Ok, this morning I tested my therms for accuracy. I checked the analog gage I have mounted to my WSM, and 2 inexpensive digitals I have. One digital was dead on 212 and one digital and the analog were -4 degrees at boiling. I received my pitmaster 110iq yesterday, and I plan to assemble it today and burn some freebie charcoal to test it out.
I'm starting from scratch
- Thread starter Justin P.
- Start date
So I cleaned out my gunked up water pan really good with SOS grill pads. I got all the grease and build up off of it, so it looks close to new. I reinstalled my thermometer, and loaded it up for minion method with Best Choice 100% hardwood briquettes. I left the water pan and the trays out while I finished cleaning the water pan. After I foiled the pan I returned to find my smoker really putting out a lot smoke and running at almost 375 degrees! I installed the foiled water pan, and filled it up with water. I installed the racks and placed 3 butterflied chickens on the racks. The WSM dropped back to around 250 degrees, and stayed between 250 and 235 for a solid 4 hours. It was just like the old days. So, my questions is, could the gunky water pan have been sucking up my heat, acting like a big heat sink? Could it have been the lack of foil transferring the heat to the top? What do you think? My party got moved to the 3rd, so I plan to load it up with pork butts tomorrow night and see what happens. I'm going to run with the water pan dry, and keep my Pitmaster IQ110 close by. I will likely use it to control the temps through the night if it looks like the WSM is doing anything funny on the temps. I'll let you know how they turn out.
So I rubbed up the butts and fired the WSM last night, and at 10 pm 4 butts totaling 38 lbs. went on the smoker. I used a combination of Wicked Good 100% lump and Wicked good briquette, and fired the cooker minion method with one full chimney about 75% lit. I installed the Pitmaster IQ110 and set it for about 240 degrees. At about 11:30 pm the WSM had settled in and to temp. I checked it off and on till about 12:30 am and everything was good. I went to bed, and slept like a baby. I woke up at 6 am to check on it, and it was still at 240-245. Sweet!!! I turned the butts and sprayed a little apple juice on them. I checked the coals and there is plenty of fuel left. The butts are around 165 degrees, so it looks like I will make it the whole way without adding any more charcoal. If it keeps going like it is, I'll post a final result tomorrow.
Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
A friend of mine swears by the WG lump. He's sent me pics of how much is left at the end of long cooks and it's pretty dern impressive.
First things first, the butts were amazing. They were a huge hit, and might have been the best I've ever made. When I pulled them they were nice and moist, with very little fat to remove. There were no leftovers after the midnight snack following fireworks
. I'm very happy with the Wicked Good combination of lump and briquette. The picture shows what the Wicked Good looked like after 17 hours of cook time. It held temp for at least another 4 hours before it began drifting down. Thanks for all the help.
