Pork butt on a Weber kettle or gas grill. Any tips?


 
S Wagner

S Wagner

TVWBB Member
I'm heading up to my parents cabin over the 4th of July, and they would like me to smoke a pork butt for them. I (unfortunately) won't have my WSM with me and will have to work with what they've got; a mid-sized Weber kettle grill and a mid-sized gas grill.

They do have a woodchip box, which I believe can be adapted to either, but I'm not sure about the best route to take.

Anybody have any experience modifying a kettle or gas grill for a long smoke? Any tips/advice is greatly appreciated.

Vielen Dank!
 
No modifying may be necessary, but it'll depend on the size of the pork butt you're cooking.

I've done MANY smokes - even untended - on 22 inch kettles of pork butts up to 8 lbs and cooked for 12 hours with no more charcoal being added. A similar sized butt on an 18 would be a challenge, but could be done, with some careful preparation.

You'll need something to use as a bank or barrier for coals, then load them on one half o the grill unlit, then start about 15 coals in a chimmey, dump them all in the far end on top of one side of the unlit coals, open the bottom vent about 1/3 open, then let it go.

Place a drip pan underneath the other side below where the meat will go, put on the cooking grate, then put the meat on.

I recommend using bricks to dam up the briquettes on one side - easy to find and cheap. Just make sure they're thoroughly dry, and haven't been laying out exposed to water for long periods of time. You should be fine.

Be sure to have a temperature gauge handy so you can keep up with the temps. Check on the pork butt every hour, just the temp, then open the lid ONLY as needed. If your temps have gotten out of hand because too many coals are burning, close the vents a little, then put a small pan filled with water above the coals next to the meat. That will help regulate temps.

Check out the Weber Charcoal grill section of this forum as there is a really long thread titled "Longer burn process on the kettle" or something similar. It'll have much more detail, with pics, on how to make this method work. I'm not sure if there are any assumptions on kettle size on that thread, or if several sizes are addressed. It's a post with nearly 5 years of history so there should be lots of helpful information. Check it out and see.

Link --> http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...0039023/m/6750042994
 
SWagner;
Here is an account of my first pork butt on the 22.5" Weber OTG:

http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...0069052/m/6151099736

Notice the arrangement of the two overlapping fire brick. Firebrick comes in two sizes - mine are the thin type. Firebrick is superior for this purpose - regular bricks are porous and can hold moisture and actually explode from the heat. Firebricks are so dense that if they are surface dry they are "good to go".

Good luck on your first pork butt.

Dale53
 
McGee's work turned out great, but my opinion on the brick vs. firebrick is that it's not necessary for you to go through the trouble and expense of buying firebrick for a one-off, low n slow cook.

I've used regular landscaping brick for several years and never had a problem. For the temps you're going for with a low n slow cook, you should be fine. I've read the explosion argument for years and feel, while the potential exists, it's largely over-hyped.

Now if you were going high temp for pizza or baking bread in the kettle I might advise otherwise. For 300 degrees, max 350 tops, don't worry about it.

Firebrick usually run $3 to $4 apiece - and are not all that easy to find in some areas - I say don't get them unless you have plans to reuse them in the near future. Landscape and regular brick are kiln fired, generally under a buck apiece, and can be found at any hardware store or home improvement warehouse.
 
I have no intention in getting into an argument here. However, the firebrick are in contact with lit charcoal. I can assure one and all that temperature will FAR exceed 350 degrees.

I believe that I did pay $2.00-$3.00 each for the bricks. Further, my bricks are used in nearly every cook I do. So, the price difference is inconsequential.

FWIW
Dale53
 
Don't forget the wood chunks. If you're doing an 8 lb. I would use 3-4 small pieces of whatever your preference...apple or cherry or a combination it really depends on your preference.
 
I have done many pork butts on my Weber 22.5 OTG - with awesome results. Choose a great rub. That is the frosting on the cake.

