I had and "extra" bone-in pork butt sitting in the fridge that I needed to use or lose, so I decided to experiment with an overnight, unwrapped cook using the SnS in the kettle. The butt was in the 7-8lb range, so I wasn't sure if I could get the 9+ hours I knew it would take without wrapping. These larger butts are why started wrapping to begin with, they take forever without it.
I used the 12 briqs in the corner start-up method. Then I filled the rest of the SnS as full as possible with briqs. I removed briqs one by one until the grate was able to sit flush, however, since I don't close the hinged part of the grate unless I need to sear, I didn't take out enough of the charcoal for that to be able to close. I mixed in a few chunks of hickory and a few chunks of apple.
Once the temp was up in the 250 range I put the butt on (i should mention that I also put a 2lb meatloaf on for the first 2 hours, which has its impact on the little experiment as well). I was up until about 12am, and during that time I made sure the temp stayed in the 240-260 range, it was pretty steady so i didn't have to fiddle with the lower vent too much. I stopped even touching my upper vent several cooks ago, I leave it at about 1/4.
Fast forward to around 6am, when I cracked one eye open to see that the temp was in the mid 230s and the butt was up to 190 IT. It was going perfectly. Then around 6:45 I was awakened by the low temp alarm going off as the chamber dropped below 215. Somewhat surprisingly, the butt temp had also dropped to 186. I opened up the lower vent to give it one last burst, but there just wasn't enough left in the fire to raise the temp much.
The IT kept dropping and I yanked it at 182. I immediately put the bear paws to work and the pull was not smooth and took more elbow grease than I prefer. It definitely isn't nearly as tender or juicy as the butts I wrap and get all the way up to 203, but it will serve well as a chili or some other concoction I think up. I must say that the bark was beautiful, dark and crunchy. Wrapping really does ruin that aspect.
I wish I had more data about the temps during my 6 hours of snoring, but that will have to wait until my MCAS causes a Fireboard to get delivered. Anyway, I learned that I can get 225+ out of the SnS for about 9 hours, which is great first hand info for me to have for future cooks.
I used the 12 briqs in the corner start-up method. Then I filled the rest of the SnS as full as possible with briqs. I removed briqs one by one until the grate was able to sit flush, however, since I don't close the hinged part of the grate unless I need to sear, I didn't take out enough of the charcoal for that to be able to close. I mixed in a few chunks of hickory and a few chunks of apple.
Once the temp was up in the 250 range I put the butt on (i should mention that I also put a 2lb meatloaf on for the first 2 hours, which has its impact on the little experiment as well). I was up until about 12am, and during that time I made sure the temp stayed in the 240-260 range, it was pretty steady so i didn't have to fiddle with the lower vent too much. I stopped even touching my upper vent several cooks ago, I leave it at about 1/4.
Fast forward to around 6am, when I cracked one eye open to see that the temp was in the mid 230s and the butt was up to 190 IT. It was going perfectly. Then around 6:45 I was awakened by the low temp alarm going off as the chamber dropped below 215. Somewhat surprisingly, the butt temp had also dropped to 186. I opened up the lower vent to give it one last burst, but there just wasn't enough left in the fire to raise the temp much.
The IT kept dropping and I yanked it at 182. I immediately put the bear paws to work and the pull was not smooth and took more elbow grease than I prefer. It definitely isn't nearly as tender or juicy as the butts I wrap and get all the way up to 203, but it will serve well as a chili or some other concoction I think up. I must say that the bark was beautiful, dark and crunchy. Wrapping really does ruin that aspect.
I wish I had more data about the temps during my 6 hours of snoring, but that will have to wait until my MCAS causes a Fireboard to get delivered. Anyway, I learned that I can get 225+ out of the SnS for about 9 hours, which is great first hand info for me to have for future cooks.
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