overnight pork butt, should I use lump?


 
A

Andy from Denver

New member
my 1st overnighter saw my temp PLUMMET down to 120 when I woke up. Used MM with kingsford blue bag. The end result came out excellent, so I am thankful that pork is forgiving.I was told to try Royal Oak, but I have had a hard time finding it (not that I gone to more than 2 places though!). I did buy some lump, but reading here it seems lump burns faster with more potential for spikes, so may not be good for an overnight.
 
RO is sold under other brands, like GFS, for instance. Anyway, if you have a Lowes, all but one bag of the Stubbs briquettes have been great for me... I've got confidence in K blue, but you got to knock the ash off right before going to bed and probably no more than six hours later do it again just to be safe.

Regarding the lump, if your cooker is pretty new, I'd only use it if you use water in the pan. Pack (and shake) it tight and don't use too many of the little bitty pieces.
 
Andy,

There's advantages to useing briquettes over lump especially for someone who is new to the WSM. Briquettes are engineered so they burn evenly and pack into the ring in a more compact manner. Lump can burn unevenly do to its irregular shape. Extra care needs to be taken when loading the charcoal ring with lump when you are going for long smokes. Try to eliminate large empty holes/gaps which can affect the burn time. You want a tight pack with lump. I would recommend using briquettes initially until you are comfortable in regular operation and overnight operation of the WSM.

Paul
 
I do have a Lowes fairly close, definitely stop by and get some Royal Oak or equivalent. I will maybe distribute some lump into the unlit to see what the flavor may be enhancement may be. I am new to the WSM, done maybe 8 smokes total. The overnight was going fine until I fell asleep, and I am not one of those guys that can get up in the middle of the night very well. So, I am looking for a bit more fool proof way to get it done. Should I use foil in the pan or water?
 
I would stick with briquettes for your overnight.

I would also recommend a wind break.

I wouldn't use water if you're able to stabalize temps.

But, either way, foiling the pan will aid in clean up.
 
Andy,

I would suggest briquettes. I highly doubt you will notice any difference in flavor by distributing the lump into the unlit. You may not even notice anything by switching it all to lump.

The main benefit in lump, in my opinion, is dramatically less amount of ash it will produce. Briquettes have binders in them to hold them together, which create more of the ash. But briquettes are packed tight, so they burn even and consistent.

Water provides a heat sink that will prevent high temp spikes as water can not get over 212 degrees. However, it absorbs a lot of energy to maintain that temp, eating up your charcoal.

For overnights, I always packed in a lot of briquettes, Minioned the start, and used water. I have just recently switched to a foiled pan on overnights. If you can start your cook early and watch it initially, then you can maintain your temps and then go to sleep. Definitely tap the legs to knock the ash off the briquettes to keep them burning.

Also, pork butt is very forgiving so if you do get a spike to 275-300 overnight, you are really just speeding up the cook the next morning. What temp range were you shooting for ?
 
my temp range always seems to be in the 225 to 275 range on almost every cook I do, seemed to be higher when I am just foiling the water pan, but not a lot higher. I have used Kingsford blue on every cook. I will plan on not filling the water pan on the overnight, unless there is a strong suggestion TO use water on overnights
 
Andy,

The water does assist in preventing the higher spikes, but if you are okay with possible running at 275 then I would say go without it. I would just make sure to have enough time with the meat in to have it dialed in before you go to sleep. I smoke my butts at 250 - 275 now.
 
Andy, I've been using my WSM a lot with great success over the past 9 months. I decided to stay with K briquettes until I really felt comfortable and in control. No regrets. Last week I got some RO Red (available at Walmarts) for the first time. Some interesting differences to work with, but the ribs came out fine and I found (on this first cook) the smoke flavor to be better (using the same oak chunks I usually use (RO is oak lump). No regrets.

I'll probably continue to use both as I want, but as the others say, you may want to stick with briquettes until you feel you have this whole process down. (Though many others have started and stayed with lump.)

Rich
 
thank you to all!
I will stick with the briquettes, but I will try to get some Royal Oak as opposed to K. My first overnight the temp dove down, and comments to me were that it may have been the K getting smothered with ash. It was rec that Royal Oak does not ash up as quickly. No matter what, we'll have the pulled pork for for tacos, burritoes and sandwiches soon!
 
I used Ro briquettes last night and they did not make it through the night, normally I use Kingsford from Costco but they and my next store had none so I went with the RO.
I won't make that mistake again.

I've tried the RO lump from restaurant depot a couple of times but I didn't like it, to much lumber and small pcs in it.

My favorite was/is original charcoal co. Costco carried it one season.

Good luck,
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Bethke:
I used Ro briquettes last night and they did not make it through the night, normally I use Kingsford from Costco but they and my next store had none so I went with the RO.
I won't make that mistake again.

I've tried the RO lump from restaurant depot a couple of times but I didn't like it, to much lumber and small pcs in it.

My favorite was/is original charcoal co. Costco carried it one season.

Good luck, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the report, Dave.

Do you use a big or small wsm? Any windbreak or insulator?

If you have Lowes or anywhere else that sells Stubbs briquettes, you might want to give 'em a try. Stubbs and K (both comp and blue) are the only briquettes I've used in my little wsm, and I haven't noticed too much of a difference in burn times. The only time my charcoal didn't make it through the night was once with lump when I had too many small pieces.
 
Success!
I will see if I can figure out how to post some pictures I took with my phone. Woke up this morning and the temp at the lid was 210, threw some more fuel in and added some water. Had an initial spike into the 300's but adjusted the vents and finished out in the 225 range. Cranked the door and the vents to bring things up to get it over the hump and pulled them both with internal temps in the 190-195 range in different points. Wrapped and then pulled later, great bark, bone fell out as I picked them up, nice and moist with a nice subtle taste. Family eat up the tacos with pulled pork and freezing the rest. Thanks for the help to all
 
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