Hello all--
Brand new WSM owner. My first cook on my new WSM is on the books, and I definitely had some unexpected behaviors I'm hoping you all can explain to me.
I went with a pork butt, since everyone says it's so forgiving. However, it was a BONELESS pork butt from Costco. About 8.5 pounds, and I suppose the bone being already removed is why it was sort of multiple connected pieces instead of being one massive lump. I've only done these sous vide before now, when their “pieciness” doesn't really matter since it's all jammed together in one bag.
Fuel was Kingsford Professional Competition charcoal...because that's what was on sale at Costco.
I used the stock water pan, and filled it with water.
I met a guy who owns a barbecue restaurant, and he's doing all his stuff on Traegers at 180 degrees—which comes out really good, BTW. The reason I got a WSM was that it had the ability to do the lower smoking temps that I could never accomplish—or hold reliably—on my Genesis grill. I didn't think I could maintain 180, so target temp was 210—maybe optimistically low, but it didn't seem unreasonable. I've got an Auber ATC that I hooked up since I knew this was going to be a long cook. Used the Minion method, filling the ring as high as I could, and put in 30 lit coals. Cooker temperature was measured at the top grate, where the meat was.
The setup held reliably within about 5 degrees for about 8 ½ hours. The meat temp climbed steadily to about 155 degrees in about 6 hours and then started crawling. I figured I'd hit the stall, no problem.
But the stall seemed to last interminably long, even from what I've read. The meat temp stayed within 2 degrees for the next 3 ½ hours, then climbed a little over 5 degrees to around 162 and then stayed there for the next 4 hours.
Meanwhile, after 8 ½ hours, the cooker temp started dropping. I stirred the coals around to try to knock off some ash, and when that didn't do much, I added 20 more unlit briquettes.
Over the next 10 hours, I ended up adding more coals in batches of about 20, at around 2 hour intervals. It seemed like there were still coals burning in there, and I would stir and poke at them to try to get ash off and expose the burning ones, but the temperature just wouldn't stay up unless I threw in more. The Auber unit's blower would just run continually until the new briquettes caught.
The meat temp continued to climb painfully slowly. At the 24-hour mark, it was at 185. I gave in to paranoia and boosted my cooker temp to 220. At the 31-hour mark, I called it done, because I just didn't have any more time I could spend. The meat never got above 193, and actually started dropping, getting back to 188 when I pulled it. I tested for doneness starting at 193 with the poke-it-with-a-probe method, but it never had that “like butter” consistency. The smaller bits hanging off were definitely overdone and dry—not inedible, but not great. I suppose next time I should at least tie the butt up so it's a single lump.
Question #1: why the heck did the meat temperature behave like that? I'm inclined to think that it wasn't actually all the stall, since it lasted so long. It's like it never really got out of the stall. And why wouldn't it get above 193? I know a lot of people have said they've done great with "hot and fast" for pork butts, but I'd really like to be able to master the low and slow, at least so I can see if I find a difference.
Question #2: Any ideas why I kept having to add what seemed like a lot of coal? Or does this fuel use sound pretty average? After it was all done, the ashes filled the bottom right up to the coal grate.
Question #3: What's your order of execution for starting out when using the water pan? I had the middle section off to start with, since it's a lot easier to pour your lit coals into the bottom section; I had a cunning plan to get the water heated up first so as not to use up coal trying to heat it, but realized there was no way I could set that center section on and then drop a full pan of hot water into place over a bed of lit coals. So I ended up filling the pan from the hose in situ after lighting up my coals. Is there a better way?
Thank you all for your patience and expertise—I really want to learn from my mistakes here, and it'll save me ruining a lot of nice meat!
Brand new WSM owner. My first cook on my new WSM is on the books, and I definitely had some unexpected behaviors I'm hoping you all can explain to me.
I went with a pork butt, since everyone says it's so forgiving. However, it was a BONELESS pork butt from Costco. About 8.5 pounds, and I suppose the bone being already removed is why it was sort of multiple connected pieces instead of being one massive lump. I've only done these sous vide before now, when their “pieciness” doesn't really matter since it's all jammed together in one bag.
Fuel was Kingsford Professional Competition charcoal...because that's what was on sale at Costco.
I used the stock water pan, and filled it with water.
I met a guy who owns a barbecue restaurant, and he's doing all his stuff on Traegers at 180 degrees—which comes out really good, BTW. The reason I got a WSM was that it had the ability to do the lower smoking temps that I could never accomplish—or hold reliably—on my Genesis grill. I didn't think I could maintain 180, so target temp was 210—maybe optimistically low, but it didn't seem unreasonable. I've got an Auber ATC that I hooked up since I knew this was going to be a long cook. Used the Minion method, filling the ring as high as I could, and put in 30 lit coals. Cooker temperature was measured at the top grate, where the meat was.
The setup held reliably within about 5 degrees for about 8 ½ hours. The meat temp climbed steadily to about 155 degrees in about 6 hours and then started crawling. I figured I'd hit the stall, no problem.
But the stall seemed to last interminably long, even from what I've read. The meat temp stayed within 2 degrees for the next 3 ½ hours, then climbed a little over 5 degrees to around 162 and then stayed there for the next 4 hours.
Meanwhile, after 8 ½ hours, the cooker temp started dropping. I stirred the coals around to try to knock off some ash, and when that didn't do much, I added 20 more unlit briquettes.
Over the next 10 hours, I ended up adding more coals in batches of about 20, at around 2 hour intervals. It seemed like there were still coals burning in there, and I would stir and poke at them to try to get ash off and expose the burning ones, but the temperature just wouldn't stay up unless I threw in more. The Auber unit's blower would just run continually until the new briquettes caught.
The meat temp continued to climb painfully slowly. At the 24-hour mark, it was at 185. I gave in to paranoia and boosted my cooker temp to 220. At the 31-hour mark, I called it done, because I just didn't have any more time I could spend. The meat never got above 193, and actually started dropping, getting back to 188 when I pulled it. I tested for doneness starting at 193 with the poke-it-with-a-probe method, but it never had that “like butter” consistency. The smaller bits hanging off were definitely overdone and dry—not inedible, but not great. I suppose next time I should at least tie the butt up so it's a single lump.
Question #1: why the heck did the meat temperature behave like that? I'm inclined to think that it wasn't actually all the stall, since it lasted so long. It's like it never really got out of the stall. And why wouldn't it get above 193? I know a lot of people have said they've done great with "hot and fast" for pork butts, but I'd really like to be able to master the low and slow, at least so I can see if I find a difference.
Question #2: Any ideas why I kept having to add what seemed like a lot of coal? Or does this fuel use sound pretty average? After it was all done, the ashes filled the bottom right up to the coal grate.
Question #3: What's your order of execution for starting out when using the water pan? I had the middle section off to start with, since it's a lot easier to pour your lit coals into the bottom section; I had a cunning plan to get the water heated up first so as not to use up coal trying to heat it, but realized there was no way I could set that center section on and then drop a full pan of hot water into place over a bed of lit coals. So I ended up filling the pan from the hose in situ after lighting up my coals. Is there a better way?
Thank you all for your patience and expertise—I really want to learn from my mistakes here, and it'll save me ruining a lot of nice meat!