# WSM Pork shoulder



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

Hey fellas.

I'll be doing my first pork shoulder today. Picked up a 4.5lb boneless roast last night (best I could do on a Friday evening). Rubbed it down with yellow mustard and Jeff's rub before bed.

This is my second smoke on the WSM, the wings I had last night turned out incredible.
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Up at 6:30AM and fired up the WSM. I'll be doing this at 225F - 240F for as long as it takes with no foil over lump charcoal and hickory chunks.

I've also got 4lbs of beef jerky in the Big Chief.



















IMG-20150328-00548.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 28, 2015


----------



## b-one (Mar 28, 2015)

Looks good wat to go no foil sounds barkalicious!:drool


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

4 hours in and probed. IT at 140F. WSM running between 220F - 235F.

I have to remember to shut my dampers the next time I remove the lid, those coals just love it. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	

















IMG-20150328-00554.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 28, 2015


----------



## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Looking good almost halfway there.


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

Tick tock 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	

















IMG-20150328-00556.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 28, 2015


----------



## iggythump (Mar 28, 2015)

Looks excellent so far.  It also appears that you are enjoying a cold drink in the process, sounds spot on, my friend.


----------



## ernesttbass (Mar 28, 2015)

That looks great!


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

Thanks guys.

Wind is wreaking havoc out there.

Opened all vents and smoker temp is 250F, IT 162F. Trying to maintain 250F - 265F until done.


----------



## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

Hey Duke if you have water in your water pan that can be working against you today. If so you could get rid of the water and run it dry and see if that helps you maintain the temp you are shooting for. Looks like you will be in for an all nighter anyway. Happy smoking. Timber


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

Thanks TJ,

I just removed the lid for the first time since the last pic. Added some more fuel and put the beans on with two more hickory chunks. Seems to be maintaing 260-270 easily with all dampers open.

180F IT.

Que rushed blurry Qview:













IMG-20150328-00557.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 28, 2015


----------



## rmmurray (Mar 28, 2015)

Looks good DukeBurger!


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

187F IT. Chugging along now. 263F Smoker temp.

Added the last of my charcoal 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





. Might have a bit stashed in the Smokey Joe from last summer if needed...

Gonna be a photo finish here, boys.


----------



## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

DukeBurger said:


> 187F IT. Chugging along now. 263F Smoker temp.
> 
> Added the last of my charcoal
> 
> ...


Hahahaha...... Been there done that. There is no shame in wrapping it and taking it in the house to the oven for that last little bit. Might help soften up that super bark you have there just enough too.


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

timberjet said:


> Hahahaha...... Been there done that. There is no shame in wrapping it and taking it in the house to the oven for that last little bit. Might help soften up that super bark you have there just enough too.


Good point, TJ. I'm gonna ride it out and see how far I get. 190F IT now.

"super bark" made me lol


----------



## b-one (Mar 28, 2015)

Looking good, next time try the beans under the butt for added flavor!:drool


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

Whipping up a batch of Jeff's sauce and JJ's finishing sauce to pass some time


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

b-one said:


> Looking good, next time try the beans under the butt for added flavor!


I thought about it, but I was going for the world record time of getting the WSM lid back on.


----------



## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

DukeBurger said:


> I thought about it, but I was going for the world record time of getting the WSM lid back on.


You can always add a little bit of the drippings into the beans when you do wrap and rest if you want. b-one is totally right. Yum.


----------



## gary s (Mar 28, 2015)

Nice,  Im ready to eat

Gary


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

Do you guys think I should put the beans on earlier in the future? I've normally gone for a 2 hour smoke on them, but I like the idea of putting them on the bottom rack to catch drippings as the meat smokes. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





194F IT.


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

gary s said:


> Nice,  Im ready to eat
> 
> Gary


Me too, Gary. We have been snacking on last night's wings and Bear's beef sticks to hold us over... pretty much the ultimate first world problem


----------



## timberjet (Mar 28, 2015)

I do. Just about every time I have beans with my Butt. It is kind of hard to time since as you know butts can take any number of hours to be done. One thing about it you can always put the beans in the oven on warm until supper is ready. To tell you the truth, I do PP a day ahead now because of the timing thing and the beans are just as good or better the next day too.


