Five failed butts in 24 hours

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StickyD

Got Wood.
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We finally bought a WSM 18" and I was gagging to hook it up to the CyberQ that had been sitting in its box since Christmas and give them both a spin, so I put on three butts with different rubs to test 'em out, set the pit to 230 and waited. These would be my first "real" butts--in our bar we smoke them for three hours and finish them in the oven.

After 9 hours they were at 170. After 16 hours, 171. I got suspicious and tested the pit temp with another thermometer--it was at 190! I'd place the Guru pit probe too close to the smoker wall and it was giving a false high reading. One butt I had to throw away it was so dry, the other two I managed to bake off in the oven and pull, but dry.

Excited I discovered my error, I immediately ran out and picked up two more butts. After six hours one was at 195 ("Wow, proper temp does work!" I thought). I double checked the temp with a second thermometer, unwrapped it, then put it back in the pit to crisp up the bark and take it to 205, but slowly the temp of the butt dropped down to 170. Now I was getting a bit frustrated and even more confused...

When I went to check the pit probe again because of the weird behavior of the first butt, I moved the second butt (which was wrapped) and the foil stuck to the grate, ripped open, and jus blasted into the charcoal basket and shot ashy steam everywhere. Good times.

After eight hours they were at 170, all going well, but then the pit temp started dropping dramatically: I was so excited to get the second butts going, I didn't think to empty the ash pan, it was heaping, the fire dying, and my first "real" smoke was officially over!
 
Ouch sorry to hear about your loss.

Sticky not that you do this but over relying on tech ruins lots of cooks. IMO i'd only use your toy when you have to. I have automatic controllers but they collect dust, maybe if i have to do a all night cook i'll use them but my Maverick will alert me if something is wrong.
 
Sounds like a learning curve, about the only thing I would have done different is start with a smaller amount of meat until I learned how the cooker and controller work. I do agree with the point, that using the controller is not the best way to start
 
I agree with the too much technology and not enough practice ruined the cook. I have a 18.5" WSM and have figured out the temps based on intake settings, I barely even uses my maverick now to monitor either chamber or meat temps. I'm sure you will figure it out, and unless it's an all night cook, i don't think you'd need the technology to keep the temps steady on a WSM.
 
Sorry to hear about the difficult smoke sesh. I'd do like landarc said and start small till all the kinks are worked out
 
crank up the temp to at least 250, those long cook times dry things out. I would start with 1 or 2 until you get the hang of things. The wsm should pretty much work itself when its dialed in.
 
First, what they said...

Second, if it is a new WSM, it is most likely going to run hot and have spikes until it gets dirty... I get several cooks of chicken and fatty's and then go back to something big.

That being said, the first real cook I did in mine was a brisket. Call me impatient too... :mrgreen:
 
Great advice from everyone, thanks! I will try my next cook without the Guru, just the Maverick for temps. On Thursday I'll go for it again, maybe start with a chicken, and only one butt at a time from here on out until I dial it in.
 
I agree to cooking it at 275F.. Cooks much faster so less chance for error. And it tastes really juicy and makes a very nice bark.
 
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I have been fortunate <Knock on wood> to have never had an issue with butts. I try to keep them to at least 250, preferably 275. The only thing I ever ruined was a whole hog, which was not cheap. Of course, that was in 1982 before the intrawebs and great folk on here to help with great advice...
 
That sucks but stuff happens just got to move on. We all have epic failures on the books. I still have not lived down the leg of lamb incident. It's not if you will fail at something it is when you will fail. You just have to be smart enough to get back up and try it again and again until you get it right. Maybe learn fire management before you jump into stokers and fancy gadgets. I learned it myself but have moved onto a pellet grill because work restricts the amount of time I get to cook. It has helped to get me cooking more but nothing is more fun then tending the fire all night. I plan to get a good stick burner next year for those nights when I am free.
 
I prefer butts at 225 for long periods but it takes patience. 275 gets it done and with less chance for mistakes.
 
Learning curve. We all went through it.
 
At least you've learned from it!

I agree with others on the cooking temp, I used to be a 225° - 250° guy but I like the results better when running at 275°
 
Beentown said:
I prefer butts at 225 for long periods but it takes patience. 275 gets it done and with less chance for mistakes.
Click to expand...

Do you have any photos of your pork butt done at 225? I've never cooked it that low and don't think I've ever seen a photo of one cooked that low of temp. I am curious what the bark looks like. After barbecuing for only 10 months now, it seems like I get much darker and stronger bark on things the higher the temp.
 
I'm going to disagree with the notion that too much tech is what ruined the cook. The placement of the pit probe was the problem, the Guru did what it was supposed to do. If another therm was used in the same location and the temp controlled manually the end result would have been the same because the pit prob was located in a hot spot. The important thing is that the problem was identified and lesson learned, sucks that it was a costly lesson. I like to clip my pit probe right to the WSM's dome thermometer to give me a true dome temp.
 
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