Smoking for noobs

Alright, so this weekend was my first foray into the world of smoking, and like cigarettes and the cousin, it's addicting.

We did two pork shoulders on a Weber for about 9.5 hours between 250 and 325 degrees. Used a rub that had pretty much my entire spice cabinet in it, a mop made from apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, and some spices (little hot sauce too, why not?), and used a mix of hickory and mesquite.

Needless to say, I was hoping to be done around 8 hours. Have you guys had much experience with smoking on a Weber? Temp control seemed to be the hardest thing, every time I added a few more coals, the temp spiked. I'm looking into doing other things as well, (more on the pork side) and was wondering if there were any tips. I'm probably going to smoke when I brew from now on, seeing as how both take almost all day (and are condusive to drinking )

Mike,
When I smoke butts I plan for 1.5 hour per lb of trimmed meat. I base donesness off of internal temps. I like 195 for pulled pork.

Someone here gave this site and it has been invaluable to me. I too am new to the smoking world. The Smoke Ring :: Index

Good Luck!

I follow the same rule of thumb that Thumper provided, 1-1.5 hrs/lb and take the pork to 195°.

I've cheated if I've been pressed for time, smoking for a couple hours and then finishing in the oven for the remainder of the cooking time.

IMLE, try to keep the smoke 'clean'. Most of the home-smoked food I've had ranged from "a lil too much smoke" to "beans with your creosote sir"? The smoke shouldn't be that opaque white smoke...it should be transparent and not so much 'smoke' at all.

flyangler18 said:

I've cheated if I've been pressed for time, smoking for a couple hours and then finishing in the oven for the remainder of the cooking time.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I ended up doing. I had a mob of drunk hungry people hovering over the smoker at 11pm, so I had to take measures

1.5 hours per pound? Wow, thats a long time. 1 8 lb shoulder could go for 12 hours! Guess I should go for smaller, 6lb cuts of meat to keep it under 8-9 hours.

On a seperate note, how do you guys do ribs? I was thinking of doing both a shoulder for pulled pork and pork ribs at the same time, will that work?

I use an offset smoker, so I don't have experience with the Weber, but I always cut my Boston Butts in half and cook @225F. Normally takes 10-12 hours to cook, so I'm closer to 2 hrs a pound. I also cook to 195-200F and call it done. Best suggestion I can give you is to brine the shoulders in a salt/sugar combination overnight, then put it on the smoker and open the lid as little as possible. If you want to mop, only do it when adding coals since the Weber will lose a lot of heat when you remove the lid.

For ribs, I buy whole spareribs and trim them to St. Louis style. Takes me six hours of cook time. I brine them too and then slather on a coat of yellow mustard and sprinkle a rub of chili power, coriander, onion powder, brown sugar (go easy with it b/c it burns), and lots of black pepper. This thread is giving me a hankering for some Q.

A friend of mine is supposed to be smoking a brisket or something this weekend for a party. He doesn't even have it put together yet, so I'm a little nervous.

Big10Seaner said:

A friend of mine is supposed to be smoking a brisket or something this weekend for a party. He doesn't even have it put together yet, so I'm a little nervous.

Click to expand...

Have the pizza guy's number ready.

Have the pizza guy's number ready.

Click to expand...

lol...yep, brisket is easy to dry out. Pork seems way more forgiving.

Best suggestion I can give you is to brine the shoulders in a salt/sugar combination overnight, then put it on the smoker and open the lid as little as possible. If you want to mop, only do it when adding coals since the Weber will lose a lot of heat when you remove the lid.

Click to expand...

Definitely brine the butts! I brine with a cup of kosher salt, cup of brown sugar and 1 Tbsp each allspice, cayenne, thyme, garlic and onion powder to 1 gallon of water.

Boil the brine first to get the salt and sugar into solution. Either that of use pickling salt and confectioner's sugar.

Awesome tips guys, thanks! Good looks on the brine, I'm thinking that's a good way to go. Do you use a rub after that or all you au naturel?

Affirmative on the rub.

When you say "on a Weber" do you mean a Weber Smoky Mountain "Bullet" smoker or a Weber grill?

Never used a grill for smoking, just have a dedicated smoker that... I could see the difficulty of using the grill though...

Weber grill, but the grill top itself has a hinged section for easy access to the coals without removing the whole thing with the meat on it. It seemed to work alright, and I've seen it done some other places on the interwebs.

Now one of my challenges is to modify my kettle grill into a more mobile version, so I can take it to all my friends and family who want to smoke stuff. I'm thinking removing the legs and replacing them with telescoping photo tripod legs, I just don't think they can take the heat I'll rig up something I'm sure.

My little grill, and yes, that is a potato holding the thermometer in the vent

Weber kettle isn't a bad choice for smoking. With care, one could produce some decent ribs and chicken due to the shorter smoke time needed.
The key is temperature control. Having a clean grill with no ash in the bottom catcher really helps...setting the vents just right so air moves.
Of course, opening the cover to add wood chips or fuel allows the heat to escape.

That's some good lookin meat right there

Check out a Traeger grill it runs on wood pellets and can smoke or grill. My wonderful girlfriend got me one for my bday and it's freakin awsome. I use a simple rub and everybody usually loves it. It's all to taste no measurments: Brown Sugar, Salt, Black Pepper, Red Cayenne Pepper, Garlic Powder, and Onion Powder. I'm at work now so no picks of the Traeger but I'll try and get one up this week.

MikeRLynch said:

1.5 hours per pound? Wow, thats a long time. 1 8 lb shoulder could go for 12 hours! Guess I should go for smaller, 6lb cuts of meat to keep it under 8-9 hours.

Click to expand...

Yep, 1-1.5. A large shoulder can take that long at smoking temperatures (200-225°). If it gets done a little early you can foil it and place it in a cooler (minus ice of course) under some towels to help it rest. A lot of BBQers I know foil at 165°, the meat always seems to hit a plateau at about that temperature briefly.

On a seperate note, how do you guys do ribs? I was thinking of doing both a shoulder for pulled pork and pork ribs at the same time, will that work?

Click to expand...

Sure, just time them out right. For babybacks I do 4-5 hours. For spares I do 5-6 hours; based off of a 2-2-1 method for babybacks (2 hours in the smoke, 2 hours foiled, one hour rest) and 3-2-1 for spares. I've been on and off with foiling---I think it has its uses and helps retain moisture, but sometimes I'll just let 'em sit in the smoker without foil for the duration.

For both shoulders and ribs I spray 'em once an hour with a 8:1 mixture of apple juice:cider vinegar too. Helps keep 'em moist and adds flavor.

Cheers!

I have an offset smoker and have been frustrated by the amount of ash that gets on the meat. Adding wood to keep the heat going creates new flame that sends a Pompeii-like ash cloud into the main chamber.