Charlie L
TVWBB Super Fan
Weekday pulled pork and ribs: 2nd Cook on my WSM/4th cook with pitmaster IQ 110
Daycare was closed yesterday so i was off from work to watch my 2 year old.
Since I was going to be home with 12 hours to kill I decided to fire up the smoker.
I was cooking myself dinner but primarily was cooking meat to vacuum seal and freeze for later use.
I grabbed a Butt just shy of 9 lbs and a twin pack of St.L spares. Both were rubbed the night before, and refrigerated overnight.
Trying a few things different this time around:
My WSM has a new center section (warranty replacement for out of round original) and a nomex gasket on the door, top and bottom rims of the center section. The new set up was way tighter seal then my first cook. The air leaks at the door were now minuscule, where before the leaks make the temp control much tougher. I am happy to report that the $18 gasket sealed the WSM up super tight and was a solid investment. I added a second charcoal grate perpendicular and some u bolts to allow coal sifting.
I am learning the Pitmaster IQ and its quirks. Its been posted before that the probe on the pitmaster and probe on a maverick simply will not agree, and trying to calibrate the two is useless. The pitmaster will hold a temp but its not necessarily the temp on the dial. Ive found that you need to find the sweet spot you want and you set the IQ to maintain that temp current temp and it will. The pitmaster might say its 250 but hold 275 very solidly. Quirky but effective.
The upgraded WSM did great and the Pitmaster did fine but there was one other variable:
This was my first low and slow using KBB.
I always read that the additives and ash in KBB are negatives so I have used Lump or natural briquettes like trader joes. A recent CL score came with almost 80 lbs of KBB ands its been working well on my new performer so I gave it a shot in the WSM. The first 6 hours of my cooker were uneventful. A Minion Start with the pitmaster had me at temp in no time but as the day went on I found issues holding temp and the cause was clear to me: ASH.
The notorious KBB Ash was choking the fire. I gave the charcoal grate a shake and added some new fuel but getting the fire back up took some encouragement. I think I will stick to using the KBB on the kettles and stick to lump or natural briqs for the smoker.
To be fair, the Second Charcoal Grate I added to keep lump from falling through probably worked against me with the ash on this cook. It was also cold out (45 degrees) so asking for a long cook with a decent amount of meat on one load charcoal may have been pushing it too.
Another cook, another lesson learned.
The Butt was cooked for 41/2 - 5 hours at 275 then foiled for another 3 hours or so. At 195 it was removed from the smoker and allowed to rest for an hour or so.
For Ribs, I also tried something new: I did rolled and skewered ribs for the first time. I wanted to cook the ribs and the butt on the same rack because I didn't feel like addressing the temp differences between top and bottom and I was doing drip pan beans on the bottom rack.
A nine lb butt and two racks of rolled ST.L’s fit on the top rack. It was tight but manageable.
I threw the ribs in when I wrapped the butt. I foiled and lightly sprayed and sauced them after two hours and let them roll for another 60-90 minutes until toothpick went in with little resistance.
The butt pulled right apart with hands and meat forks and had good flavor, moisture and tenderness.
My plan was a little pulled, a couple or ribs and some beans for dinner but by the time i did some “quality control samping” on the pulled, I was too full for ribs and beans. I spoon full of beans and a sliver of the edge of the ribs were both pretty good too.
Every thing was portioned out, vacuum sealed, and placed in the basement freezer for future meals. Weeknight BBQ is now available whenever I want it.
Daycare was closed yesterday so i was off from work to watch my 2 year old.
Since I was going to be home with 12 hours to kill I decided to fire up the smoker.
I was cooking myself dinner but primarily was cooking meat to vacuum seal and freeze for later use.
I grabbed a Butt just shy of 9 lbs and a twin pack of St.L spares. Both were rubbed the night before, and refrigerated overnight.
Trying a few things different this time around:
My WSM has a new center section (warranty replacement for out of round original) and a nomex gasket on the door, top and bottom rims of the center section. The new set up was way tighter seal then my first cook. The air leaks at the door were now minuscule, where before the leaks make the temp control much tougher. I am happy to report that the $18 gasket sealed the WSM up super tight and was a solid investment. I added a second charcoal grate perpendicular and some u bolts to allow coal sifting.
I am learning the Pitmaster IQ and its quirks. Its been posted before that the probe on the pitmaster and probe on a maverick simply will not agree, and trying to calibrate the two is useless. The pitmaster will hold a temp but its not necessarily the temp on the dial. Ive found that you need to find the sweet spot you want and you set the IQ to maintain that temp current temp and it will. The pitmaster might say its 250 but hold 275 very solidly. Quirky but effective.
The upgraded WSM did great and the Pitmaster did fine but there was one other variable:
This was my first low and slow using KBB.
I always read that the additives and ash in KBB are negatives so I have used Lump or natural briquettes like trader joes. A recent CL score came with almost 80 lbs of KBB ands its been working well on my new performer so I gave it a shot in the WSM. The first 6 hours of my cooker were uneventful. A Minion Start with the pitmaster had me at temp in no time but as the day went on I found issues holding temp and the cause was clear to me: ASH.
The notorious KBB Ash was choking the fire. I gave the charcoal grate a shake and added some new fuel but getting the fire back up took some encouragement. I think I will stick to using the KBB on the kettles and stick to lump or natural briqs for the smoker.
To be fair, the Second Charcoal Grate I added to keep lump from falling through probably worked against me with the ash on this cook. It was also cold out (45 degrees) so asking for a long cook with a decent amount of meat on one load charcoal may have been pushing it too.
Another cook, another lesson learned.
The Butt was cooked for 41/2 - 5 hours at 275 then foiled for another 3 hours or so. At 195 it was removed from the smoker and allowed to rest for an hour or so.
For Ribs, I also tried something new: I did rolled and skewered ribs for the first time. I wanted to cook the ribs and the butt on the same rack because I didn't feel like addressing the temp differences between top and bottom and I was doing drip pan beans on the bottom rack.
A nine lb butt and two racks of rolled ST.L’s fit on the top rack. It was tight but manageable.
I threw the ribs in when I wrapped the butt. I foiled and lightly sprayed and sauced them after two hours and let them roll for another 60-90 minutes until toothpick went in with little resistance.
The butt pulled right apart with hands and meat forks and had good flavor, moisture and tenderness.
My plan was a little pulled, a couple or ribs and some beans for dinner but by the time i did some “quality control samping” on the pulled, I was too full for ribs and beans. I spoon full of beans and a sliver of the edge of the ribs were both pretty good too.
Every thing was portioned out, vacuum sealed, and placed in the basement freezer for future meals. Weeknight BBQ is now available whenever I want it.