My first word of advice is about the meat. Make sure you get a Boston Butt. This should be bone-in. I bought a "Pork Shoulder" one time. It didn't have a bone, and I had to tie it with butcher's twine to keep it together.

Second, build in lots of extra time. It always seems to take a little longer than expected to get the grill setup and the meat on. The meat can easily be finished (195-ish degrees) 2 hours before the meal. Double wrap the butts, and put them in a cooler that has been warmed with hot hot tap water. Also put some extra towels over the foiled meat in the cooler. The butts will stay very warm for many hours. Less stressful = more fun.

I use 2 $0.40 standard bricks from Lowes. They work great. I make a "V" to one side - like a slice of pie. I put a soup can (both ends removed in the middle, pour unlit charcoal all around it - filling up to the top of the bicks. I strategically place wood chunks in amongst the unlit coals. I then get about 6-8 briquettes started, and I put them inside the can, and then remove the can. I set my top and bottem vents at about 1/4 open. I then adjust to get about 225-230 deg. Temps stay quite steady. Add unlit briquettes and wood chunks as needed.

I am finding that pork butt is very forgiving. So, cooking one on someone else's grill should be fine if you watch the internal temp.

If the grill is a 22.5", you can just as easily do 2 butts at the same time. Lots of leftovers for the same work.

If their oven is not being used for other stuff that day, I have done the Texas Crutch - with great results. Smoke on the grill for about 6 hours, then double wrap with foil and put in the oven at 225 deg. It works best of you can use a meat probe during the oven cook.

Good luck.
 
Thank you all for your advice! It seems the overall consensus is that an 8-10 pounder on an OTG is fairly simple. I'm relieved to hear it, because my primary concern was concerning the fact that I wouldn't have a water pan to generate the steam that I normally get on my WSM. Although, I suppose a bone-in butt is forgiving enough to where it wouldn't be necessary.

In any case, thank you all once again for the advice. I will be sure to post the results in a couple of weeks!
 
I have recently started to put a small foil pan of water directly over the coals on my OTG. I'm not sure if that is providing a lot of benefit. I do have to refill it a few times, so for sure, the water is evaporating.

I have always put a larger foil pan (half-filled with hot hot tap water) under the butts at the start of the cook. I do think this helps to stabilize the temperatures.
 
I have done two picnic shoulders recently. Have been trying things out with the clay saucer in the WSM and the pork was just as moist as with a water pan. In your case though you are closer to the coals and using a leaner cut. A water pan can do you no harm from my point of view. You can always start with one and end without, that may make better bark.
Good luck
 
Update: I just spoke with my folks, and they have a Grill Pro cast iron smoke box (dimensions = 5" x 8" x 1.5"). It looks like this box would work well for a shorter cook, as it can only hold a handfull of chips at a time.

Judging by the set up I've seen from W_Tyler's and Robert McGee's threads, I'm thinking I shouldn't even bother with this thing, and just bury a few chunks of hickory & apple right in the coals. Any thoughts?
 
I did a butt under similar circumstances. I was at a friends house for a long weekend and he wanted to cook a butt. He had no grill. We got onto CL and picked up a ots for 35 bucks, on the way home got a 6.5 lb butt, 2 bags of K and all of my ingredients for the sauce & rub.

Its the same concept as mentioned above, banked the k on one side, started it off with 10 lit briquettes, a pan of water on the other side and the butt right above. We picked up a cheap thermometer just to monitor temps and we were done after 10 hours. I cooked it at 275-300. To speed up the process I wrapped in HD aluminum foil at 150 and pulled at 190 and left it in a cooler for 2 hours.
 
I have a WSM but thought I'd try a pork butt on the OTG Kettle just for a challenge. I used the setup below, Minion start with about 1/3 chimney of lit. It was only good for about 6 hours of cooking, even with bottom vent almost closed. Otherwise, it did fine.

Next time I will move the bricks out to hold more charcoal and make sure to stoke it up before bed. It was nice to be able to cook a single butt with the OTG that sits on the patio and not have to haul out the WSM from the shed.

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