Picked up a 5lb pork butt for my first smoke on a 18.5 WSM or so I thought. Discovered it was actually the picnic ham when I started to trim the fat and dry brine. I didn't think much of it and continued per instructions. Well the butt was on for 12 hours at an avg temp of 245 and came out IMO way to smokey and dry. I used the donut method and placed 3-4 chunks in the ring. I had to add briquettes for the last few hours to keep the temp up and push on. I only got the IT to 198 before family was starving. Pulled the meat off and it pulled okay but I was disappointed in the taste and dry-ness of it. My last major concern was I ended up with ash all over the meat. I'll try to upload some pics now. I'm open to suggestions on what I did wrong.
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Did you have water in the pan? Also, depending on the calibration of your thermometer, it may have been done and you didn't know it. Should have been done at about 8 hours or so.
Yep, had warm water in the pan from the start. Haven't calibrated my thermometer. That may be something to look into. Any thoughts on why so much ash? Smoker was cleaned before I started.
I've only had ash on 1 occasion; the lid was sticking and a vacuum was created when it was pulled/forced off the top. Never happened again after seasoning of the rim that the lid sits on. If your lid was sticking you can use Pam on the lip to season it. After that it pulls off east without a vacuum.
Definately wrap at stall or when rub doesn't come off when you rub it with your finger. However you like your bark. Make sure water pan isn't more the half full when smokin. Take out at wrap stage. Don't be afraid to crank him up to 275-300. You'll cut your cook time in half.
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