cold fire burning

[olflathead]

cooking on my meadowcreek pigroaster this weekend. Its fired by charcoal and im getting a little nervous with the temperature being in the low 20s at start time. Any suggestions on keeping the temps up without burning through the coal to quickly.

 

[Max1]

Get a blanky for your smoker. That will isolate it some.

 

[bigwheel]

Anything to block the wind will help. Park a car in front..tie a tarp across..set up some plywood upright shields etc. Stick it inside an EZ up gizmo would be ideal if you can vent it someway. Keep us up to speed on the project.

 

[pete1]

I, too am planning a cook Sat. Temps in the low 30s. I bought some aluminum insulation from Lowes and made a wrap around for the body of the smoker and made a hat with holes for the gauge and vent and made a flap to raise to open the door to add charcoal and replenish the water. I will watch the temp gauge and adjust accordingly.

BTW I am using a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker. Butts on top and brisket on the bottom. This is my first cook with the smoker and I don't want to screw it up.

 

[bigwheel]

Glad your taking some steps. Those R2d2's are highly wind sensitive. Upside down 55 gallon barrel over the top works best...but it needs to be coming a blizzard to need it. A big upside down galvanized washtub should be just what the Doctor would order for just regular old cold windy weather. That will conserve a bunch of heat and is also good if it rains. Smart thinking.

 

[Puff1]

Just make a wind block out of wood or what have you.
3 sided. Put the middle side towards the wind.
Big Wheeler is a little lax on the operation of such a fine smokin' machine. Pay no attention to that Texan behind the curtain.

 

[SLOW SMOKIN BBQ]

cooking sunday for my church 110 people ,going to take my welding blanket i do think

 

[olflathead]

I have a movers blanket that I use for my MC cooker. Works pretty good. Just got my WSM this week. It will be going toe to toe with the ol MC. I do have a EZ up also. Looks like its going to BBQ or bust this weekend. Good luck pete with your first cook on the WSM, I'll be right there with ya.

 

[SLOW SMOKIN BBQ]

yes i have my EZ up but i used my tarps on something else lol never thought of that maybe i go get a couple more

 

[Griff]

WSM will do fine in the cold if there's not much wind. I 'be cooked down to -20 if there's no wind.

 

[SLOW SMOKIN BBQ]

loaded up and ready for in the morning taking the rv so i will be able to get ready for church lol i know its cheating but i cant help my self ,and it has heater

 

[olflathead]

cook went well. 25degrees at start time. MeadowCreek CD108 and my new WSM done well. Cooked at 250 on the wsm and had to add a partial chimney at the 6hr mark, not sure why but it still seemed to do a good job.

 

[Max1]

Speaking of fires what ever happened to that post that described what all the different types of wood did to meat and such? I was looking for it the other day and could not find it.

 

[pete1]

I smoked the butt and brisket Sat. Temp was about 27 when I started. I made a few greenhorn mistakes but the butt and brisket turned out pretty good.

I put the meat on before the charcoal stabilized and the heat spiked up pretty high. I don't think my probe/monitor was accurate although I checked it with boiling water. The probes read 195 and 205 when I took them off. I checked with another probe and it read about 190 and 185. I took the butt off at that time. Took the brisket off at about 185 and let it rest until the butts came off. The butt was very good but it did not pull well.

I learned a lot and hope to do better next time.

 

[bbquzz]

I smoked the butt and brisket Sat. Temp was about 27 when I started. I made a few greenhorn mistakes but the butt and brisket turned out pretty good.

I put the meat on before the charcoal stabilized and the heat spiked up pretty high. I don't think my probe/monitor was accurate although I checked it with boiling water. The probes read 195 and 205 when I took them off. I checked with another probe and it read about 190 and 185. I took the butt off at that time. Took the brisket off at about 185 and let it rest until the butts came off. The butt was very good but it did not pull well.

I learned a lot and hope to do better next time.

Sounds like you are learning the same way I did, trial and error. Either butt or brisket are pretty big cuts and the temperature could be different in different parts of the meat, might try several places and average. I've found with either cut you need to be pretty close to 200°.

Just so you know the unwritten rule here is "No Picture ... No Cook" so next time take some pictures and you can start your own thread, you will probably get more direct help if you have your own thread.

 

[SLOW SMOKIN BBQ]

well church cook went good today started out pretty chili 28 so i tried the blanket thing everyone mentioned and it didn't work for me i had a run away smoker ,wow it was just to much temp keep creeping up so the blanket had to go then all was well !
2 turkeys ,2 butts, 2 hams 20 lbs mashed potatoes ,15 lbs mac and cheese,4 gallon of green beans , and boat load of rolls
every one was all smiles

 

[bigwheel]

Well glad to hear all went well for them in the trenches. Great job guys.

 

[olflathead]

don't give up on the blanket yet SSBBQ. that's what that thing suppose to do. if your smokers dragging a little because of the cold, cover her up and she should respond. mine hit 260 and I took it off, it went back to 240 and held there. just make sure its a 100% cotton. uh, learnt the hard way. lol

 

[SLOW SMOKIN BBQ]

lol mine wouldnt come down under 300 thats why i lost the blanket i hadnt ever had a problem just thought it made good sense so i wanted to go back to sleep build small fire and let it ride just didnt work that way ,but i think the turkey was honestly the best i have ever done ! it was the juiciest thing and had just the right color was really nice ,but i had so many coments on the ham it was everyones fav i think , i deep fried a turkey to it was good to

 

[olflathead]

sounds good. Where did u get your ham. tried to find one at sams club but everything was already smoked.