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

timberjet said:


> I do. Just about every time I have beans with my Butt. It is kind of hard to time since as you know butts can take any number of hours to be done. One thing about it you can always put the beans in the oven on warm until supper is ready. To tell you the truth, I do PP a day ahead now because of the timing thing and the beans are just as good or better


I'm glad I'm learning this now. I'l be doing a brisket next weekend for easter to feed 10 people. I'm thinking the "day before" method is coming into play on that one.

199F IT













IMG-20150328-00561.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 28, 2015


----------



## b-one (Mar 28, 2015)

If your comfortable with your smoker cook the brisky overnite. I done a couple that way,not sure the wife is to happy when the Mavericks alarm goes off but she's always happy with the meat! Then you wrap it in towels and into a dry cooler for a rest they hold very well I've only held two hours but still nice and hot!


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 28, 2015)

b-one said:


> If your comfortable with your smoker cook the brisky overnite. I done a couple that way,not sure the wife is to happy when the Mavericks alarm goes off but she's always happy with the meat! Then you wrap it in towels and into a dry cooler for a rest they hold very well I've only held two hours but still nice and hot!



Brisket will be taken to the family farm for a noon meal on Saturday, so I'm thinking a start time of early Friday afternoon. The Miss is a deep sleeper so she won't mind, and besides, I was up most of the night excited to get this pork shoulder going, that it won't make much of a difference to me.

Outside enjoying a cigar right now while the meat rests and damn near forgot that I had beef jerky still going in the Big Chief! Ripped a piece out to chew on while I wait for this to rest.














IMG-20150328-00563.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 28, 2015


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 29, 2015)

10pm dinner and well worth it. I only wish there was more of it. Next one will be a pork butt for sure.

Glad I waited this out. I wasnt a mega-fan of pulled pork before, but this has changed me. Unreal.

14 hours total smoke and now it's time for bed and to plan my next project. I'm pooped.

Thanks for looking and all the advice



















IMG-20150328-00565.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 29, 2015


















IMG-20150328-00568.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Mar 29, 2015


----------



## gwirchak (Mar 30, 2015)

Great looking cook DukeBurger!  Thanks for the ride.


----------



## stokinsmokebbq (Mar 30, 2015)

Look good man ..got a question.. do u add hot coals or unlit whe u refueled..i have a wsm and am using the lid to kind of slide the coals in ..just curious if u have a better way of doing it


----------



## dukeburger (Mar 30, 2015)

StokinSmokeBBQ said:


> Look good man ..got a question.. do u add hot coals or unlit whe u refueled..i have a wsm and am using the lid to kind of slide the coals in ..just curious if u have a better way of doing it



I added unlit charcoal with a welding glove and opened my dampers until temp started to rise again


----------



## b-one (Mar 30, 2015)

Looks like it turned out great! Bigger is always better with pork butts the leftovers freeze great as well.


----------



## disco (Apr 2, 2015)

Interesting thread. I enjoyed following your cook!

Disco


----------



## jirodriguez (Apr 2, 2015)

Nice first longish smoke there! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Couple of pointers from my WSM experience:

Get a welding blanket and some spring clamps to wrap your WSM. It acts as both a wind break and insulation - I run my 22.5" WSM all winter long no matter what the weather, I can run at 250° for 18+ hrs. with one vent open on a 20 lb. load of charcoal even if its windy and below freezing.
For a big pan of beans I shoot for a minimum of 4 hrs. in the smoker. Mostly due to the fact that I'm doing Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans (search it) and it needs at least 4 hrs. to cook all the stuff you add to the beans....lol.
After many years I know have two basic charcoal loads for my smoker: half full ring for all smokes 6-8 hrs. or less (ribs, chicken, turkey, etc), and a full ring for everything else (pork butt, brisket, big chunks of meat!). I bury some wood in the charcoal pile and start with 1/2 to a full chimney of lit charcoal dumped on top, along with a few more pieces of wood.
For you Easter brisket cook it the day before, but pull it off at 185-190° internal temp. and double wrap in foil. Then make sure you get there early, open the foil and put in about a cup of low sodium beef broth (a foil pan actually works best - just foil the top tightly), re-heat it slowly at 250° for about 2 hrs. At the two hour mark pull it out slice it, then put the slices back into the pan with the broth and heat it for another hour.
Here is a pick of my WSM with the welding blanket. To pick the correct size welding blanket wrap a piece of string/rope around the lid rest then measure how long it is. Make sure the welding blanket is longer by at least 6-12 inches so you can clip the edges together. Arrange the top so the exhaust vent is not blocked and you can see the lid therm - probe wires can run between the edges where they meet.













