Kinda long, but I had to laugh at myself after this:
I’ve been into this hobby since last year, when I started experimenting smoking meats on my Weber kettle. Recently I scored an 18.5 WSM on Craigslist (first one I’ve seen on there in my area in a year and a half!) and last Sunday did chicken wings and on Thursday smoked 2 slabs of spare ribs with much success. I decided that the next adventure would be a 7 lb pork butt that I smoked this past Saturday.
I like to prepare as much in advance, so I trimmed/rubbed the butt on Friday morning and Friday afternoon prepped everything in the smoker - loaded up the charcoal and wood, foiled the water pan, set up the Maverick... even had the chimney set up with 14 pieces and a couple of paraffin starters for the next morning.
Waking up at 3:30 is no fun, but I revved up the Keurig and headed outside. Everything went like clockwork and I had a steady 230 degrees, put the meat on and crawled back in bed by 5. When I got up a few hours later the WSM was chugging away and right on target, temp-wise.
I had the house to myself most of Saturday, so I worked on various home improvement projects and kept a eye on the smoker through the day. I was familiar with the stall and sure enough, it came around 172 degrees. We powered through that and I figured I’d be on target to take the butt off around 5:00.
My wife and daughter got home from shopping about 5:30 and the pork was still only around 189 (I was trying to take it to 200 or so). A few things were happening at this point - the coals were cooling down and I was getting tired. I really wanted to take a shower and couldn’t decide if I wanted to A) take one immediately or B) wait until the pork came off and shower while it was resting. In my experience, a watched therm doesn’t move, so I figured I’d take a break and get cleaned up. As I was getting ready I noticed that my pit temp was down around 215 degrees, In a fit of anxiousness I went out and lit some new coals and foiled the butt. Buttoned everything back up, made sure it looked ok, and took my temp receiver into the bathroom so I could keep an eye on temps before and after my shower.
I turn on the shower, hop in, and within 2 minutes I start hearing an alarm from the Mav... I think ‘what the???’ and peek around the curtain. ‘The meat temp is already up to 203??? Really? Wow, foil does a better job than I remember!’. I decided to finish my shower (as quickly as I could) and by the time I was dressed the meat was registering 219 degrees. I was fearing the worst - up early, worked carefully through the day to keep in under control, and now this - I got outside, opened the smoker and got the meat off with my hands onto a baking tray. As I set it down I realized what the problem was. In my haste to foil I had punched the meat probe through the side of the meat and THATS what was giving me my high temps so quickly. I was relieved and was understandably thankful that I hadn’t overcooked my most recent project. It did take a couple more hours to finish (I gave up and took it off at 192) and it was delicious!
I’ve been into this hobby since last year, when I started experimenting smoking meats on my Weber kettle. Recently I scored an 18.5 WSM on Craigslist (first one I’ve seen on there in my area in a year and a half!) and last Sunday did chicken wings and on Thursday smoked 2 slabs of spare ribs with much success. I decided that the next adventure would be a 7 lb pork butt that I smoked this past Saturday.
I like to prepare as much in advance, so I trimmed/rubbed the butt on Friday morning and Friday afternoon prepped everything in the smoker - loaded up the charcoal and wood, foiled the water pan, set up the Maverick... even had the chimney set up with 14 pieces and a couple of paraffin starters for the next morning.
Waking up at 3:30 is no fun, but I revved up the Keurig and headed outside. Everything went like clockwork and I had a steady 230 degrees, put the meat on and crawled back in bed by 5. When I got up a few hours later the WSM was chugging away and right on target, temp-wise.
I had the house to myself most of Saturday, so I worked on various home improvement projects and kept a eye on the smoker through the day. I was familiar with the stall and sure enough, it came around 172 degrees. We powered through that and I figured I’d be on target to take the butt off around 5:00.
My wife and daughter got home from shopping about 5:30 and the pork was still only around 189 (I was trying to take it to 200 or so). A few things were happening at this point - the coals were cooling down and I was getting tired. I really wanted to take a shower and couldn’t decide if I wanted to A) take one immediately or B) wait until the pork came off and shower while it was resting. In my experience, a watched therm doesn’t move, so I figured I’d take a break and get cleaned up. As I was getting ready I noticed that my pit temp was down around 215 degrees, In a fit of anxiousness I went out and lit some new coals and foiled the butt. Buttoned everything back up, made sure it looked ok, and took my temp receiver into the bathroom so I could keep an eye on temps before and after my shower.
I turn on the shower, hop in, and within 2 minutes I start hearing an alarm from the Mav... I think ‘what the???’ and peek around the curtain. ‘The meat temp is already up to 203??? Really? Wow, foil does a better job than I remember!’. I decided to finish my shower (as quickly as I could) and by the time I was dressed the meat was registering 219 degrees. I was fearing the worst - up early, worked carefully through the day to keep in under control, and now this - I got outside, opened the smoker and got the meat off with my hands onto a baking tray. As I set it down I realized what the problem was. In my haste to foil I had punched the meat probe through the side of the meat and THATS what was giving me my high temps so quickly. I was relieved and was understandably thankful that I hadn’t overcooked my most recent project. It did take a couple more hours to finish (I gave up and took it off at 192) and it was delicious!
