Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

First overnight smoke

Dragonwmatches
Dragonwmatches Posts: 221
edited July 2013 in EggHead Forum
I'm training tonight for next weekend, as we're having 5 other families coming over next Saturday for a cookout. So tonight I'm mirroring my plan for next Friday night-2 pork butts totaling ~13lbs overnight, low and slow. Just put 'em on about 30 minutes ago-dome is steady right now @ 275, grid @ 207 and dropping very gradually, and an Arctic Panzer Wolf imperial IPA poured. I'll be up for at least a couple more hours to monitor the heat-pretty wired anyways. The Panzer Wolf will ensure I will get to bed tonight @ about 11%. My plan for next week is to knock out a couple butts overnight, then throw on some ribs after that. Once they look good, I may try the moink balls and then I'll add some sort of interesting veg-thinking corn on the cob or maybe grilled romaine/cabbage. I'm not sure what the fuel will look like during all that, so this is an important test run tonight. I don't have any special racks or extended grids-just the plate setter. Any advice on fuel and re-fueling in such a long cook? Keys to overnight success? I'm scared of the fire going out during the night, of course. How about good, unusual veg ideas to finish up the cook? The other key will be pacing the beer.....
It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'

Comments

  • nick_banich
    nick_banich Posts: 110
    Artic Panzer Wolf.... mmm makes me want to trade in my small batch bourbon. You in the Midwest?
    -Large BGE since 6-13
    -Indianapolis, IN

  • hapster
    hapster Posts: 7,503
    Sounds like a plan. Have fun, plenty of ice, and take some pictures.

    H
  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
    Pacing the beer/whiskey intake is the number one goal.  Now on to the food. Everyone's egg is a little different when not using a temperature controller.  If you started with a completely clean egg, (took all the parts out and cleaned the ash) I would think this time a year you wouldn't have any problems going at least 18 hours if you filled the egg with lump. If your dome temp hasn't moved for a couple of hours you should be good as long as there isn't an unexpected rain or snow storm at least til you wake up.

    If you have to add fuel to continue the cook I would reload the charcoal and light with a vegetable oil soaked paper towel. If you still have some burning lump you might not even have to relight it, just open the bottom vent up until it catches good.  Best of luck!!!
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
  • Artic Panzer Wolf.... mmm makes me want to trade in my small batch bourbon. You in the Midwest?
    Bloomington, IN.
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'
  • About three and a half hours in, dome steady @ 265-275, grid has been much more up and down between 185-215 and right now 210. Haven't opened the egg in almost 3 hours so pretty happy with pretty stead temps. IT now 124, so I'm headed to bed soon and will see what I've gotta deal with when I get up.
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'
  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    Hope you had a good night's rest and that all is going as planned.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    edited July 2013
    One tip I'll give is you might want to get a FoodSaver and it will make many of your low and slows easier.  I've discovered a FoodSaver actually makes some Que taste as good or better reheated than it does first time around. When I make pulled pork I pull it, sauce it and then put it in the FoodSaver Bags. I discovered that the vacuuming process sucks the sauce into the meat and infuses it with great flavors. I bag the pulled pork in one pound portions, refrigerate it, and reheat it on the day I need it. 

    Here is the fun part. Unlike cooking a pulled pork the first time where the total cooking time is anyone's guess, the reheat process is very predictable. You fill a large pan of water and heat it to 170 degrees and drop one or more bags into the 170 degree water. After 45 minutes at 170 the pulled pork is ready to eat. The nice thing about this method is this is a gentle warming where the food doesn't dry out or cook more. If you can't start dinner for another 15 minutes because other  things are running behind, don't worry the food won't overcook. 

    Since I started doing this I have stopped doing overnighters. I am no longer trying to time the start so I finish XX hours later when I want to eat. There are 3 or 4 events each year where I make some low and slow cue to bring to it. I cook it a few days or a week ahead of time. Instead of starting at night and finishing the next day sometime, I start at 5 or 6 AM and I really don't care when if finishes cause I just need to pull it, sauce it, and bag it before I go to bed that night. On the day I am going to use it I start reheating the food one hour before I want to eat. I mentioned earlier 45 minutes is great for the 1 pound bags of pulled pork (or 3-5 bone portions of spare ribs). So add in 15 minutes to heat the water and 45 minutes to heat the Pulled Pork or Ribs and there is your 1 hour. Predictability is a great thing on the day of a big event. Another nice thing is you can heat several bags of ribs together with several bags of pulled pork together in the same pan.

