Pork Butts on the WSM right now


 
S

Steven Savois

TVWBB Member
I've been a proud WSM owner for about 18 months now and have had really good results.

I'm attempting a large smoke this week. I want to cook 4 pork butts on my WSM.

Tips, advice, experience?

I've used the Minion Method for charcoal, but I find a lot of ash gathering in the bottom - is that a problem?

How long should I expect to cook four, 8 lb. pork butts? 18 hours? 20 hours?

Thanks.

***I'll update this thread with my progress throughout the day. thanks for all the advice.
 
2 butts on the top, 2 on the bottom. Cook in the 245º-260º range until tender, generally around 190º-200º internal temp.

Minion Method is the way to go and figure 2 hrs per lb for the biggest butt to estimate the cook duration. In your case, it should take around 16 hours if your biggest butt is 8lbs.

If you're using Blue Bag Kingsford, there's no way around the ash build up......is it a problem? NO.

If you prefer less ash, look for a lump charcoal or a Natural Briquette like Rancher.
 
Thanks.

I thought about using lump, but I haven't used it before and didn't want to experiment when I have a large group counting on me to provide some delicious pulled pork.

Is lump hard to control temps?
 
What Larry said - plus:

At somewhere around 2/3 done, I would "rotate" - take the two off the top & put 'em on the bottom rack & vise-versa. This should help to keep them semi-even. Otherwise, the ones on the top or bottom could be done substantially sooner than the others.

If you have a temperature guage on your WSM, try to keep an eye on it and do not take the lid off, unless you absolutely have to - at least for the first 6 hours or so. This will help to avoid losing precious heat & time in the beginning, when it really counts.

If you have some sort of remote temperature probe, stick it in the meat and run it out one of the top vent holes - don't be surprised if it "sits" at around 160 for a long time. I don't have a "radio-thermometer" yet - but I do have an electonic unit that lets me see the meat temperature without opening the WSM.

Try to "not screw-around with it too much" - check-up on it every other hour or so, at first, just to make sure that the temperatures are stable. As some books recommend - I recommend checking meat temperatures "at the halves": at 1-1/2 hours per pound, based on an 8-lb (biggest) chunk-o-meat, I would check at 6, 9, 10.5, 11.25 etc hours. (Basically, leave it alone for the longest time at the beginning, then check more frequently as it gets closer to being "done")

To finish it - check by tenderness, not (solely) by temperature. It should be close to done at 190-F internal. When it gets there, poke it with a probe or skewer. If it does not go-in like stabbing a semi-soft stick of butter, give it another 30-45 minutes and check again. (I've become a confirmed "disciple" of this method recently.) Then take it off & enjoy.
 
I actually prefer using lump in my smokers. Just like briquettes, once you get it dialed in it's no different. I do use briquettes on top of the lump to start it off. Much, much less ash. Because of the irregular shape of lump it helps to move it and push it down and around to compact it better when loading up the fire ring.

Kingsford Comp briquettes also have much less ash than the blue bag stuff.

Seriously, if my temps are holding well I won't even look at the butts until the 10 hr mark. It'll help to decrease your cooking time if you just let the WSM do it's thing.

So far as cooking unevenly, yes you can transfer them from top to bottom. Or you can wait for the top ones to get done then put the bottom butts on top then. You can finish those butts up while the others are resting. Putting the smaller butts on bottom is a good idea.

Got a stubborn butt? Foil it and/or bump up the temp. it's not going to hurt it.

Rick @
 
That's a lot of great info you're getting Steven.

I would just add, that at the 16 hour mark if your butts are not quite done yet and your coals are dying out, foil em and pop them in your oven to finish.

I did 6 10lbs for my BIL 25th Anniversary and after 18 hrs my lump was dead and so was I..

Did the foil oven thing for about an hour and all of the 125 guests said it was some of the best PP that they have ever had.

Tim
 
Give yourself plenty of time. If you figure 2 hours per pound as suggested and they are done early you can always foil them and put them in a dry cooler with towels or clean newspaper for insulation. They will stay hot for quite a while.
 
Thanks for all your comments.

I'm putting 'em on around 1pm on Friday, I'll try to post my progress on the board.

Thanks again - I'm 18 months into my smoking 'career' and still learning.
 
With this board Steve all I can say is hold on, its going to be a long ride, because once you get hooked you will want to try and replicate everything these guys do. It is addictive.
 
Hi Steven, Just smoked 5 butts this past weekend. 2 10lb went on the bottom grate & 3 12lb went on the top grate.

http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...80069052/m/329108933

Used the Minion method on my 22.5. No water, just a foil wrapped brick. Smoked at 225 F for 14.5 hours, brought the temperature up to 275 F for another 2 hours and the butts were ready with an internal temp. of 195 F.

Used a full ring of Kingsford briquettes with about 60 lit for start-up. Added 60 more lit at the 14.5 hour mark. Had a build up of ash but it really was not a issue. The pork was awesome.
 
I've done a number of large smokes for school events and such like. They run about 16 hours at 225-250, and i don't usually rotate, but i do spray every few hours with a Jack Daniels - Apple juice mix.

You'll do fine.
 
I've done quite a few cook with 4-5 butts, and 16 hours is about right on the time, if you are averaging between 225-260. Don't get too worried about the heat being exactly 225, my smoker almost always settles in at 245 and will stay there for many hours, so that's where I cook. For the ash buildup, you can always just kick the legs of your WSM and the ash will fall through the grate, even with a full ring of K, there will be plenty of room left for air flow when that ash falls through. If you happen to be done earlier than expected, they will hold several hours in a cooler and be piping hot when you take them out to pull. Big cooks are fun, and there is nothing like that smell of an all nighter when the wind dies down and that porky goodness just hangs in the air.
 
Fired up the WSM just after noon and put 4 pork butts on at 1:10.

Temp on the top grate is settling in around 238 - 240. The lid temp is around 260. I have the bottom vents just barely open (less than 1/4) with the top wide open.

I have a digital probe thermometer in a piece of wood placed on the top grate and another thermometer on the top vent.

I'm not sure my top vent thermometer is all the accurate, but I checked it on the water boil test and it was close enough.

I promised myself I won't raise the lid for the first six hours.

I'll update the board later this evening.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steven Savois:
After about 2 hours...
Lid temp: 255
Top Grate: 232 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
IMO, forget one or the other. Go by one spot or you'll drive yourself nuts for no good reason
 
And if they get done early, you can wrap them in foil and put 'em in a dry cooler full of towels or such.

I've kept 'em for up to 6 hours and when I took 'em out to pull 'em they were still in the 150-160 degree range.
 
Added water to the pan at 10pm. Temp dipped, charcoal was looking weak, so I added a few more lit coals. I hope this prevents me from having to add coals at 3 or 4am when I'm half asleep.

Temp jumped up to 242.
 
It's 3am, just got up to check on the WSM.

Top Grate Temp had fallen to 203.

Opened the door, stirred up the coals, opened all vents to 100% and the temp is starting to rise.

I'm glad I added coals when I did.
 
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