Just picked it up!! Woot 18.5"


 
S

Scott Dallal

TVWBB Member
I finally bought a 18.5" Bullet! After reading for a long time, and coming close to order I never did. Finally just did it!

I have about a 10 year old smoker. It is sort of an offset, but not really. The fuel is to the side but below. It "works" but is a pain the rear. Sever hot spots and you really have to baby it the entire cooking time.

I've got a 9lb pork I'm going to do a sort of all nighter. But I think I'm starting right off with dry. I'm hoping to find a clay saucer today, but otherwise will use sand.

Someone going to show me the secrete hand-shack now?
 
Cograts!
the secret hand shake i think is
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Sooo...getting ready for my first cook. I want to go waterless...so...do I have this right?

1. Foil Water Pan
2. Foil 14" Clay Saucer
3. Put Clay Saucer on top of Water Pan
4. Fill Clay Saucer with Sand
5. Cover Sand with Foil

Or should I just fill the water pan with sand and forget the saucer?
 
I am going to try foiling the water pan, foiling the saucer and foiling some ceramic briquettes and putting the briquettes in the water pan under the saucer. No sand.

I have done 3 cooks with just the pan and saucer foiled and it worked good. I just like to tinker around with things.

But I am new to this, have no idea what I am doing, and you should not listen to a word I say.
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But let us know what you try and how it works out though. Best of luck on your first cook.
 
I'm set up. I'm going to go with a foiled pan, clay saucer, sand and foil on top of the sand.

I think the saucer is overkill. I didn't realize how deep the water pan was. I imagine filling that 3/4 with sand would be more than enough. Hummm
 
I woke after about 5 hrs, (7 hrs into cook that I'm thinking is about 14 hrs). The smoker was up about 280. While hot, I'm very pleased. Why? If I ever fell asleep more than 3 hrs on my previous smoker the fire would go out.

Still lots of fuel. I flipped and rotated the meat (do you really need to do that in one of these?). I added 3 hunks of wood and put 2 vents closed 1 vent open about 1/2 to see if that brings the temp down. I'll let it go another 2 hrs and then figure out how to get my probe thermometer in the unit. I'm assuming thru the vent in the lid?

I know I was being stubborn in not using water. But maybe that is the way to go. Especially with this larger water pan. My real issue is that one of my favorite parts of the BBQ is that firm, almost hard "burnt ends". And I just can't believe you can get that in the moist environment with the water pan. Could be wrong.
 
Ah oh! Put thermometer in and already at 185! Oh my! That doesn't make sense unless unit got hotter than 300 while I slept.

I shut down 2 of the vents, leaving the 3rd just barely open. After an hour of that, the lid temp did drop to 225, so I'll leave it. Set my thermometer to go off at 205.

I had toyed with the idea of pulling off the smoker at 185, but nobody is coming till 3. So I'll see if I can slow down the cooking and just leave it till 205 or so. I can wrap in foil and put in a small cooler and should be fine for a couple hours.

I handling even had a chance to decide if I was going to mop last couple hours or not...

Odd, the outside doesn't look over done.
 
Sounds like your cook is going pretty well.

You've got rocks to make your first cook on a brand new unit an overnighter!

Did you use a rub or anything?
What are you using for charcoal?
What lighting method do you use?

Post up some pics if /when you can.
 
Wow that is some maiden voyage with the new WSM.

I've only used water so far in the pan and although it was a success the cleanup is a terrible. I have the 22.5 and pan won't fit in my laundry sink to clean properly.

I tried looking for a clay saucer but none were big enough to fit in my pan. Biggest I could find was 14".

I went to the Ontario Gas BBQ and they said don't use sand, or clay saucer and stick to water.

I bought some really nice spareribs and a 10lb butt. I was planning on doing the spareribs next and hopefully get enough courage to do the butt after that.

Thanks for sharing, can't wait to hear more.
 
Well I felt comfortable doing an overnight first time, as I have done many an overnight pork. Just in crappy smoker that I had to stay awake and add fuel to (but not to much) every couple hours. This load once is new to me. But I like!

I did the "standard" Mr. Brown rub from Smoke and Spice. Tho I like a thin coating of plain yellow mustard first. Just seems to help the rub stick better. And a just put on the southern slop to start moping. I figure since I'm farther along than expected, removing the lid once an hour to mop should not be a problem.

Used Kingsford Original. I was going to go with the newer Competition, but the place I went to only had the original. I used the "Minon" method for starting. A full rig of unlit coals with the wood chunks scattered in. And then spread 20 (yes I counted) well lit coals from a chimney starter scattered along the top.

I started with about 5-6 chunks of a Mesquite/Apple wood mix. After about 7 hours added another couple Mesquite and one more Apple .

