Uneven Cooking WSM issue


 
D

Dave Russell

TVWBB Honor Circle
This is a first, for me at least.

Believe it or not, with the top 1/4 of it still not tender, I had a pork butt actually fall apart on me as I took it off of my 18's bottom grate Saturday evening. Both 8 lb butts went on at 5:15 AM, one to each rack, empty/foiled pan, PartyQ for temp control, with no foil used during or after the cook. I checked when the top rack butt beeped at an IT of 191*, flipping and hoping for the best after discovering that both were very unevenly cooked. I didn't pull the second one off the cooker until after supper.

Up to this cook I've had good success with an empty pan, but not quite as consistent as using water or foiling during the cook. I remember a big cook last summer on my 22 when it seemed like all of butts wanted to get done at different times. Anyhow, the only real difference on this cook was that both butts came with virtually no exterior fat cap. I don't see how it could've made that much difference, though. I started around 265 and lowered the temp when it seemed that they'd be done too early. Thoughts?
 
I've gone back to water in the pan for most low-n-slow cooks. Here's my thought: An empty foiled pan gets quite hot and the bottom grate is very close to the pan, so in addition to the air temp inside the cooker, there may be a strong radiant component from the pan to the bottom of whatever's cooking on the bottom grate. Looking through my notes, I've never cooked anything on the bottom grate with an empty pan -- everything has been cooked on the top grate (turkey and ribs mainly).
 
Thanks, J. I don't know what the deal was, but the reason that the bottom one fell apart was that it was actually a little smaller and I left it on the grate until after supper. So the top grate one was actually just as unevenly cooked. It just wasn't quite as tender, overall, but man, this was a puzzling and humbling cook.

I here ya on the going back to water. That's what a buddy said I ought to do. I just like the bark better, using less charcoal, and being able to cook faster with no water.
 
Dave, i never use the lower rack to close to the fire with or with out the water pan. I only use the top grate for cooking. If i need more room i stack a grate above the top grate, plenty of room with the dome lid.
 
I guess the engineers at Weber knew what they were doing when they put the bottom cooking grate next to the water pan (with water).
 
I appreciate the feedback, guys. I've got to reiterate that the butts on BOTH grates cooked unevenly. I think I'll flip butts once or twice from now on if not using water in the pan.
 
I don't trim my butts and they always have a nice fat-cap. I cook FC down (to shield it from the heat and most if not all of it renders away) with an empty foiled pan and even using the bottom rack for multiple butts I've never had that happen when running in the 275-300 range. Just a guess, but the lack of a FC might have overcooked that 1/4 of that one butt or both of them, so they didn't feel tender.
Curious why you didn't put both on the top rack?

Tim
 
timothy said:
I don't trim my butts and they always have a nice fat-cap. I cook FC down (to shield it from the heat and most if not all of it renders away) with an empty foiled pan and even using the bottom rack for multiple butts I've never had that happen when running in the 275-300 range. Just a guess, but the lack of a FC might have overcooked that 1/4 of that one butt or both of them, so they didn't feel tender.
Curious why you didn't put both on the top rack?

Tim
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Just to be clear, the fatcap sides were the sides that started to overcook, and I kept both down till the last hour or so, not intending to flip any on this cook. I think the lack of exterior fat might've made those sides cook a little faster than usual, and the other (top) sides just never caught up. Other than that, I have no idea. Last time, I cooked a couple of 9+ pound ones overnight the same way with my PartyQ, just slower. The moisture and tenderness was as good as any I've smoked.

Anyhow, if these had been any smaller I would've put both on the top rack. Some of my best and most evenly cooked butts have been when I had one to a rack, directly over the other one.

Thanks for the feedback, Tim.
 
Did the cook take longer than usual? Have you ever decreased the temp like that before?

Coincidentally I had something like that happen over the weekend, with hanging chickens, and my guess is the lower ambient temp didn't keep up with the heat coming from the bottom. In my case I cleaned/scrubbed the maverick temp probe which made it more sensitive therefore having the cook take place at a lower temp.
 
I always use a dry, foiled, water pan (double foiled with an air space in between layers) and OFTEN use both grates. I have not had any uneven cooking between the two grates.

I suspect your meat might have been the difference.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Alan F said:
Did the cook take longer than usual? Have you ever decreased the temp like that before?
Click to expand...

I guess a little. I know I'll be sure to put the probe in a little higher than the center from now on. Yes, I've decreased the temp on lots of cooks. That way I don't have to hold as long and the bark has a better chance of staying crisp.
 
Robert McGee said:
I always use a dry, foiled, water pan (double foiled with an air space in between layers) and OFTEN use both grates. I have not had any uneven cooking between the two grates.

I suspect your meat might have been the difference.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
Click to expand...

I hear ya, Robert. I've been much more concerned with even cooking across the grate, but not vertically. I'm starting to think it was combination of where my probe was and the lack of an exterior fat cap. A buddy of mine recently started flipping butts and ribs on his wsm for more even cooking. He's found that the wsm cooks faster from the bottom than you'd think, and incidentally, Gary Wiviott recommends flipping in his book Low and Slow.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
The more care you give your meat and cooker during the cook like flipping it and even adding wood chunks as you need will give a better end product.
 
Grant W said:
The more care you give your meat and cooker during the cook like flipping it and even adding wood chunks as you need will give a better end product.
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I agree, but there's a difference between futzing around and productively interacting with the cook. The two butts below were cooked with water in the pan, with no flipping, no spritzing, and no foiling during the cook with a very short rest after reaching tenderness. I might've added a chunk or two of wood during the cook, but that was it. To show how tender and juicy they were, I simply mashed 'em down before taking the pic.

 
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