Pork Butts for Christmas Eve Dinner


 

D. Solis

New member
So decided on making 4 pork butts for our family's Christmas Eve dinner on our 22." WSM

Quick question popped up...I can only fit 2 on each grate. So I have the 2 heaviest butts on top and the 2 smaller ones on the lower grate. I setup 2 mavericks and noticed I have about a 30 degree difference between the top and bottom grates.

What temp should I use to settle in on? I was going for about 235...but 235 at the top would mean 205 at the bottom! So not quite sure, im going to push it till the top grate is at 260, Unless you gurus say otherwise.

Also, How the heck do I figure out how much extra time to give the pork on the bottom, or should I switch them around in the middle of the cook. I just put them on right now about 10PM and expect them to go through the night into earling afternoon.

Heres a few pics so far...

Here they a day early all nicely rubbed...
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Have to put the cover on the bottom, cause my dog absolutely LOVES chomping on charcoal! Wierdo!
IMG_20131223_210432.jpg


Buried 3 chunks of Apple Wood...
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All setup and smoking away with some tech attached lol....definitely not comfortable yet doing it without the help of thermometers!
IMG_20131223_214621.jpg
 
I can't comment on the cooking temps or your other questions, but the WSM without the middle section sure made me laugh. It looks like a martian space ship or something.

Good luck with the cook.
 
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Looks like I was worried about nothing....after about an hour and a half the top and bottom temps settled in at 235 top and 229 bottom.

Just for logging sake...im using 1.5 bags of stubbs with a foiled empty water pan and a clay saucer in foiled over inside it.
 
Just took a look now approx. 4 hours after starting and the temps are even at both the top and bottom grate at 237. Im guessing that has to do with the clay saucer thats in there...will update and post up new pics in the morning
 
Welcome to the site....
I look forward to the final result.
That's a lot of pork there you must be having lots of family and friends coming over. :wsm:
 
looks good! I have never used briquettes in the wsm! but the local hardware shop over christmas had them on special for $20 for 20KG! Brought 40kg of them! is there a big Difference between them and lump charcoal? ?
 
Little late on the update...but the end result was a roughly 15 hour cook. All 4 butts were cooked to perfection! I really think that having the clay saucer in there evens out the cooking temps across the top and bottom grates. I saw fluctuation between both temps being even to a roughly 10-12 degree difference between the two. When it trully settled, it was approx. a 3 degree difference.

Extremely happy with the cook! Sadly I forgot to take pictures of the pulled results but here it all is right before pulling it off. If I had to change anything for the next cook....I would probably add another layer of rub to the meat before putting it on!

IMG_20131224_090643.jpg


I have used bith briquettes and lump in the wsm. The only real difference ive noticed, is that briquettes leave a whole lot more ash than the lump. I think you can get higher temps too on the lump. Otherwise they both give great results.
 

 

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