Took the plunge...


 
C

Chad Dickinson

TVWBB Member
Rubbed my first Boston tonight with Renowned Mr. Brown recipe southern succor rub. I can't wait to throw it on the smoker tomorrow night. I think I'll wait until like midnight tomorrow to fire it up, hoping for about a 12-16 hour cook.

I'm a bit nervous about getting temps where I want em... and them staying there.

Do I really have to stay up until 2am to check temps? LOL

Any advice?

Thanks!
 
Chad

I did my first pork butt overnighter two weekends ago. I did use the Brinkman waterpan which hold 2 gallons of water. Then I slept through the night and woke up to temps at 226. Also I had Maverek with temp alarms set near my bed just incase. But that WSM holds temps so well you dont need to worry.
I used a heaping ring of charcol and burried some Hickory and Apple Chunks then at 9:00pm I dumped 10 lit coals on top the Minion Method. I didnt add more coals until 14.5 hrs.

Good luck you will be fine.
 
Is 24 hours too long to leave the rub on the renowned Mr. Brown?

Should I NOT rub a second time, since the rub will be on for so long?

Thanks!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chad Dickinson:
Is 24 hours too long to leave the rub on the renowned Mr. Brown?

Should I NOT rub a second time, since the rub will be on for so long?

Thanks! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
1) Your ok for 24 hrs. 2) Yes rerub the Butt. Now if we were talking ribs you would be in trouble but with a Butt your fine.
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I think many people will not rub the ribs 24hrs before the cook. I personally rub my ribs ~1hr before they go on. I have been very please with the results.

Mike
 
Rubbing ribs 24 hours in advance could result in the meat becoming a little "hammy" due to the salt. If you want to rub in advance just leave the salt out of the rub or lightly salt the ribs before applying the rub.
Re-rubbing is o.k if you dont go real heavy on the first application.

Al
 
In light of my recent experience, I wouldn't wait until midnight to put the butt on. Put it on around 9 or 10 PM, then put it in a cooler if it finishes early. It ain't much fun if you can't enjoy fresh pulled pork because you need to get to bed because you have work the next morning!

Erik
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Bryan, why wouldn't you rerub ribs after they sat all night??? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That was meant as i wouldn't put the rub on the ribs 24 hrs in advance but with the Butt it would not be an issue. When i do ribs i only put the rub on right before they go onto the WSM. If you put the rub on too early say 12 hrs or more and you have a good bit of salt in your rub you run the risk of getting Hammy ribs. The salt starts to cure the thin ribs and you wind up with ham ribs. Now if your rub contains very little or no salt then it's not an issue.
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Well, its on.

Fired up 20 briquettes, and put them on a full charcoal ring of Kingsford.... About a third of it was leftover from my rib cook a week or two ago. That was at 8:40. Got the butt on the smoker at 9:21. At 9:32 my temp was at 225 and rising. I went ahead and closed the vents halfway.

More updates to follow. I wonder how I'll sleep tonight!

Chad
 
Well, an hour and 40 mins in... temp was a bit high at 260... closed 2 vents and left the third open 1/4.

That was 15 mins ago. Down to 255 now. Going to leave vents as is for another 15 mins... check temp. I'm trying to level off at about 235 (obviously)...

I hope I don't have to chase them like this all night!

Cya
 
I am not sure where you live but I have noticed my temps depend alot on the wind speed. I would suggest closing the vents closest to the direction the wind before bedtime.

Also I have cooked several butts ranging from 6lbs to 9 lbs and they all cooked between 16hr 23min and 17hrs you will be fine.

Have fun with this cook thats the whole point.
 
All vents closed, except top one of course. Grate temp is 242. Would like that down about 15 degrees. I also would like to be able to open more vents before bed tonight, otherwise I am worried the temp will drop too low tonight. I'm gonna wait til 2am local to see if I can do that.... (bout another hour) I just added about another 2qts of water... Hoping that will help bring temp down some.

I don't want this puppy done too early. I'm sure it will be great.

Lesson with this cook is.... start closing the vents earlier, and don't use boiling water in the water pan right off! (I started closing vents at a lid temp of 225. In retrospect, this should have been 210, or maybe even 200.)

Anyone have any advice on the vents? If I'm really running a grate temp of 240-250, is it ok to leave all three vents closed the rest of the night? 5-6 hours?

Thanks to any night owls who are up to answer!
Chad
 
Do you have enough room to add a tray of ice to the water pan to bring down the temp and get a vent or two open a little bit. I would be very leary of going to bed with all the bottom vents closed. You have some time so wait and see if it starts to drop since all the vents are closed. Yes next time start closing the vents at 200. If you go above that then you have the problem that your having now.
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Chad,
It is easier to control the temps on the way up then try to bring them down. As you get more cooks under your belt, you'll be able to anticipate where the WSM is headed and how to set the vents properly.

Some like to fiddle with all 3, others will leave 2 closed and 1 open and adjust as needed. Find what works best for you.

As far as your current sitituation, if the temp is stable and has been holding, get some shut eye.

The WSM(and butts) are very forgiving.

Rath *doin' the butt thing very soon*
 
Thanks a ton guys... grate temp still 246-250. Lid temp reading a bit higer... around 265.

Live and learn, I guess. I'm gonna give it a little while to cool back down, and if it doesn't, I'll add some ice to the water pan right before I nod off...

I think its still settling from the spike of having the door open.

Chad
 
Woke up to a grate temp of 230 degrees. I ended up just opening one vent last night about a third of the way. I hope I wasn't up at 250 for much after I went to bed, and if I was, oh well. I'm gonna take a meat temp in a few mins. I'm simmering the mop sauce now. Then I'll take it out, flip, mop, and add water all at once.

I'll post the meat temp when I get it!

Chad
 
Meat probe indicates an internal temp at 165.

That is near the bone.

Anyways, I think I got it from here. I sincerely appreciate everyones help. As a turned the butt, a little piece stuck to the grate, so I was able to try a tiny taste of barq'ed roast. It was VERY good.

I planned on going to 195 for an internal temp. I figure that is at least 2 hours away, if not more. I could be in the "plateau" stage. Any final advice? (other than letting it set in the cooler for a couple hours before serving)

A good barbeque sauce? Thanks!
 
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