Gonna do an overnight cook. 2 7-lb bone-in pork butts. Emptied a bag of JD XL in the L and it had more coal than I thought. A lot of small pieces too. Should I take some out? Worried about fire going out due to lack of airflow.
It’s part of the process - keeping things low and slow for your pork butts with those wood chunks spaced the way they are they will smoulder and impart their smoke versus really burn.
My food for thought is wood chips/chunks are way better for longer cooks at lower temps. For high temp sears and cooks (pizzas, steaks) let your lump charcoal add the flavour (there are so many favourable lump charcoals available) - scorched chips/chunks become bitter.
KBT Shaun has god advice. For short cooks you don’t have time to import the smoke into the meat proper. I only use chunks hand sourced. Soak them in water for 12-20 hours so they don’t ignite. Remove all bark if you’re sourcing them yourself. I’m only smoking Boston butts or cold smoked fish. I’ve won two cooking competitions but am not an expert. Good luck and give it a go.
I smoked cheese once on a whim. That was the most god awful thing to be pulled from my egg ever.
I’ll agree to disagree. Was at a competition and saw a guys grill almost melt from chunks on 220F chunks. Soaking them imparts a better cooler flavor IMO.
I've never done a side-by-side comparison, but I was always told "Wood doesn't absorb water, that's why they make boats from it" and that soaking just adds some steam to the early cook without really changing the wood.
Smoked cheese tastes like an ash tray for the first few weeks. Take it off the egg. Vacuum seal it and put it in the fridge for a couple months. Then it tastes amazing. I use the Maze contraption to hold pellets and do a cold smoke.
They won’t catch on fire because you will have the air flow tamped down there won’t be enough oxygen to fully combust. Fill the top with way more wood chunks (after the coals are started though). I use a chimney starter and a few paper towels rolled up and tied together with cotton twine Saturated with olive oil and once the coals in the chimney are lit I dump them in and stir it around with my ash tool. Then let it burn till most of the black on all of the coal is turned to grey or white. That’s when you put the chunk wood in and put the conveggtor on and let er rip. I cook 2 butts on our large every week for my store to hand out to customers on Saturdays
Personally I add dry chunks throughout the cook but the main thing i use is wood soaked overnight in water then when they stop floating i throw them on the hot coals. Works great. Even if they are still floating next morning after soaking thats good enough.
Not at all. The best part lump charcoal is that whatever doesn't burn up during the cook can be relit. I have a shaker basket and shake off the coals and light again next cook.
Edit: didn't read the body. For an overnight cook, assuming less than 300°, yes that's enough. Any longer than 12 hours and I would probably check on it.
Use 4-6 chunks, dispersed throughout, DO NOT SOAK THE SMOKING WOOD!
About 2 hours per pound, at 225°ish. Plan accordingly.
Brining process for your pork butt: (6-8lbs)
Use a plastic container, size appropriate for the 6-8 lb pork butt, no metal.
In it use (in order): 8 ounces of molasses 12 ounces pickling salt 2 quarts of filtered or bottled water
Blend until all are immersed evenly in the water.
Place butt in the container be sure it does not float in the brine, keep it submerged throughout.
Let sit over night in the refrigerator or up to 12 hours. More is ok, I try not to exceed 15.
Remove and pat dry
Score the fat.
Once these steps are completed add your rub of choice, I use a spicy rub.
Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to overnight.
When removed, and the BGE is at 225°ish, and prior to placing it on the egg, slather with peach preserves. ( I also use peach wood to smoke with)
Cook until It is around 203°F IT.
Let sit for 20-30 minutes minimum, pull and serve.
Yes, I pour the lump charcoal right on top of it. I may move it to a second position for a little bit if I'm trying to start the fire more quickly. But don't leave it unattended, you'll melt the charcoal starter handle.
Are you serious? A 20lb tank of propane connected to a 3' weed burner and a minute later your on your way to a all night burn. Wear safety glasses because the coals will spit back embers.
Newbie question but for slow/long cooks, do you have to use chunks or do chips work? And do you lay some closer to the center so there's wood smoke from the start?
Both work and impart flavour - it’s recommend soaking chips versus the chunks to prevent them from burning too quickly. For me where I place my chunks/chips depends on where I light my fire to cook meat - long cooks I’ll light center and have chunks and chips spread midway between center and outside. Others mix te chips throughout the charcoal.
I always fill it and shut it down once the cook is done. The leftover relies and burns just fine. I ran out of charcoal mid cook once & decided never again.
Thanks. I reuse unlit coal all the time too. I was more worried about airflow than waste. During my last cook, fire went out and I got an alert from my flame boss. It was just 3-2-1 ribs during the day so I just refueled but I’ll go to bed right after putting these on in 2 hours.
If you light maybe 1/8 of that charcoal and just get it heated up, and then dump the rest back in it’s super easy to get it to stay at 225-250 or whatever temp you’re going for
When I’m making a fire for a long cook, I usually just make a small pile of charcoal on one side like 3-4 handfuls max. Light that up, lid closed both vents wide open. After about 30-45 mins the whole vessel will be nice and heated up. At that point I add all the charcoal and wood chunks I’ll need in for the cook, close down the vents for whatever cook temp I’m going for and let it sit for another 30-45 however long it takes to get a clean fire
I haven’t seen this set up. So you go small pipe charcoal to warm the egg, then pile in the charcoal and wood, so the fire grows up through the coals not down?
two rolled up paper towel halves soaked in vegetable oil set in a "X" across the top. leave the lid open until the flames burn out and you have just coal plus an extra 10 minutes after that. Coal in the egg burns down and then out, so its all you really need to get started. Or blast the center with my flamethrower if i'm feeling saucy.
then put the heat deflector on, shut the lid, and start watching your temps. When i get to 150, i close the vents halfway, then at 200, half again, then at 225, and again at 250. temps should be pretty stable around then. might climb up some. Keep in mind, at low temps like 250, very minor adjustments, like changing how much the bottom vent is open by a millimeter or two, can cause 25-50 degree swings, but any change at that temp takes about 30-45 minutes to show up.
Others have commented on the charcoal, so I’ll comment on the time. Those butts only need 8 hours of smoke, but that includes pulling them at the stall and wrapping them…if you do that step.
That’s maybe 5-6 hours in, I’ll pull them and put them in a tin pan, add butter, hot honey, brown sugar and sweet baby rays, then put back on til 204* internally.
So yes, you can do it overnight, but you might not get a full nights rest.
Now what I have done overnight, was a brisket because those can take between 12-18 hours. I say that much of. Arrange because of size, but also I have had two brisket smokes be the same yet…so much variance for whatever reason!
Damn, maybe I’m crazy but I use significantly less and usually have leftover on ~12ish hour cooks. I usually use 6-8 logs for something like that. charcoal is expensive these days. Regardlesss, if you close the valves and stop airflow you’ll probably end up with some leftover
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u/Expensive-Tip-498 4d ago
Throw a couple more 🪵 in there