The Runaway Minion

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So, after many a session of using the standard method to fire up my Weber SMC, I decided to try out the Minion method for an overnight session.

I decided to use a single bone-in Boston butt, non-enhanced, rubbed with my standard mixture. I fired up the cooker at 2100 hours using 20 Kingsford briquets from my chimney applied to a full charcoal chamber of unlit Kingsford and 3 fist-sized chunks of apple wood. I filled the water pan with a gallon of lukewarm tap water as usual. I added the butt directly from the fridge and immediately began monitoring grid temp and internal meat temp with my wireless setup. I followed the suggested pattern of waiting until the cooker temp reached 200 before closing the lower vents to 25%. By 2315 my grid temp was plateauing in the 245 range, and I headed to bed, knowing that my alarm would waken me when the temp dropped below 200. At 0415 (!) I was awakened by an alarm.. not the low temp alarm I had expected, but the internal meat temp alarm, which had reached 199 in only about 7 hours of cooking! A check of the grid temp revealed 339.. holy mackerel! The water pan was bone dry. Needless to say, I was surprised by these findings. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to remove the butt and foil-wrap and put it in the cooler to rest; upon pulling it at 0800 the meat quality seems great.. quarter inch smoke ring, bark formation, good flavor. As of this writing at 1030, there are still plenty of red-hot coals in the chamber.

So no real harm done to the final end product, but I will definitely make some adjustments for the next time I use the technique:

1. Cook more meat!
2. Cold water rather than room temp
3. Consider using less fuel.

As always, your thoughts and comments are appreciated!

-LB
 
If you were using the standard Weber waterpan, I suggest you invest in a Brinkman charcoal pan. It holds about twice as much water and is great for overnight cooks where low water means high pit temp which means meat is cooking too fast. Also, be sure to top off the waterpan before turning in.

BTW, welcome to the board.

Paul
 
Louis
During the summer I would suggest starting out with fewer burning coals at the fireup.
Your run away pit temps was because the water pan went dry.

The fact that you were cooking Butts was a saving factor in this cook, had it been brisket your results could have been very different.

Like anything else as you get more cooks under your belt it will get easier.
Jim
 
Or you could save yourself all that trouble and go with sand in the pan. When I first bought my WSM I always used water but I've used sand for my last four butt cooks and if there's a taste difference I certainly can't detect it. Sand controls temperature really well but the best part, obvioulsy, is the cleaning up afterwards. There is none.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> 1. Cook more meat!
2. Cold water rather than room temp
3. Consider using less fuel. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

These 3 techniques do have an effect on the temperatures but shouldn't be the main way to control your temperatures.

In your post you stated your vents were at 25%. Too much air was getting in causing the temperatures to rise.

I sometimes have all my bottom vents closed for overnighters.
 
When the water pan runs dry your temp will climb. It doesn't matter how much meat you have in there you lost the heat sink that is the main temp control in the WSM. Yes the vents regulate air into it but the lower the water level gets in the water pan the higher the temp will climb. What vent settings works for one doesn't mean it will work for another. I have to have all 3 of my vents open about 25-35% on my cooks to maintain 225-235 grate temp.
icon_wink.gif
 
Louis,

I make sure the cooker temp has stabilized for at least a couple of hours before going to bed. By the look of your times (2100 to 2315), I think I would have waited longer before going to bed. Also, I only use Brinkman pan for overnight cooks so I don't have to worry about running out.

Good news is pork butt is very forgiving, as you demonstrated!

Regards,
Chris
 
Welcome, Louis. I know that others have found the need to use a the Brinkmann pan on long cooks, but I've never had to refill my WSM water pan more than once even during long overnighters. This may be due to the relective properties of foil, which I double wrap my pan in, top and bottom. After reading many posts on this board, I expected to be refilling my pan every few hours, but that hasn't been the case at all. Maybe you could try this on your next long cook to see if you can go longer witout having the pan go dry?
Kirk
 
Like those have said, best to start earlier and be sure the temps are stable...I typically have to close the vents to <5%...especially in the summer.
 
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