Wish me luck. I'm smoking a Boston Butt tonight at midnight. It's 8.5 pounds and I'd like it done in the afternoon. Is this too early? I figured it could take 12-14 hours and it's better to be early than late with a butt! Any good suggestions for bringing the WSM up slow? I only have a few cooks on it and it always seems to fly out of the gates. I am using a 22.5 and plan on using a minion method to start it. I've always just thrown a full chimney in the middle and kept my vents open 100 to start. I was planning on only starting 12-15 briquettes in the middle OC a full ring of Stubbs and starting with my vents really cutback, say 25%. Should this be good? Would putting my meat on from the start make sense to add to the heat sink along with my full bowl of water or should I let it come to temp and stabilize first?