Weber Kettle Club Forums

Cooking & Food Talk => Charcoal Grilling & BBQ => Topic started by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 08:32:22 AM

Title: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 08:32:22 AM
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/A77300E7-DF9E-452D-9C29-2082D71C15CF.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/A77300E7-DF9E-452D-9C29-2082D71C15CF.jpg.html)

CMF hit hard this morning. On its way back up though. Shooting for around 300°. Wanna try hot and fast. Still gonna wrap around 160° IT. Pig hit the grill about 10:30am. Hope for dinner about 6. Will update throughout the day.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: MikeRocksTheRed on February 16, 2016, 08:36:27 AM
@TheDude  - Is this your first hot and fast pork smoke?  Looks like a nice fatty chucnk of meat.  I hope your results are as good as the other hot and fast smokes I've seen and eaten.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 09:01:11 AM
@MikeRocksTheRed  Yeah, first hot and fast. Not going as planned though. All 4 vents are wide open and can't get much over 200°. Hope I don't have to order pizza for dinner.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: MikeRocksTheRed on February 16, 2016, 10:03:05 AM
@MikeRocksTheRed  Yeah, first hot and fast. Not going as planned though. All 4 vents are wide open and can't get much over 200°. Hope I don't have to order pizza for dinner.

Thats weird!  Snake or minion?  Add 6-8 more hot coals!  If you are using a kettle with Daisy Wheels you might try shutting down on or two of them all the way and just leaving the one closest to the lit coals wide open.  Sometimes I think if the fire isn't good and hot, opening all of the vents just keeps air flowing through too fast to get things hotter again.  Three wide open bottom vents pulling air in versus one top vent wide open to me means you might be pulling in more fresh air than you are exhausting.  I've noticed this with my 26er.  If I want to increase temps and open the bottom all of the way, it is more cool air than the coals seem to be able to keep up with.  If I shut the bottom half way it seems to do the trick.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 11:25:27 AM
@MikeRocksTheRed  Yeah, first hot and fast. Not going as planned though. All 4 vents are wide open and can't get much over 200°. Hope I don't have to order pizza for dinner.

Thats weird!  Snake or minion?  Add 6-8 more hot coals!  If you are using a kettle with Daisy Wheels you might try shutting down on or two of them all the way and just leaving the one closest to the lit coals wide open.  Sometimes I think if the fire isn't good and hot, opening all of the vents just keeps air flowing through too fast to get things hotter again.  Three wide open bottom vents pulling air in versus one top vent wide open to me means you might be pulling in more fresh air than you are exhausting.  I've noticed this with my 26er.  If I want to increase temps and open the bottom all of the way, it is more cool air than the coals seem to be able to keep up with.  If I shut the bottom half way it seems to do the trick.

Wish I'd seen this sooner. Been busy around the house. (http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/70BA261A-B036-4237-BCC0-58965293EF98.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/70BA261A-B036-4237-BCC0-58965293EF98.jpg.html)

Haven't peaked yet. Gonna close a couple vents and see what happens. Oh, running a snake. Tried minion with ribs a few months ago. Constant refueling and temp swings aren't for me.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 11:27:52 AM
Set up another snake in my OTP. Gonna add beans and transfer at 140°.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: MikeRocksTheRed on February 16, 2016, 12:48:52 PM
Set up another snake in my OTP. Gonna add beans and transfer at 140°.

Ah, so this raises a good question.  Did you have a pan of water (hot water) in your grill?  I think I have only done one smoke without a water pan and I had problems getting to temp.  That might be the problem.

Also what snake configuration are you using?  I'd think a 3X2 might be easier to maintain at 300 than a 2x2.  My friend that smokes at higher heat has an egg, and an ATC so he just sets it and forgets it.  I've never tried a hot smoke on my kettles, but would definitely go 3X2 instead of 2X2.   Always easier to pull some coals out than to add some in.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 01:40:33 PM
2x2 snake. 3x2 would take a lot of space, I think. Had water pan at first, now beans. Wrapped at 160°, not much of a bark. Grill is up to 270°, so hopefully we start cruising along now.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 02:40:23 PM
194°. With rest time, looks like it's pizza tonight. Make a good snak later. Maybe freeze some and stuff a fatty next week.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 03:30:40 PM
Probe tender and in the cooler at 6:15. We'll see what's what in a while.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 04:50:51 PM
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/BE12D438-F449-4E33-B95C-58331149B256.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/BE12D438-F449-4E33-B95C-58331149B256.jpg.html)

Bark turned out better than I thought.

(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/E9B346E6-40DD-4AF6-9E56-423978D0CA50.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/E9B346E6-40DD-4AF6-9E56-423978D0CA50.jpg.html)

Clean bone.

(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/7E6B59F9-6B15-49EB-8F0E-2C010D815E26.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/7E6B59F9-6B15-49EB-8F0E-2C010D815E26.jpg.html)

(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd487/sickofcichlids/9240D153-15E1-4665-87FB-D5DE55C661BD.jpg) (http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/sickofcichlids/media/9240D153-15E1-4665-87FB-D5DE55C661BD.jpg.html)

Pulled with 0 effort.

Hot and fast didn't happen, but damn it was good.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: tb80 on February 16, 2016, 04:58:54 PM
Looks great.

Next time try a 2x2x1 snake. I have been able to maintain temps of 275-300 with that set up


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Title: Re: Smoking a butt today
Post by: Jason on February 16, 2016, 05:01:57 PM
...but damn it was good.

Looks like you had a successful cook to me!

Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 05:04:08 PM
Not a bad idea. Would need to cherry pick little pieces of wood. Was windy today. The last few hours, I flipped over the picnic table to block some. Temp climbed much better after that.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: iCARRY on February 16, 2016, 05:44:20 PM
Looks good from here. Wind might have been what was really messing you up.


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Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 05:50:17 PM
I'm thinking so.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: TheDude on February 16, 2016, 06:04:44 PM
On a side note... My dog ate the bone in minutes.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: addicted-to-smoke on February 17, 2016, 08:25:16 AM
Great looking cook there. We gave our dog the bone from the one I did the other day and she got sick. I think the last time she barfed was also from a ham bone of some kind; she's apparently just a beef dog.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: MikeRocksTheRed on February 17, 2016, 09:36:57 AM
Looks good to me!  and I second @tb80's idea of a 2x2x1 snake.  I think that would work good.
Title: Re: Smoking a butt today : it turned out!
Post by: Big Dawg on February 17, 2016, 02:24:54 PM
I'm lazy and use the charcoal ring from an 18.5 WSM and line up my briquettes around the outside.  A disposable half pan fits perfectly inside the ring to catch drippings.  Works great for either a pork butt or a chuckie (PSB).





BD