Pulled pork - low and slow

[CHokKA]

If it were me with the water situation, I'd just leave it without water ive done pork shoulder at 275-300 and its been fine. If you're going to wrap it then you may as well let it run hotter aswell

Yeah I was thinking that. At least I have an idea of how much water it uses per hour now. I'm leaving it through the stall and we'll see how it goes

Just fill the water pan loads if your using water, but I've just done a shoulder 4 hours at 350f no water in the pan and it was incredible, 2.5kg joint

Yeah I just read your other post. This is my first proper go at low and slow pork shoulder after the first time messed up so I'm trying to do it the proper way so I can get to know my Excel. It's a beast!

When I'm using water I fill the pan up to basically an inch below the top

Is that with boiling water or hot water from the tap?

At the moment the butt is still stalling at 156F and I'm concerned about the charcoal. I used a full layer of BigK restaurant grade lumpwood and then put a full chimney starter of lit SupaGrill briquettes on top of the lumpwood. I checked it about 20 minutes ago and the briquettes have almost burnt away and the lumpwood is about half of what it was originally. I'm thinking I should have put down two layers of the lumpwood or at least layer briquettes on top of the lumpwood and then put the full lit chimney briquettes over that. Is that the normal way of doing it for long cooks? I thought a single layer of restaurant grade lumpwood would have been alright but I'm not sure it's got another 5hrs in it.

[RobinC]

I just use hot water from the tap initially then top up with cold water during the cook. Regarding the fuel issue I don't tend to mix my fuel types. I normally use my WSM with briquettes (weber or heat beads). I tend to have the fuel ring more or les full of unlit then add 2/3rds ish of a chimney starter lit. On the 47cm WSM this will last m 16 hours with no additional fuel. If I were you I would consider at lest adding some unlit fuel. If your cooker temp is dropping then I would add lit

I never under fill my WSM - I always fill it full then shutdown at the end of the cook and save fuel for the next cook

[YetiDave]

If you wanna get more bang for your buck as far as fuel goes, then ditch that water imho - it does nothing except make your cooker eat more fuel. I find my Excel likes to cook hotter because of that - around 275, I don't bother fighting the temps and get great pulled pork out of it. 225 vs 275? I've not been able to tell the difference in the end result

[Matsuya]

So how did it go?

Regarding chips, I've heard lots of advice that says if you smoke for too long you get a bitter taste. I tend to go for 2h on a long low and show like pork shoulder - my rough rule of thumb is that means about four handfuls of chips scattered mostly on the start of the burn (when I use the snake).

Sorry that's not the most comparable situation for you. What did you go for in the end?

[SafferGuy]

Just read all the comments on Chokka`s thread and yes, very interested in hearing how it went?

[CHokKA]

Hey everyone

Sorry for the late response. The pork went really well in the end. I had to top up the smoker with two more chimney loads of charcoal, but that was mainly because it was lumpwood leftovers from two old bags that I had so there were small pieces rather than chunks. I've learned my lesson though. Next time there will be two full layers of lumpwood in the charcoal basket and the it will get covered by a full lit chimney. That should hopefully get me about 14 hours worth which is roughly what I ended up cooking the pork for this time. Toward the end I also let the water pan run dry and then ran the smoker hotter for the last hour or so, which dried out the pork only a little but got it up to temp. I took it off at 196F. I didn't have time to let it rest though. My wife and I were so ready for food by that point!

Anyway, here are the pics

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt13 ... B56977.jpg

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt13 ... 313310.jpg

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt13 ... 8268BA.jpg

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt13 ... D8BF3F.jpg

[SafferGuy]

Chokka... Man tha looks lekker! I am going tohave to hav a go at this at some point.. Just need to get a smokern now as doing it in my webber just does nto cut it!

Man Im glad I have found this forum

[Simple-BBQ]

Nice looking pork that!

I like to use water. I believe helps keep stability in temperature and keeps the air (and the meat) damp. In my experience it helps ride out a few of the temperature peaks and troughs when cooking. Since water can not ever exceed boiling point the buffering effect of the water in the pan protects your meat.

Because the water evaporates, more often than not your cooking temp will be in excess of water's boiling point, you create a humid cooking environment. When the smoke in the cooker hits that slightly damp meat it sticks and improves your smoke ring. You will also often see think residual drips on the outside of your cooker. That is all good flavour.