Second run Happy Memorial weekend!

[dynodon]

First of all I'd like to thank all who have served our country you guys and gals are the best!!! So lets make smoke! This a.m. I started a 10 lb pork butt at 6:30 am the grill temp was 250, dome temp was 320ish so the meat hit the grill and I baby sat it for the first 30 min. the temp seamed pretty stable went back to bed for an hour and the temps dropped to 190 at the grate and 275ish at the dome, I think due to the meat being refrigerated. stirred the coals droped in 2 more brickettes topped of the water and waited temp didnt want to recover. Its really humid will that cause the temps to drop? at 6 hours I filled the coal chamber and added 10 lit coals So far its been on about 8 hours the temps are pretty low 200-220 at the grate the only way I get the temps up is to remove the water tray then it recover very quickly.....any suggestions? I'd love to get the grate temps to sit at 250-275 .
Having a blast hope you all are too!

[ksu1971]

So how did it turn out. I am going to try my first butt and 3 racks of baby backs tomorrow. I did chicken last weekend and had trouble getting the temps up in my Weber as well. I am going to start with 16 lit coals tomorrow and see if that helps. I tried 12 last weekend. I am going to try and take some notes and pics and post how it goes.

[dynodon]

well it took 12 hours the meat stalled at 183 degrees so I was going to finish in the oven took it out wrapped it in foil and the temp went right to 190....go figure waited about an hour to cool then pulled. It turned out great! going to reheat today at a family gathering add a little apple juice to keep it moist, made some sauces from amazingribs.com the Carolina Mustard and the Lexington dip both really good the Mustard is the boss on the pulled pork!

[dynodon]

By the way if I remove the water tray the temps are alot more stable....maybe becouse of the humidity? its mid to upper 80's here with lots of humidity.

[dynodon]

here is the finished product

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[ksu1971]

That is a good looking pork butt. Nice bark. I can almost taste that thing from here. I got mine on the Weber this morning about 7:30 this morning. I think I am going to wrap mine when it hits between 150/160. I know Meathead over on amazingribs is against doing this on your first one but since I am going to add the 3 racks of baby back ribs and I will need to add more smoke I am afraid it will over smoke the butt. Well see how it turns out.

[jsperk]

Looks real good.

[dynodon]

I have read that the meat takes on little smoke after the bark starts to build....after the first three hours or so. Heck mine was on 12 hours and it wasnt too smokey... going to take a run at some chickens this weekend.... happy smoking!

[ksu1971]

I had heard the same thing about the meat not taking on anymore smoke after a certain amount of time. I quite putting smoke on my butts after about 4 hours.

[tatoosh]

dynodon, that's looking great! I can't wait to do it on my Smokenator too! Going for bacon in a few days since I need to cure the pork belly first.

I've read about that "stall" occurring over at amazingribs.com. The guy there says it is do to meat in the process of losing moisture and that hangs the temperature until the readily available moisture is gone. Don't know if that is true or not.

I will have to shoot for lower temperatures when doing the bacon, about 135F maximum so I will try loading less charcoal and using fewer starter pieces. I've found the more pieces I use to start the charcoal the higher the temperature. And I tend to use the local lump charcoal instead of the slower burning briquettes here.

[dynodon]

wow bacon thats ausome never even thought about that....its poultry or fish next for me. I have guests coming this weekend that are originally from Memphis....could be a hard sell!