SAND BENEATH MY BUTT.

[Sal DeTraglia]

Hey all:

This morning I decided to try cooking a butt with sand--rather than water--in the stock water pan.

It worked like a charm for seven hours, with temps holding rock-steady at 250F. Then, after the seventh hour, it began to climb. And I began further closing the lower vents (which were already set at 0-25-25 before the spike).

By the time temps hit 300F, I had two lower vents completely closed and the third opened just a sliver. Temps stayed in the 300-325F range for the next four hours.

Given that I didn't have the option of closing the vents any further, what else could I have done to control this type of late-in-the-game heat spike?

Thanks!
Sal (in Spain)

PS: On the bright side, the butt tasted great in the end. And it only took 11 hours to cook the 6.5 pounder.

 

[Craig Castille]

Pull out some of the lit.

The higher temps didn't/won't hurt it.

Glad it worked out OK.

 

[Anton]

Close the top vent too.

Anton

 

[Steve Petrone]

Sal, my cook lastight and today ran up to 280. I let the water evaporate and left the lower vent open too much. 280 did not hurt the butts.

The problem with sand is that the sand will heat up above 212 as the temp rises. Closing the vents to slow the rise in temps will reduce the heat being produced by the fire but the sand will continue to give off it's excess heat. So it takes a while for the whole system to drop back to an acceptable temp.

 

[JRPfeff]

Sal,

Way off topic - but ...

I'm waiting to see your response to the what's your day job thread. I don't think I've seen anyone else from the hi-tech medical supply industry post yet.

Jim

 

[Jerry N.]

I'm with Anton, I would (and have) close(d) the top vent.

Craig - Taking hot coals out of the WSM seems very dangerous. I can't imagine doing that to get the fire under control.

 

[Sal DeTraglia]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

And Jim...I've replied to the day job post. Don't know how I missed that one.

Sal

 

[Dan M.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'm waiting to see your response to the what's your day job thread. I don't think I've seen anyone else from the hi-tech medical supply industry post yet. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Does Biomedical Service Engineer count?

 

[JRPfeff]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan M.:
Does Biomedical Service Engineer count?

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Missed that one Dan. But for cocktail party smalltalk, Biomedical Service Engineer is not even in the league of working "for a company that makes low-carb tongue depressors."

Jim

 

[Dan M.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Missed that one Dan. But for cocktail party smalltalk, Biomedical Service Engineer is not even in the league of working "for a company that makes low-carb tongue depressors </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

LOL.........I probably missed it too. I just read hi-tech medical and chimed in.