New Meat Smoker

[schloff]

Well, folks. I need to report back after this weekend's events. I smoked (8) whole chickens, beer-can style, or as we refer to them as, drunk chicken. They were more amazing than I ever could have imagined. I used a whole can of whatever NASCAR beer per cavity, liberally salted, moderately peppered and garlic, and threw them in the 225 degree smoker till they were 170 degrees at the thickest part. About 3.5 hours.

I've had drunk chickens before, but these were way over the top for being as minimalistic as could be. highly recommended to anyone who likes awesome food.

[capncarl]

I lit up the egg at 9:30 last night and put on 1 nice pork butt for supper tonight ( that would dinner for my northern friends ), hopefully ready for my wife to pull the pork at 4pm. The "stall" that I mentioned earlier in this post hit me this morning at 8 am when the meat reached 170. Although the pit temp has remained a constant 230 the meat hasn't budged from 170 for 5 hours. This stall catches me every time, yea, doing the same thing and expecting different results. I've upped the pit temp to 250 and hope that when the meat finishes sweating out it will jump to 190 in time for my wife to work he magic. 18 + hours cook time on 7-8 lbs of lump charcoal and pecan wood is not bad. Smells great.
capncarl

[poolhound]

I lit up the egg at 9:30 last night and put on 1 nice pork butt for supper tonight ( that would dinner for my northern friends ), hopefully ready for my wife to pull the pork at 4pm. The "stall" that I mentioned earlier in this post hit me this morning at 8 am when the meat reached 170. Although the pit temp has remained a constant 230 the meat hasn't budged from 170 for 5 hours. This stall catches me every time, yea, doing the same thing and expecting different results. I've upped the pit temp to 250 and hope that when the meat finishes sweating out it will jump to 190 in time for my wife to work he magic. 18 + hours cook time on 7-8 lbs of lump charcoal and pecan wood is not bad. Smells great.
capncarl

What time should we be over?

[atgcpaul]

I lit up the egg at 9:30 last night and put on 1 nice pork butt for supper tonight ( that would dinner for my northern friends )

Is there a difference between supper and dinner? I would have said they're the same, but on my kid's online school lunch balance, they had different sections for breakfast/lunch/supper/dinner.

18 + hours cook time on 7-8 lbs of lump charcoal and pecan wood is not bad. Smells great.

I have only smoked with cherry (from my scrap bin) and hickory chips. How does pecan compare?

[capncarl]

I use to get really mixed up when we had to go to someone's house for dinner cause I had already had dinner and it was time for supper. I got over that by just eating every 4 hours!

Pecan smokes milder than hickory and does not leave a bitter taste that hickory or oak sometimes does. I add it to my lump charcoal because it slows down the burn. Sometimes when using hickory or oak some people say it has too much smoke but I have never had that complaint with pecan. I've cooked using wood on the grill so much that I can't detect smoke in the meat unless I really concentrate while tasting it.

Y'all too late, it's all gone. There is just enough left from that 6 lb butt for me to make and my wife dinner tomorrow. 7 people put a hurting on that pig! Another thing I have to learn, if I want to eat my pulled pork later I must cook more. Too many things to remember.
capncarl

[schloff]

Capn,
I found that you can jump start the stall by wrapping the meat in heavy foil when it does stall. A friend of mine adds some liquid (beer or apple juice) to the foil as well to moisten the meat, but I've never bothered with that. I've had very good BBQ by wrapping at the stall, as well as leaving it at temp and not wrapping. I guess it all hinges on how much time you have on your hands.

Oh, and it's supper 'round these parts, y'all.

[capncarl]

I was following some of the BBQ sites and they were discussing their new " turbo cooking" discovery where they cook a butt at higher temp rather than 220. I thought, duuuuuuh, that's how it's been done for centuries because until recently no one had grills capable of holding 220 for 24 hours. Slow and low cooking only uncovered stall, it's been there all along but it is not a problem when the grill is running around 350. I bought the big green egg because it would cook low temp but do get in trouble when I calculate the time backwards. If my wife wants the butt done at 4 pm and the earliest I can put it on is 9 pm the day before knowing full well that is not enough time using 220. The first hour doesnt the count, it's spent loading, lighting and bringing the grill to temp. I guess I have to calculate my time better and elevate the temp accordingly.
schloff, I've use tinfoil on different cooks, especially ribs, but I hate to wrap a butt. I rarely open the grill until the meat temp reads 190.
capncarl