Overnight cook / starting early


 
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Paul G.

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I'm going to be doing 4 butts on Fri evening, but need to have them ready to take to my hunting camp by noon the next day. I would not be surprised for the cook to take 18 to 20 hrs, but in the past my times have certainly varied. I'll be using sand.

My plan would be to start the cook around 4:00 p.m. on Fri and the 20 hr. point would be noon on Sat. I'm concerned about my pit temp going down during the night because I have had that problem before. I think I'll add extra charcoal before I go to bed, even though it would not be necessary at that time, and make sure the temp has stabilized. If I have it stabilized, does anyone see a problem with overheating during the night ? It would seem to me this would not be a problem and I'll possibly just have extra fuel left over. I do not plan to deal with the cooker between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Paul
 
Paul
8 hours is a long time to not check at all, you may want to take a look at the 5 to 6 hour mark and make sure weather conditions or something else hasn't created a problem for you.
Jim
 
Paul....

I would suggest starting at 12:00 noon on Friday. This gives you even more time and will not hurt the product. More than likely it will get done early. If that is the case, simply wrap in foil, place back in the smoker and close ALL the vents. By doing this, the WSM acts as a warming oven without further cooking them. You can hold things for many hours this way...and still stay above the 140? mark.

I would just hate to see you ready to go to camp and the darn things are still NOT done....then you're stuck!

Lots of things may happen throughout the night that could delay the cooking, plus you have the WSM pretty loaded so any dip in temps are further amplified.

I wouldn't see any need to add coals to keep the heat up. Just fill that charcoal ring to the brim and you should be fine if you keep your temps below 250?. I can get 22 hours at 225? with no wind.

One word of caution.......DO NOT touch the smoker for at least 2 hours prior to going to bed! If you feel you MUST add coals, give it 2 hours to change. Don't even change your vent settings! Been there, done that!

Good luck!
 
Jim and Kevin

Thanks for the suggestions.

Jim - I realize 8 hrs is a long time, but I have some sleep problems which are not helped by getting up to check on the smoker. I'm sure that has caused me some cook probs in the past but I have to try to work around. Sleep problems are not often understood by those who do not have them.

Kevin - good idea to start earlier. I have never been able to get that amount of time out of my fuel. I could not add any more charcoal than I am doing. I'm going to try to add some more but do it earlier so it is absolutely stable before I turn in.

Paul
 
On a porkbutt overniter I've ALWAYS had to dink with it sometime during the night, usually every 4 hours or so (my Maverick goes off and wakes me up).

I've also never had to add more charcoal than I started out with, since I use the Minion Method? and the Weber is such a fine piece of engineering. But then I've never ventured doing 4 butts at a time, that's a big load...I usually only do 3 butts that weigh no more than 7 lbs. each, which takes around 12 hours.

Like Kevin said, I'd definitely start earlier rather than cut it close.

P.S. I can't wait to get my "Guru", then I can sleep all night! Might be worth getting if you want your full 8 hours beauty rest and you cook overnight a lot (I do).
 
It looks like there's three possible results from your overnighter.

First, everything will go smoothly and all the butts will be done before your deadline.

Second, one or more butts won't yet be at the pulling stage but will be cooked enough to an intermal termperature where they could be sliced or chunked.

Third, you lose your fire during the night and there's no hope of finishing them on time. If this is the case, you could wrap them in Texas Chrome, put them on ice immediately and finish them slowly with indirect heat with the coals from your campfire. I haven't been to a camp yet where there hasn't been a slow fire smoldering all day.

Well, there was that one time at band camp...
 
Paul.....

By starting early you will give the fire a chance to burn down. So, follow this schedule.....

Start.......12:00 noon

8pm.....take the meat out, take the center section off and stir your coals to knock the ash off. Fill up the charcoal ring with UNLIT briqs and put everything back together.

Now, let it stabilize for the next 2 hours.
 
ok Kevin

Now I've got a plan ! I'll let you know how it turns out. Now let's see if I can just stay up till 10:00 p.m. Just kidding - I'm not that bad, but almost.

Paul
 
Kevin

Mission accomplished. I started yesterday at 11:00 a.m. with 4 butts, total around 28 lbs. Used sand. At 7:00 p.m. I followed your suggestion. Removed the meat, took out the WSM pan, carefully, and removed the center section. I knocked the ashes off the coals and refilled the ring with unlit. Reassembled and put meat back on. Watched temp carefully going up and had it stable at dome 250 within an hour. No further checking after 9:00 p.m. Note, the temp climbed pretty quick with the new coal which was, in effect, starting back over with the standard method - lit on bottom covered by unlit. Got up about 6:00 a.m. and pit was at 230, meat at 188. Tapped ring, adjusted vents and temp settled around 250. Took meat off at 8:30 with an internal temp of 198. Closed vents, foiled and am leaving in WSM till I go up to camp around noon. They'll go in the cooler with towels for the trip and will pull about 5:00 p.m.

I have a lot of left over fuel, but I'm happy with the solution. I'll reuse the fuel.

Thanks for your help on this, somewhat, unorthodox cook.

Paul
 
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