pork butt blues / smoking wood

[Guest]

ok, cooked my first pork butt yesterday. cooked about 8 (!) hours. the pork butt was a little over 4 lbs.

temp stayed at about 250 (read at the lid) for the whole time. at about 4 hours into the cook, i decided to do what i think was a bonehead move.

i loaded turkey legs and beef ribs on the top grate, figured 4 hours later these would be ready as well. well, i wasn't terribly happy with the beef ribs. it was mostly because of the rub i used, it was new. the pork butt was good, but i think the problem i had was it only was at about 165 when i took it off. i know 190 is pulled pork temp, but my guests had arrived and were hungry. they loved the pork butt, but it was more sliced than pulled. the edges had more of a pulled feeling, and very tasty.

i used the minion method, and it worked great. at about the 8 hour i stirred the coals. although it went up a little, it certainly didn't go all the way back up. i ended up adding charcoal which did the trick. from what i read shouldn't the charcoal last longer in the minion method? OH, forgot one important (and probably stupid on my part) detail. i reused coal from the last cook. i think that was the difference in longevity.

next time i will fill it with new coals, and plan for a longer cooking time than i expected.

ok next question (whew is this a long post or what?!?) for those in the northern california area. wood, where do you get fruit woods from? i suppose this is mostly a question for chris. since im going to already be in the area to go to dittmers, i'd love to know where you get wood. also, i know a local place that has almond wood. any experience here with almond?

whew... almost over, one other question. ive tried to split oak with an axe, NOT FUN. is there an easy way to split hardwood into chunks for Q?

 

[Chris Allingham]

Hi Carl,

I buy chunks of smoke wood at Barbeques Galore. A 6 pound bag sells for about $7. It's not the cheapest way to go, but I use so little wood in the WSM that a bag goes a long way. They have apple, cherry, alder, oak, hickory, and mesquite chunks. You've got these stores in Citrus Heights (I-80 at Antelope) and in Roseville (Stanford Ranch Rd).

If you'll be down here on the Peninsula and want to buy a ton of smoke wood, try Lazzari Fuel (http://www.lazzarifuelcompany.com/products.html) in Brisbane near Candlestick Park. You'll see what they've got to offer on their webpage.

I've never used almond, but it should work great for cooking. I imagine it would be like oak, maybe a little milder?

Regards,
Chris

 

[Guest]

Carl, you're right, 190 is the target for pork butt. One thing to keep in mind, that bottom grate is around 20 degress lower than the exhaust vent.

As far as the cook time, to get 10+ hours out of Kingsford, you have got to fill the charcoal ring above the rim. As far as using charcoal that is left in the unit from the last cook, I do it all the time. You just have to keep in mind that it will not last as long.

So, next time fill the ring above the top, start 2 hours before you think you need to, and don't open the lid! You didn't mention if you opened the lid very much, but I'm guesing you opened it more than 2 or 3 times.

Here's a link to an easier way to split wood: http://www.minisplitter.com/

/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

(I'm not endorsing this product, just trying to make a little joke)

 

[Henry Joe Peterson]

Carl,
I'll second Chris's post about Lazzari's. If you can't make it down to Brisbane, you might want tot try Beverages and More. Do they have those is Sacramento? All the Berverages and More stores I've been to in the Bay Area carry big bags of Lazzari wood and lump charcoal, as well as other smaller bags of chunks.

Haven't seen Lazzari's at BBQ's galore, but they have pleny of chunk wood also.

As for almond wood, I have a friend who uses nothing but almond -- although he uses a New Braunfels offset. I've personally had his almond smoked brisket and it's great. You're right, it's a subtle version of oak. Almond is fairly easy to get around here mostly because it's in demand. I hear that the swanky restaurants around here like to use a lot of almond in their wood-buring ovens.

Besides, you've got some plum logs headed your way form me. When you find an easy method for chunking them up, let me know. I'm in the same boat!

 

[Kevin Taylor]

Hey Carl!!

Glad to see you got your first cook in the new WSM.

I think the lesson you should learn is...when adding more meat, you better add more LIT coals at the same time. Adding that much meat will suck out your fire pretty quickly(which also will shorten your burn time). You have 2 things working against you....the lid is removed for several minutes and the "new" meat will take lots of energy to bring up to temp....hence the heat loss.

As Doug said, that bottom grate is also cooler than the lid temp.

If you would have kept your butt on for 8 hours straight I bet it would have been done AND I bet you would have had coals left.

Also, are you sure those beef ribs were done? My experience is, they usually take longer than 4 hours to finish.

Glad you have started the venture!! Now, be sure to keep notes!

 

[Guest]

you caught me. i definately did open up the lid too much, probably because of the time i was adding the meat. i think that was the major screwup there. the pork butt was really good, what i've noticed is when you mess up on the WSM, it's still good. i wish i could say that for my NBBD (good luck Henry Joe!)

thanks for the input about the wood and the smoking. i definately want to try dittmer's sausage since it comes highly recommended. looks like ill be going out tomorrow to look at some Q stuff, which usually means a Q isn't far behind. picked up some mesquite chunks at walmart. places like walmart usually have hickory and mesquite and not much else. as far as the beef ribs, they looked pretty done. they were on the top grate, and they weren't terribly meaty. they came out kinda yuck, but the pork butt was a hit. wait till they taste it done right!

i was going to take notes this time, but i got lazy. i will definately do it next time. i may be doing a brisket or tri tip in the near future.

all in all, i love my smoker, and i think this site is great!

here's a weird question: i have some kingsford with mesquite. should i burn it without smoke wood seeing as there is some already added? or is it small enough of a portion to use a milder wood with it?

 

[Guest]

took notes, and tried a new rub today on some baby backs, and (they're on sale) beef ribs. simply outstanding. i think a big problem i was having is they look a little darker than i expected, but now i have the hang of it.

the ribs pull from the bone, and i tried a new rub called sweet and heat or something like that. it has cayenne, onion, brown sugar, salt and some other stuff. like it a lot. ill try BRITU next time, but this cook was kind of a whim.

also, i used a mix of pecan and cherry wood.... im on my way to great Q!!!

 

[Willy T.]

Hey Carl!
The darker color of the ribs may have come from the cherry.I know in my experience I get a darker mahogany color on ribs with cherry versus any other fruit wood.I also use alot of pecan since it's so abundant in my neck of the woods.Pecan is very similar to hickory but to me it's more forgiving.Sounds like your well on your way to making some great "Q".
Good Luck,
Willy T.