Pork shoulder - First time using lump!

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Trying lump for the first time.  Picked up a bag of Cowboy lump.  But my snake.  A little tricky with the small pieces falling through but I got I'd done.  Shoulder is on.  Just added some turds.  My second grate was really nice for getting the turds on.   Brought the grate into. Kitchen and loaded it up as I was finishing rolling them in bacon.  Was able to open the lid and add the second grate in a very small amount of time which meant minimal heat loss.   I'm not having any problem controlling the temp, it's sitting right between 228-245.











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[MikeRocksTheRed]

Almost forgot.  Used my jalapeño slayer (corer) I ordered along with my vortex a few weeks ago from Owens BBQ.  What an awesome tool!!!!!!!


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[MikeRocksTheRed]

Turds are done.  Smoked for two hours as always. They look burned up, but if they are like every other batch I've done the bacon will be the perfect texture.   Now just waiting on the shoulder.  At 156 currently.  My second rack came through again letting me take the whole thing off to remove the turds instead of having to use tongs to take them off one by one. 

Any suggestions how to make this chicken less rubbery?




You can see two spots that the bacon from the turds dripped onto the shoulder!!!



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[WNC]

Turds look awesome! I thought about as soon as I saw the turds over the shoulder, bacon grease dripping on the shoulder....mmmmmm.

Looks like you got the snake figured out too!

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Snake kind of stalled about 4 hours in.  Just took a little tong work to get it back on track.  Only went down to 230 so no harm done!


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[Uncle Al]

Looking good!  I really like how you are able to sneak the turds in and out quickly with the second grate.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Looking good!  I really like how you are able to sneak the turds in and out quickly with the second grate.

The second grate is money!  Before the second grate I would prep everything first and put the turds on with whatever big chunk of meat I am smoking.  Today I was able to get the shoulder going then take my time doing the turds while I would have otherwise just been sitting around.  And turds make such a good appetizer and beer absorber halfway though a long smoke!




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[MikeRocksTheRed]

Stalled at 181 degrees about an hour ago.  Actually down to 180 now.  Hoping this thing gets moving again soon...almost at the end of my snake.  So far pretty happy with lump instead of KBB. 


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[MikeRocksTheRed]

Finally done.  Had to use a second probe to convince myself I was in a really long (3+ hour) stall and my equipment wasn't failing me.   Pulled when one probe hit 194 and the other hit 196 or 197.  Bone was popping out of the shoulder and it wanted to fall apart taking it off of the grate.  Resting it now.  Had a bite of a piece I pulled off and it was fantastic.  It's getting late so if I don't post a final picture of it pulled I will do it tomorrow with a recap.

Wow.  12 hours almost to the minute for a 6.51 lb shoulder.   




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[MikeRocksTheRed]

It was worth the wait.  I'm happy overall with using lump for the first time. Due to the long stall I had to add some lumps a few times which was easy to do.   

Bone was popping out on its own!




Breakfast this morning was pulled pork, fried egg, queso fresco, and home made pico! 



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[kettlecook]

It was worth the wait.  I'm happy overall with using lump for the first time. Due to the long stall I had to add some lumps a few times which was easy to do.   

Bone was popping out on its own!




Breakfast this morning was pulled pork, fried egg, queso fresco, and home made pico! 



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Mike, I was checking out a few of your kazilion posts and found this one.
Very good use of the stacker grate, and I applaud you for trying a lump snake. From my experience, it simply gives a better flavor in a charcoal smoker setup than briquettes. There's a few reasons why most don't notice the difference. For one, some simply don't cook often enough to notice a difference. (Maybe some simply can't.) Two, foiling during the cook will dilute smoke flavors to the point that differences are often indiscernible. (This is why many a shoulder or brisket cooked in a charcoal smoker has beat out wood-fired smoked ones in comps.) And three, most of the smoke flavor comes from the wood chunks, not the charcoal. But obviously, I understand why folks use briquettes. And I use them a bunch, but usually mostly ashed over. Anyhow, it's good to see folks trying different things on their kettles. Bet that BBQ was good! Especially that breakfast!


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[MrHoss]

Shred looks tasty. To get an even burn I go with lump over top of briquettes. For the past year the briquettes I most often go to is Coshell so I am spoiled.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

@kettlecook  -  Thanks for the input and being the first person to comment on my post that is 4 months old.  LOL.  I think if you hadn't revived this post I wouldn't have remembered that I've done a snake doing lump.  With that said it's obvious that I am back to using briquettes!  I mainly foil because I usually don't start my smokes early enough to rid eout the stall unwrapped.  I'm not sure about foiling diluting the smoke flavors.  In my opinion after the first 2-3 hours I'm not sure how much more smoke the meat is going to take in.  I'll have to grab some lump the next time I'm out and give it a try again.  The main reason I use KBB is because I stock up big time when it goes on sale in the spring and summer.  I think based on the date of this cook I had used up or was close to using up my KBB stockpile.  I do remember that this was the first cook I used my stacker grate for turds on.  It was so easy to load up the grate right in the kitchen and pop it on the grill.  All of the bacon drippings on the shoulder made it even mo'better!

@MrHoss -  I like the idea of lump of briquettes...might have to give that a try.

[kettlecook]

@kettlecook  -  Thanks for the input and being the first person to comment on my post that is 4 months old.  LOL.  I think if you hadn't revived this post I wouldn't have remembered that I've done a snake doing lump.  With that said it's obvious that I am back to using briquettes!  I mainly foil because I usually don't start my smokes early enough to rid eout the stall unwrapped.  I'm not sure about foiling diluting the smoke flavors.  In my opinion after the first 2-3 hours I'm not sure how much more smoke the meat is going to take in.  I'll have to grab some lump the next time I'm out and give it a try again.  The main reason I use KBB is because I stock up big time when it goes on sale in the spring and summer.  I think based on the date of this cook I had used up or was close to using up my KBB stockpile.  I do remember that this was the first cook I used my stacker grate for turds on.  It was so easy to load up the grate right in the kitchen and pop it on the grill.  All of the bacon drippings on the shoulder made it even mo'better!

@MrHoss -  I like the idea of lump of briquettes...might have to give that a try.

Foiling is a great tool to use and I foil butts and ribs most all the time for the same reasons. We've all had that perfect cook without it that yielded a fantastically crisp and tasty bark, but I don't like getting up before the chickens either, or cooking over night by myself. As for foiling diluting the smoke flavor, Paul Kirk and Chris Lilly teach it, but just taste the juice left in the foil and tell me it isn't smoky. I'm with you on the good old Kingsford. Only thing I'd try to do if running a snake would be to wait as long as needed for a cleaner burn before putting the meat on. I use Kbb a bunch, though. The Memorial Day charcoal sales won't get here soon enough. But thanks again for your posts. I've GOT to start using a stacker grate in my big kettle.


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[Travis]

Trying lump for the first time.  Picked up a bag of Cowboy lump.  But my snake.  A little tricky with the small pieces falling through but I got I'd done.  Shoulder is on.  Just added some turds.  My second grate was really nice for getting the turds on.   Brought the grate into. Kitchen and loaded it up as I was finishing rolling them in bacon.  Was able to open the lid and add the second grate in a very small amount of time which meant minimal heat loss.   I'm not having any problem controlling the temp, it's sitting right between 228-245.











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Don't know if I'm doing this correctly. Kind of experimenting here, but really like the second grate idea. Never thought of that and the bacon dripping down. Epic. See if this works...