DSCN1871.JPG



__ jirodriguez
__ Mar 16, 2014


----------



## dukeburger (Apr 2, 2015)

JIRodriguez said:


> Nice first longish smoke there!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is a beauty setup you have there JIR, thanks for the pointers! Adding them to my notes, much appreciated!


----------



## dukeburger (Apr 2, 2015)

Since the PP was so delicious (and gone), I made a little shopping trip after work today...

Playing with the big boys now! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





More smokes to come, I'll keep you posted!













IMG-20150402-00583.jpg



__ dukeburger
__ Apr 2, 2015


----------



## jirodriguez (Apr 3, 2015)

..... gettin' close..... You know your doing good when you have 4 pork butts and 3 briskets all going at the same time! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	

















DSCN1697.JPG



__ jirodriguez
__ Dec 15, 2013


















DSCN1698.JPG



__ jirodriguez
__ Dec 15, 2013


















DSCN1700.JPG



__ jirodriguez
__ Dec 15, 2013


















DSCN1702.JPG



__ jirodriguez
__ Dec 15, 2013


















DSCN1705.JPG



__ jirodriguez
__ Dec 15, 2013


















DSCN1704.JPG



__ jirodriguez
__ Dec 15, 2013


----------



## timberjet (Apr 3, 2015)

DAMN Johnny, that is one heck of a lot of meat on that poor little WSM. Nice!


----------



## dukeburger (Apr 3, 2015)

JIRodriguez said:


> ..... gettin' close..... You know your doing good when you have 4 pork butts and 3 briskets all going at the same time!


----------



## frosty (Apr 20, 2015)

Love it!  Well done, all around.


----------



## njcpmiller (Apr 21, 2015)

Looks great!  I plan on doing one this weekend as the weather is supposed to be nice.  One question, do you recommend not filling the water pan on the WSM?


----------



## Bearcarver (May 2, 2015)

Njcpmiller said:


> Looks great! I plan on doing one this weekend as the weather is supposed to be nice. One question, do you recommend not filling the water pan on the WSM?


Dang Duke!!!

I missed this little Butt completely, until you tipped me off on the other Butt Thread.

Nice Job. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I had to come see why it took so long, and I was right----No Foil, and lid removals, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

The longer they take is often the better they taste!!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





-----------
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Johnny's Stuff looks Great too, as usual !!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bear


----------



## damon555 (May 2, 2015)

Njcpmiller said:


> Looks great! I plan on doing one this weekend as the weather is supposed to be nice. One question, do you recommend not filling the water pan on the WSM?


I used water for the first year that I owned mine....it was a pain in the arse. Fill that bad boy with play sand or some other heat sink and cover it with foil. You'll never use water again.....


----------



## dukeburger (May 2, 2015)

Bearcarver said:


> Dang Duke!!!
> 
> I missed this little Butt completely, until you tipped me off on the other Butt Thread.
> 
> ...


Thank you, Bear!!


----------



## engineer68 (Sep 17, 2015)

Hey Duke. From where do you hail? I noticed the Molson Canadian bottle in the back ground. I am in Vancouver, BC. So far I have found very few smoker fanatics in my area so it's always nice to see another Canuck. I went to the southern US on a work trip 2 years ago and have been hooked ever since. Love all the different types of cooking in the Southern US, coast to coast.


----------



## GaryHibbert (Sep 17, 2015)

Great looking smoke going on there.  You're almost done, but those last 11 degrees sometimes seem to take forever.

Gary


----------



## wolfgangm (Jan 18, 2016)

hi there,

is that the final  IT194 you want and is that the IT when you take  out?

Thanks

Wolfgang


----------



## wolfgangm (Jan 18, 2016)

hi there,

is that the final  IT194 you want and is that the IT when you take  out?

Thanks

Wolfgang


----------