    I have found pulled pork to be better reheated in FoodSaver bags. Ribs come out 90-95 percent as good. Only you as the cook might actually notice the difference. Where ribs only take 5 or 6 hours, I will often cook them with the intent of eating them fresh off the smoker. But for large gatherings I cook multiple batches, sometimes over multiple days ahead of time. Now I haven't mentioned brisket. Brisket can be sliced and reheated  just like ribs and pulled pork. But I've tried it several times and it just doesn't come out as good. It seems to lose some of the moisture and texture. 

    I bought my FoodSaver for other things besides the usage I talked about here. This was an added bonus. I discovered it by accident the first time I tried a batch or reheated vacuum sealed puled pork. I haven't pulled an all nighter in 7 or 8 years now. My old smoker required fussing over and getting sleep in 1 or 2 hour stretches is the best I could expect. I never had the pleasure of using the BGE for an overnighter. For the July 4th I made my pulled pork on July 3rd for reheating on the 4th. I work from home and started the 7 pound butt at 5:00AM and it cooked for 14 hours. I pulled it and sauced it that evening. During the 14 hours I only had to make 1 extra trip out to the Egg to tweak the grill temps. This made it very easy to work during the day and accomplish this smoking session.

    Some food for future thought.

    Jim
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • nick_banich
    nick_banich Posts: 110



    Artic Panzer Wolf.... mmm makes me want to trade in my small batch bourbon. You in the Midwest?

    Bloomington, IN.




    Best 4 years of my life. Live in Indy now.

    -Large BGE since 6-13
    -Indianapolis, IN

  • @jfm0830 that's some great advice-I'll definitely look into it. I assume you could freeze those bags too, yes? @nick_banich it's been almost 30 years here for me now-parents over me here for IU and I never left. Great college town with a lot of great entertainment and family stuff.
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'
  • Ok-went to bed about 1:30, slept like a rock (thank you Panzer Wolf). Woke up at 7:30 with receiver showing grill temp 155, IT 131. So-after 9 hours is an IT of 131 a problem? I don't have a record of where the temps went overnight, but my guess is a slow descent on grid temp and a stalled IT rather than a descending IT. Kicked the Egg up, now steady @ 265-270 grid with IT up to 156.
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'
  • Black_Badger
    Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
    You're fine, no worries. Let the temp come back up but don't let it get away from you. Should be good to go in a few more hours. Post done pics when you're done, we love pics here.

    Cheers
    B_B
    Finally back in the Badger State!

    Middleton, WI
  • Steady now @253 grid, IT up to 169. Will probably bump it just a bit more so I'm not pulling this when the babysitter arrives @ 5:30! Used the BGE gourmet seasoning that came with my Egg purchase. Pics:
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    edited July 2013
    @jfm0830 that's some great advice-I'll definitely look into it. I assume you could freeze those bags too, yes? 
    @Dragonwmatches Yes to freezing! What normally will last days or a week in the fridge will lasts weeks or months when vacuum sealed and refrigerated and months to a year in the fridge. That is another way I use my FS.  I will throw extra meat on the smoker and bag and store it so I get multiple meals out of a cook. Particularly nice in the Winter instead of going out in the freezing cold, you reach into the freezer.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • Black_Badger
    Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
    If you bump it much you may want to foil it up first. If not the bottom may burn. Site looks good from here.Congrats!

    B_B
    Finally back in the Badger State!

    Middleton, WI
  • I'm going to leave the heat alone actually-stabbed them with my Thermapen and I'm farther along than I thought. The meat probe was showing 170 IT but the pen in that same hole shows 184 IT. Most of the rest of each butt is around 190 IT.
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'
  • Now for a little drama-getting close to final temp and a little stretch of storms is about to blow through. It's not a long band, but the weather statement said high winds and torrential rain. Sweet. :-w
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'
  • Ok-all done, and this baby is like buttah. Maybe a touch long due to the rain, but it's melt in your mouth good. The overnight really didn't do much because of the temperature drop but now I know what I want to do differently. Also, not having to re-fuel kept some bad smoke off the butts so the bark tastes much better.
    It's an obsession, but it's pleasin'