Session question


 
John Leopard

John Leopard

TVWBB Member
I need to cook 3 Butts for an late afternoon or early evening dinner for about 24 people on Wednesday.

The problem is that I go to work at 4AM and would probably set the 22WSM up Tuesday night so I can get up and light it about 3AM and I would have to leave the smoke unattended until about 1PM Wednesday afternoon.

Do any of y'all have any experience with unattended sessions? Any advice on vent settings, etc.

OR, would you recommend cooking them Tuesday night? I could put them on in the afternoon and subsequently wrap them in towels and place in a cooler. Just worried about staying warm if I do it that way.
 
I would not leave it unattended after only 1 hour of setup. My advice is to cook it a day before, pull the meat and put into disposable aluminum pan in the fridge. Reheat Wednesday evening with apple juice and water, slowly in the oven at 250 - 300 degrees.
 
Your best bet would be to use a minion method start with no water in the pan. Minion method, because it will help to control the fire and make for less fuel consumption. No water, because water boiling off mid-cook will cause a temperature spike as well as using up more fuel.

Not so sure how to do it with a 22 regarding vent settings but I would feel comfortable minioning the start on my 18 with about an hour of lead time - 20 minutes to light the charcoal, and 40 minutes for the WSM to come up to temperature before closing the vents to dial it in.

On the 18, at least, I would start with all vents open then close all three vents to 1/3 open about 50 degrees lower than my desired temperature.

Good luck!
 
John - I might get up very early on Wednesday morning, smoke the butts for 3-4 hours, then put them into a deep pan, covered with aluminum foil in a 225°oven until you get home. Check temps/insert probe for doneness, then wrap in foil, place in old cooler covered in towels for an hour or more before pulling. Some people might say that using the oven is cheating, but it beats worrying about temperatures in your smoker while you are at work.
 
I would place my vote for smoking it. The day before. Although I have had good luck with over night smokes that hold their temp for 6 - 8 hours I would be concerned about the shoulders getting done and being able to rest before your meal.

Mike
 
OK, so here's what I ended up doing.
Did the butts yesterday. Put them on at 3:30PM with a mostly full fuel ring and a clay saucer (first time.) Finally settled in at about 225* +/-10* after about 2hrs of tweaking the vents. Went to bed without adding any fuel and checked them at 3:00AM this morning. Fire was mostly burned out but the pork registered 183* with the thermapen. the probe went in like buttah.

Pulled them off, (they almost fell apart in my hands) foiled them, wrapped them in 2 towels and put them in a cooler and left them outside in the heat to stay hot. Getting ready to go get them and start pulling.

I was extremely happy with the burn time and the saucer seemed to do a good job of retaining heat.
 
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