To turn or not?


 
L

L Weiner

TVWBB Member
Quick poll, when you cook a 5-6lb butt do you turn? I don't mop by the way, and I find turning a pain that messes with my temp mojo...Any thoughts?
 
Turning is not needed but if you're mopping apple juice during the cook turning won't hurt
 
L Weiner said:
Quick poll, when you cook a 5-6lb butt do you turn? I don't mop by the way, and I find turning a pain that messes with my temp mojo...Any thoughts?
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I've never turned or mopped a butt, and I've never had a problem. You should be okay leaving it as is.
 
L Weiner said:
Quick poll, when you cook a 5-6lb butt do you turn? I don't mop by the way, and I find turning a pain that messes with my temp mojo...Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

If cooking butt(s) on both racks, I never turn, since the water pan is a heat sink/diffuser for the bottom grate, and the bottom grate meat is a heat sink/diffuser for the top grate meat.

If only cooking butts on the top rack though, I'll usually turn a couple of times to help even out the cooking, starting fat down and ending fat down. It's by no means necessary though, since butts are quiet forgiving. By the way, the exterior fat cap will crisp up more, the more it's left on the grate, assuming you're cooking on a vertical smoker like the wsm.
 
Monty House said:
Never. Ever.
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Monty, you mean you've never even tried flipping meats on a wsm? It's no big deal, really. I used to flip everything a couple of times when cooking direct on my upright drum smokers.

Anyhow, one other thing to think about is that the wsm isn't exactly a convection oven. That's why a gauge mounted right below the grate will typically read significantly higher than the dome gauge.
 
I don't turn. I leave it alone. Some times I spray with apple juice and apple cider mix.

Try turning it. If you like it..... Experiment and do what works for you and your family.
 
I usually cook two butts on the top rack. I usually do move the butts about a third of the way through the cook. I don't worry about flipping them over, but I do change their position so that the meat that is near the edge gets moved to the middle. So I guess what I do is turn them 180 degrees. You could accomplish the same thing by flipping them over, but I don't.
 
I didn't turn. Things came out fairly well...It was a 5.75 lb butt and it took a LONG time. I averaged 250. I figured it would be done in 10-11 hours (started at 6AM). I wound up running out of fuel all together around 6:30 and it was at around 190. I wrapped and finished in the oven. Quite fantastic. My oldest daughter even is starting to like it.
 
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