At about 10 hours I stirred the charcoal a bit. This was more out of curiosity than need. I've had the temp locked in about 225 since waking up about 4 hours ago.

I might have a pic or two from crappy iPhone camera....will post later.

I'm feeling better. The meat temp has only gone up to 193 or so. So I'll just keep the heat at 225 or less and start mopping every hour. I'll pull once the meat gets to about 205 or an hour before eating. If I pull early, I'll just wrap in foil and already have a cooler ready.
 
Well exactly 14 hours in and pork about 197. Should be safe to pull at any time now. Fuel still going strong and locked in at 225 for the past 7 hours.

I'm thinking I may have just had the vents open to much during the start of the cook. Or I've read where these units run hot when new, so maybe the 1st 7 hours or so was a break in period.

I've put mop on every hour for the last 4 hrs or so. The pork does look good, pulling a way from the bone nicely.

OMG I love this smoker! I cannot believe I have not had to add a single coal to the fire after 14 hours. Yes, I read about it. But to actually see it! This will NO doubt reignite (pun intended) my slow smoking. I always loved to do it but dreaded staying up all night and constantly having to check the temp, add just the right amount of fuel every couple hours...

I just finished making a nice summer salad recipe from Giada. In the frig now. Friend is bringing the beans (I'm sure store bought, but who is complaining!). Daughter is making a desert. And I've got Shiner Hefeweizen cooling down. Yes, having a part on first cook out...lol...and had no back up. Meant to

I'm already thinking about next weekend end.
 
OK, first cook is "in the books". Not bad. Not bad at all. And learned a LOT (don't you just love eating great food while learning how to do it even better!).

So how was it? Well I give it a B-. The meat was very tender. However, the bark was just a little chewy for my taste. I kind of needed to cut/chop up the bark in smaller pieces to mix in. Now this could have been because I pulled it pork off, basted one last time and wrapped in foil for an hour before pulling and eating.

Also, while I had ok smoke penetration, I didn't seem to pick up a lot of smoky specific flavor. Oh, no doubt that the food was smoked, but I didn't pick up a distinct flavor. I was scared to use to much Hickory. Shouldn't have been.

So what did I learn?

-OMG what an incredibly unit! After a 15 hr smoke I put lid back on and the thing went another couple hours. EASY!
-I probably started with the vents to open when starting. I should be more purposeful next time and get the temp locked in and then put on the meat.
-OK to use more wood.
 
Some pics...

New shinny set up!
setupuj.jpg


Pork rubbed and ready for the smoker
rubison.jpg


Time for a little mop
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Guests not here yet, so wrapped in foil for an hour.
wowas.jpg


Very tender
pullednotbad.jpg
 
Wow! That pork looks awesome, and yes, you'll get it down pat (and love the process!). One thing that I read here on TWBB was to start your WSM with fully open lower vents until the temp gets to 200*, then close all three to about 25-30% to get a stable temp between 225 - 250*. (Always leave the top vent fully open.) It will take a few cooks for the Bullet to become reliable stable, but you've already got the basic idea. On my most recent (4th smoke), I found that 25 -30% started the temp going over 225, so I closed one completely. That then held to 225* for the six hours I cooked (a full grate of large chicken thighs). After finishing, I closed off everything to kill the fire. Next day I when cleaning, I found that only the top two layers of charcoal of a full ring had started. I dumped all the charcoal from the ring into my coal pail for use next time. (In our NC humidity, I don't want to leave them in the WSM.)

Personally, I'm using water and haven't found that it keeps anything from getting a nice finish. Chicken I usually finish on a high heat grill just to crisp the skin. Also, watch out for the wood. You can over-smoke, so be conservative until you're comfortable with it. I use only 2 or 3 chunks. Most of the smoky flavor is absorbed in the first hour or so and at low meat temp (up to around 140*). After that the chemical processing that produces the smoke flavor pretty much stops. I also don't add meat to the WSM until it reaches my cook temp -- I don't like the flavor of heavy smoking charcoal as it starts. (The slow burning of the Minion method isn't a problem.)

All of this is from my reading and my own experience with what I've found. You can verify it all in these forums.

Rich
 
Pork Butt is pretty bullet-proof so don't worry about trying something new with it.

I'd recommend you go with a higher temp, at least 250º. That 280º you saw was nothing to worry about.

If you want more smoke flavor, put the meat on sooner and add wood throughout the cook until you take it off or foil it.

Yeah, sand and the clay saucer are probably overkill. But I'd dump the sand. A foiled 14" saucer should seal off the water pan creating a nice dead-air space. The sand will absorb a lot of heat energy and hold it a long time. Makes coming up to temp and trying to recover from an overheat condition harder.
 
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