over night cook times?


 
C

Chad Adcox

New member
i just did my first over night cook and had some questions maybe some of you could answer.

1- i cooked a 8lb butt and put it on at 11:00pm
i loaded a 10 lb bag of Royal Oak in the coal chamber. used the minion method with a 1/3 chimney of lit coals. no water in the pan.
2- the temp was running at 250 at midnight and i went to bed. got up at 7 and the temp was 170. i have read of people talking about being able to hold temps for like 10-12 hours. am i doing something wrong?
the butt turned out awesome, but was just curious about not being able to hold the temp for more than 7 hours. any help would be appreciated.
 
Chad, glad the butt came out good. Did you run out of coal or did it just go out? I have never been able to sleep more than 3 hrs on an overnighter, so I fiddle. I do also use a Maverick with the alarm set and it wakes me if my cooker temp falls too low. I have also heard that the temps will hold for 10-12 hrs but wonder if folks are also adding coal or dispersing ash to make it happen.

Mark
 
Next time try packing your lump vs. "dumping" it in the ring, you'll get a longer burn time.
 
Chad, was the butt done early? If it was windy the temps would've been fairly high. If not my guess is that it was nothing more than the fact you used lump. Lump burns faster than briquettes which is probably why your temps fell. You simply were running out of fuel. Larry makes a good point you may just need to pack it in your ring. Many on this site use Kingsford Briquettes which are more reliable and burn slower. A full load of K under normal conditions can last 12 hours with ease. There is no right or wrong is what fuel you use but lump can require a little more attention.
 
I have done two overnight smokes with coconut charcoal (charcos) and both went 10-12 hours with no refill. I do have a Maverick, but slept a solid 8 hours with temps holding no problem. I dont know if it would have been that easy with lump as I havent had as good of luck with lump in the wsm. As mentioned, pack the charcoal fairly tight, and look into a Maverick, I set a min & max temp and go to bed! Both times I did overnight smokes my total time was around 15-16 hours, and I did need to add some charcoal by the 12-13 hour mark.
 
Chad: I always used briquettes in my wsm but lately i have cooked with lump and i love it!

Sure it burns hotter and faster(if unlimited air flow) But in my wsm i just close vents abit more than i do with briq,and it works fine.

You shouldent have problems with the ash choking the fire if you use lump but before you go to sleep you can always kick(sounds wrong) the bottom of the wsm a few times so the ash falls off. Or the "old school" sleep-without-any-ash-problem method. Take one of your wifes vibrators and duct tape it to one of the legs of the wsm put it on "high" and go to bed
icon_wink.gif
 
that is funny about lump vs. K. i did another overnight cook with K and was able to hold the temp for 11-12 hours without restocking. i guess that i will stick with K for the overnights and lump for the shorter cooks. thanks for all the advice.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wolgast:
Chad: I always used briquettes in my wsm but lately i have cooked with lump and i love it!

Take one of your wifes vibrators and duct tape it to one of the legs of the wsm put it on "high" and go to bed
icon_wink.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh My, wouldn't that create ash dust floating to the meat? Perhaps the addition of a mister taped to the inside of the lid to keep the ash damp and heavy. I goota ask the wife if the batteries are fresh.
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Mark
 
I had a similar issue last night. I started two butts and a rack of ribs at 6pm. The smoker temps were ideal between 230-255 for several hours. Went to bed and by 6am the smoker temps had dropped to 160 degrees. I added more Kingsford to the smoker and roughly 20 chimney briquettes. The cook finished at 9am. The wind had picked up during the night and the outside temp was in the low 40's. During the summer I had no problem. I suspect it was due to the wind and outdoor temp.

I seem to have issues with getting the temps to stabilize. It seems keeping all three vents open 25% would be way too much. I have shot past my temps many times so now I'm more conservative. My cooker seems to do better with at least one or both vents closed and one vent open maybe 25% at the most. I will start closing vents around the 190-200 degree mark. Temps will settle down in the sweet zone. It's much easier for me to raise the temp than to bring it down.
 
Bob, A couple of questions,
1) How long did you smoke the ribs? Most of my rib smokes take around 3.5/4.5 hours. That would put them coming off around 10/11 pm. What was the temp when the ribs came off?
2)Did the WSM sit out(exposed) in the wind? or did it have any kind of wind break? The wind will def. have an adverse affecton the longevity of your fuel. The outside temp really doesn't seem to affect it all that much. (I have read several posts where people have conducted smokes in sub-zero temps.)
3)When you complete a smoke and you close all the vents, (top and bottom) do the coals die out(leaving some leftover coals in the charcoal ring)? Or do they cuntinue to burn until there is nothing left?
It seems like you are getting "extra" air in the smoker from somewhere. Either from a side door that isnt fitting properly, or maybe an out of round smoker. Does the smoker "leak" excessive smoke from the lid or the side door when you first put it together? (or when you first place lit coals on the wood chunks)
Just a few (several) thoughts.
Tim
 
I actually removed the ribs around 11pm and left the pork butts on to continue cooking. I used the 3-2-1 method for the ribs. However, I adjusted slightly. Three hrs on the smoker, 1 hr in foil, and the remaining time back on the grate without foil. I did not sauce them and they were fantastic. I think I will find a better rub though. The smoker was left out in the elements all night. There is a small amount of leakage around the lid, but not too much. I suspect the wind may have caused a premature fuel burn out.
 
Well for comparison's sake, I just did a cook this past weekend with (2) seven pound butts, started with a full charcoal ring, minioned 3/4 lit chimney and left all vents open.

Temp got to 330 and stayed there for about 8 hours, fuel just about gone at that point, maybe could have lasted an hour more. Temp was about 68 outside, slight wind. I would assume if I was cooking at lower temps in the 250 range it would have lasted about 10-11 hours.
 
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