Smoking in the rain


 
Chris W.

Chris W.

TVWBB Pro
Put on a 5 pound butt around 8 this morning, around 3 hours ago for a late Easter dinner with my in-laws tomorrow. It was raining pretty well when I started up the WSM, but I planted the umbrella from my table in the ground right next to my patio and placed the WSM under it. It's been kept dry so far, and I'm happy.

I used regular K, lit with the Minion Method and used the Mr. Brown recipe from this site. I used four fist-sized chunks of cherry, and three chunks of hickory about the same size. I really like smokey flavor, hence the amount of smoke wood.

Despite rain still coming down, the smoker is holding steady around 205* dome temp. I'd like it to be a bit higher, but I'm within 25* of my target temp of of 225* dome temp, so I'm not complaining. I'm hoping it'll be done around 10 or 11 tonight.
 
Sounds good. I'm doing something similar, but got a later start.

Using cherry and maple.

And it just started drizzling up here in toronto.
 
The rain let up around 2-3 hours into the cook, which made me happy since I didn't have to try to stay fairly dry while checking the temp.

This cook went almost perfectly. For the first time, I experience the "set it and forget it" that others on here talk about. Once I reached around 200*, I dialed the vents to about 25% open. Half an hour after that, my wife and I went to dinner with my parents and got back around 1.5 hours later, and the WSM was sitting stead at 240*, right in my target temp of 200*-275* (25 degrees either direction from 225-250). The temps did start falling off when the fuel started running out, but I stirred the coals and get things rejuvinated for another hour or so, then had to add 20 lit briqs to keep things going through the end of the cook.

The butt spend 12 hours and 45 minutes in the smoker, and rested, wrapped in two layers of HD foil, in my cooler and an hour and fifteen minutes before pulling.

Unlike my last attempt with pork butt, when I was rushed to finish, I let this one go as long as it needed. It came out almost perfectly. I say almost because I forgot to trim the fat cap, and that didn't get completely rendered, so I had some wasted bark with that. Everything else, though, was great. The bone just slid out with no resistance, and I couldn't even pick the meat up without it crumbling. It was moist and tender and just plain yummy. And the smoke ring was to die for! This cook was, far and away, the best thing I have ever cooked in my entire life.

Needless to say, it was a big hit with the in-laws. Everybody loved it and I got lots of compliments. My next big butt cook is planned for Memorial Day weekend for my family reunion. I hope I can as well then as I did this time.
 
i cook at the edge of my garage door if it is raining or snowing. my garage smells pretty good most of the winter
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That's awsome Chris, wicked feeling when it all comes together!

For the rain part I must be the only one but I just start the coals in some shelter, cart it out into the rain and let it go. I have found a minor affect on the temps but like I say minor. The rain has never seen to have any major negative effects!

Clark
 
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