British BBQ Society Forums

Second outing using my WSM. I bought a bone-in shoulder weighing around 8lb and rubbed it up yesterday, planning to start smoking at 6am this morning. I was concerned that the meat should be at room temperature so I took it out of the fridge late last night and left in a cool box in the garage - so as to take most of the chill off before use.

Firstly - good feeling pottering round in the garden at sunrise, especially firing up some charcoal in the chimney

I used a bag of weber briquettes (my big K charcoal I think has got damp), filled the ring and lit about a third of a chimney full. when lit dumped them in the middle with some chunks of hickory, pan filled with hot water.

after about an hour the temp would not rise above 170, vents all open. maybe the meat was still cold or not enough charcoal. I ldumped another half a chimnet of lit coals in and bingo. the WSM has been sat at 225-250 for the last 8 hours. bottom vents all open, top almost closed. Ive been mopping with a mix of cider vinegar, sugar, onion powder and chilli flakes.

planning on cooking until 5pm then resting for an hour. (cant find my thermometer...)

i would never take the meat out of the refrigerator that is a good way to get food poisoning,you transfer your meat from the refrig to the smoker. usually butt takes hours to cook.http://thebarbecuemaster.net/butt.html

It's a good idea to take the meat out of the refrigerator to let the meat reach room temperature. That way it won't effect your chamber temp getting to the temp you want. If it's fresh quality meat then it's not going to cause you any harm by leaving it out of the fridge for a few hours.

Update on results...

I stopped smoking after 11 hours, and left for an hour in foil.
Pulled the pork, falling apart in some places (underside) and tender but not quite ready to pull in others. So a good but not great first attempt.

I suspect that it needed another couple of hours which I did not have

This seems to me to be the most difficult part - timing. So many factors to take into account.

I like the idea someone else had here where they started it all very early - and then kept it in a cooler until ready to serve.

I start mine at night around 11pm then let it go through the night, I then keep it wrapped until I need to eat it, I must say I never sleep well doing it this way, paranoid its gone out etc...

Sound like you're best part of the way there though. I know everyone has their own methods, I tend to work on about an hour and a half per pound onf mesat for my pulled pork and it's usually there or thereabouts. I smoke mine at 225, initially uncovered. I stop adding wood after the internal temp hits 140 and the smoke ring is set. Once it reaches 165 I take it out of the smoker, double wrap it in foil and then back in the smoker until it reaches 205 and then let it rest until I serve it. As I said, everyone has their own methods but this one works for me.

When i'm cooking pulled pork at home, i don't worry about keeping it low and slow. I'll open all of the vents on my WSM fully open the temp' will go over 350f which is fine. Once it's been on for 3hrs i'll wrap it in foil and then cook for another 2-3hrs till it's ready, normally looking for finishing temp between 195-205f depends when i catch it and then rest for an hour and it'll be moist, have a great bark and i've not lost any sleep

I've said it before and i'll say it again, never cook by time!!!

Leave yourself 8-12 hours (depending on size) @ around 230-250F as a guide. Invest in a decent internal meat thermometer. This is the only way to consistently produce great results. Butt's vary so much. I've had some take 11 hours and some take 6 hours. The best butt's i've ever cooked has been by monitoring internal meat temp. If you just go by time, you have a high chance of messing it up.

The Social Smokers wrote:I've said it before and i'll say it again, never cook by time!!!
Invest in a decent internal meat thermometer. This is the only way to consistently produce great results......If you just go by time, you have a high chance of messing it up.

^ This x10. *RULE OF THUMB* - 1.5 hours per lb, but dependant on *so much*, that the only way to know is a temp probe.

I will be upgrading soon to a wireless probe so I can sit inside on the colder nights and be sure of the temperatures. Ideally, you want one monitoring the grill temp and another monitoring meat internal temp. I've heard of some people using more than one probe per piece of meat!