Where did I go wrong? World's slowest bbq


 
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Susan Z

TVWBB Guru
Ok, this is my third cook. It's cold and windy here in dc. Started an 8 lb butt at 8 last night (bottom grate). At 8 this morning, I added a 6 lb brisket flat (put it on the bottom grate, switched the pork to the top).

I've had the silver bullet jacket on the whole time because of the wind and cold. Bottom vents have been mostly closed because of the wind (the vent positions might be the culprit, I reckon).

It's 4:30 pm. The butt has been cooking for over 20 hours (on the top grate) and is up to 149. The brisket is 160 in one place, cooler in the others.

What's the cooker temp you ask? Shame on me! I don't know, cuz I only have an ET-73, and you're not supposed to put it under the silver bullet. (Don't yell---I ordered an ashcroft 50-550 degree job earlier today, having seen the error of my ways.)

Cooking with a full load of water in the brinkman pan. Have added fuel throughout the day, and have opened the vents to 50% on the bottom. The meat temps were in the 130's at 2 pm, so there's progress.

Where oh where did I go wrong? (actually, everything looks and smells great. It's just going so slowwwwwwwwwwly.)

Can I just keep going until they're some kind of done, without ruining 'em that is? I am redefining low and slow...!
 
Thanks, Tony. My other two cooks were in the cold and wind, too (superbowl sunday was one of 'em, and without the silver bullet).

I deliberately started it on the bottom because I was afraid of it cooking too fast. What was I thinking???
 
Susan

I cooked 3 butts, about 7 lbs each this weekend and it took 19 hrs to get to 195. For it to take this long, your pit temp must be down. You need to come up with some way to measure it in the future. If you're using water and your pan is full, you really can't get your temp too high. I suggest you add another full chimney of lit coal and cook the hell out of that meat. Maybe you'll need to add even more fuel.

I'm not familiar with your set up with the silver bullet jacket, but my opinion is you need to do whatever is necessary, quickly, to get more heat in that pit - with a pan full of hot water.

Good luck.

Paul
 
I'm too new to this smoking thing to comment. Just wanted to point out the bright side - they should be done for the Super Bowl. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
Funny, jeffr!

And thanks for the advice, Paul. Think I'll go overload a chimney starter and add some more fuel to the fire.
 
Susan

There is another point I didn't think about and hopefully Doug D will chime in because he knows a lot about this issue. "The danger zone" is, as I recall between 40 and 140 and there is a maximum limit of time meat should remain in that range. I don't know if this applies in your case but from 8:00 p.m. till 4:30 p,m, seems pretty long. Hopefully it's a non-issue.

Guess you just can't wait to get some more good news !

Paul
 
Closing the vents will bring your temp down
and eventually put the coals out.
I suggest taking the silver bullet jacket off,
using the ET-73 to monitor cooker temps, and cranking the vents open to bring the temps back up.
 
Smoking has nothing to do with being a man or a woman. It's about acquiring as much knowledge about the game and understanding how things work. Just keep reading all the postings and faq pages. You can't beat experience.
 
With respect to the danger zone, 8:00 pm to 4:30 pm does seem like a long time to only get to 149. I suspect most of our cooks keep a core temperature below 140 for more than two hours.

The real issue however is whether the surface temp was 40-140 for two hours or more.
 
Suzan
When I have cooked pork but and brisket the meat temps ussually hit the 140 mark at 1hour-2:30
I know you didnt have a thermometer. It deffinitly sounds like your bullet temps were well bellow 200. Meat temps rize very slowly when the cooking enviroment is at or bellow your target meat temp.(I suspect with the temps you were talking and the amount of time-it was well bellow) It is very hard to make adjustments without knowing what the cooker is running.
Was there anyway to put a small hole in the jacket to run the wire out for the ET73?
If your meat thermometer was accurate, I would be very leary of consuming the meat, better to be safe.
Next time it will be perfect.
best reguards
Jim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Doug D:
[qb] This article is very good at explaining the danger zone in the context of BBQ. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I just read that article. Now I am a bit comfused. According to the Renowned Mr. Brown instructions... " At 9:37am, about an hour before putting the meat on the cooker, I removed the pork butts from the refrigerator. I rerubbed each piece using some of the remaining rub according to the recipe. The meat then sat at room temperature until ready to cook." Does that mean that this step is dangerous?
 
In reguards to the butt and the danger zone, was the butt a bone-in or out product. If it is bone-out and the butt was tied back up then you would need to worry about the danger zone. The reason is the interior of the meat would have been exposed to bacteria. Bone-in this is not a problem and the exterior of the meat would have been above 140? in plenty of time.
Using sand in these cold weather cooks is a very good choice because the sand works as a heat sink and will help stabilize the pits, water will boil away changing the conditions of the cook making more adjustments necessary.
Doug W
The bring of a piece of meat to room temp is advised by some, it is a step that I would advise for grilling but not really needed for low and slow. By putting the meat straight from the frig also should help the formation of smokering by keeping the meats internal temp below 140? a little longer period of time (keep in mind that if it is bone-out then expose all the meat surfaces to the heat).
Jim
 
Her pit temps were too low to start with due to closed vents and jacket, then eight hours into the cook she slapped in cold 6lb brisket. I am betting temps went from low to "too damn low" when this happened.

Susan...

First thing to do is junk that silly jacket. Your new and its not your fault so don't feel silly about it. If you search around the forums there are members in the upper peninsula of Michigan, Sweden that cook with the WSM in white out snow conditions without the jackets and still get acceptable pit temps by simple fire control. All that jacket is doing is choking off needed air to fuel the fire. A wind break is worth the effort, but don't jacket the WSM.

If you have one probe thermo, then use it to measure pit temps and forget the initial internal meat temp. You know a pork butt or brisket will need at least 8+ hours to cook no matter what if its of any size, so you are better suited to know what the pit temps are via your single probe thermo and use those first hours keeping your pit properly set up for temp. Take a potato cut it in half, shove probe through the potato and place on top grate.

I admire your BBQ tenacity, keep it up.
 
I'm confused about something: should Susan be monitoring the "Pit temp" or the temperature at the top grate? Or do you consider these the same thing?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jackomo:
[qb] I'm confused about something: should Susan be monitoring the "Pit temp" or the temperature at the top grate? Or do you consider these the same thing? [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Her pit temps in general would encompass the entire cooking interior of the WSM. An easily accessible interior landmark to measure temps would be the top grate.

Not necessarily the "pit" of the charcoal bowl where the fire is located.

Mostly your concerned with temps everywhere above the water pan.
 
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