal in general, but YMMV.
 
Since I do the Enrico Brandizzi sidewinder method, I set up, light the coals through the door for about 2-3 minutes, close the door, add the butt, put the lid on and either have more coffee or have a beer, mix a cocktail, and just wait. I think I might be one of the most “hands off” people I know when it comes to the WSM. It does so much all by itself I will send something amiss if I fool around with too much.
 
I have everything ready to go. Meat on, probes in, lid on.
Dump the lit briqs in, do the cold squat, then let everything come up together....maybe 45-60 minutes before I have to fettle the vents for my desired cook temp.
(Time enough to get showered & a bite of breakfast).
 
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I usually add meats when it's time to fiddle with the vents. All vents open as charcoal gets dumped in. Let it get to around 200, add food, and start messing with the vents. It usually works well enough for me. But the beauty of smoking large hunks of meat is that first hour or so of a 10 hour cook is only 10% of that cook. There's time enough for the magic process to correct anything in the startup. And that goes double for a forgiving hunk like pork butt.
 
Meats on, Minion method.
Unlit on the bottom followed by a scattering of smokewood. (I cut my chunks into halves or quarters.)
Lit goes on top. I feel it cleanses the smoke as it passes thru the lit. Usually takes about 20 mins for TBS.
Usually takes an hour to hit my target temp of 275 with a empty foiled pan.
Not all white smoke is bad. Some of it is just moisture burning off.
 
I don't put meat on until white smoke has cleared (briquettes) due to getting bitter / not good tasting BBQ with that type of smoke. Especially affects chicken and other lighter food like veggies, pork and salmon. That's my 1 cent since it's not worth 2.
 
^^^ I agree ^^^
Once smoke cleans up.......this can take a long time sometimes......
Briquettes is what I was using a lot for low n slow but last wekend I cooked 2 pork butts on the E6 and the smoke was clean within minutes.......I used JD lump and everything about that cook was awesome.
I have 3+ bags of briquettes left to use right now.........might not use them agian...???
 
Using the Minion Method, I've always waited until the WSM got to temp. But on reading some of these replies, I will try dropping the meat right after I drop the lit coals into (and then pull) the can . . .
 
Set up a briq or lump Minion, (no wood), in your fire-basket. If the fuel is dry you won't get hardly any TWS when you dump the lit in.
Exposing your fuel to a naked flame is a different matter. (Think chimney start up). But notice how your chimney stops smoking after the initial ignition source has burned out? Well mine does with the fuel that I use, so it's not the fuel causing TWS.
Introduce wood to red-hot fuel and you get TWS, until the moisture in the wood has been driven out, then you get TBS.

I've just read something on another bbq forum.
For those who dislike TWS, but wood[sic] like to start cooking straight away. The day before your planned cook, pre-heat your wood chunks in a chimney, and wait until the TWS stops. Then put the chunks in a suitable container, starving them of oxygen & moisture, & let them cool. You now have pre-heated wood chunks to use that should only produce TBS. Sounds logical to me.

Thoughts anyone?
 
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I usually wait until the WSM is at about 200 and then I put meat on. I think it's more about how many briquettes you start with and how fast they are igniting. I think if you start with close to what you need and the WSM comes up to temp very quickly then you are fine putting the meat on immediately. Sometimes I'll start with a really low number like 12 lit briquettes. Then that charcoal has to light a lot of unlit charcoal in the firebox to get up to temp so you get way more white smoke. I think very rapidly igniting charcoal is what can produce acrid flavors.
 
Question: Do you get thick white smoke if there are no wood chunks in the charcoal ring when you dump the lit?

(I'm thinking no, (although I've never tried it myself). I have always had wood chunks buried in the unlit fuel from the get-go).

I ask this because when you initially fire up your chimney there is lots of smoke due to naked flame igniting the fuel. After the ignition source has burned off there is no longer hardly any smoke. The chimney is maybe a 1/4 lit but gradually the lit fuel ignites the unlit without billowing smoke. That's my experience. YMMV.

Also, it seems logical to me that lit fuel in the charcoal ring creates heat which dries/drives out moisture in the unlit wood before igniting it as the fire spreads, hence no billowing smoke but TBS, even when the wood ignites a few of hours into the cook.
(Those of you with offsets / log-burning fires will know that wet or damp wood produces a lot more smoke than dry wood).
 
I think it's more about how many briquettes you start with and how fast they are igniting. I think very rapidly igniting charcoal is what can produce acrid flavors.
Exposing your fuel to a naked flame is a different matter. (Think chimney start up). But notice how your chimney stops smoking after the initial ignition source has burned out?
Introduce wood to red-hot fuel and you get TWS, until the moisture in the wood has been driven out, then you get TBS.

That's what I think too. A big load of rapidly igniting fuel that is cold seems to me to be what causes the big plumes of yucky smoke. That's why I think you don't get the big bad smoke over the course of a Minion burn. First, you have small bits of fuel getting lit up gradually over time. Second, the unlit coals get warmed up inside the cooker pre-ignition.

So I just let the coals run in the chimney until the plumes dissipate, then dump and start cooking right away.

And to have good wood smoke going from the outset too, I toss a couple of chunks into the top of the chimney. So that wood is already lit, warm and past the start-up smoke stage.
 
This is a great idea and I will try this next time. Prewarming the smoking wood. It's also why I bury my smoking wood under the unlit coals versus tossing on top.
 
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