In February I got my first charcoal grill (had used propane for the previous 8 years), a Webber Performer Premium (22"). And my favorite Christmas gift this year was a brand new Slow 'n' Sear. I've grilled lots of steaks and chicken, but I wanted to try smoking some pulled pork, which was today's experiment.
For some reason, I thought a 7.1 lb pork butt was a small cut of meat that would finish in 8 or 10 hours. However, I'm at hour 12 and meat temp is only at 175. I'm not using the Texas crutch method, just naked, dry-brined, string-tied meat.
I'm still a fan of the crutch-less approach, but I think next time I will split the meat into two pieces to reduce the cooking time.
I'm also a fan of the Slow 'n Sear; although next time I'll check the water level after the first few hours. It seems to be really fuel-efficient, but the side effect of that is the vent controls get to be pretty delicate. I've been using the bottom vent as a "coarse" control and the top vent as a "fine" adjust, mainly because the top vent is easier to make smaller controlled adjustments to because you can directly see the aperture size.
I have a Thermoworks dual-port K-type thermocouple temperature measurement system for both the meat probe and the grate-level probe. I removed the temperature indicator from the Webber's lid to provide a port for the temp probes to pass through. Worked like a champ!
I love the resources and experience available from this site, the how-to guides, the product reviews, and the science behind the madness. I am a fan of Greg Blonder's site as well. I'm an electrical engineer by trade and training, so I appreciate all of the "how it works" knowledge.
Happy grilling!
-B
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