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1st Butt put on an hour ago...

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edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Hey Gang,[p]I purchased the small BGE about 3 weeks ago and hope I have worked my way up to this :) (I have done burgers, spatchcocked chicken, pizza, bread, and TRex'ed steaks (mmmmmm, my mouth is still happy from those...))[p]6.5 lb shoulder rubbed last night, put on a stabalized 240-250 egg with a few chuncks of maple at 4pm CST. Temp is back up to a stable 240-250 and I am off to my daughter's track meet and my son's baseball game. I have never walked away from a cook before (That might be because we used to do shoulder in a Weber kettle adding one briquette at a time....talk about a labor of love.) but it seems like I have everything going in the right direction. More to follow with pictures on the morning (or afternoon, or whenever...)[p]One question - I don't seem to be seeing much smoke comming out of the top and one of the large chunks was placed right on the fire. (I have 4 other med. size chuncks buried around the edges of the lump.) Should I just trust that I am getting smoke on the meat or do I need to investigage further? (I think I am looking for an excuse to open it up and take a peak :) )[p]Cheers!
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  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
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    Pace Yourself,
    Your smoke will be fine the way you have the chunks arranged....That said..I have never done a butt on my small, I would expect at some point you will have to reload more lump...keep an eye on it later into the cook.[p]Wess
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  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
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    Pace Yourself,[p]I think you'll be fine. A tiny little trail of wispy smoke from the top of the egg will impart plenty of smoke flavor.[p]If you temp has been stable for at least an hour or so, you should be fine to walk away from it for a couple hours.[p]As long as the temp doesn't climb over 275 or so you'll be fine.
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  • QBabe
    QBabe Posts: 2,275
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    WessB,[p]I've done LOTS of butt cooks on the small. Once went 16 hours on one load of lump, filled to the top of the fire ring. Lump shouldn't run out at all as long as he wasn't shy about filling it up.[p]Hugs,
    Tonia
    :~)
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  • Unknown
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    QBabe,[p]I wasn't shy about the lump.... I had to knock it down a little just to get the plate setter placed.[p]I just got back from various kid events and the temp, 4 3/4 hours in had dropped to 220 so I just oppened up a little bit and the temp is creeping back up. BTW, the internal temp is at 134 but I am not going to focus on that for another 10 hours or so...)[p]Looks like I might just have to stay up all night drinking beer and catching up on movies, oh, I mean keeping an eye on my fire.[p]More to follow - Cheers!
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  • Unknown
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    Well, I went to bed at 12:30 with the dome solid at 240 and the internal temp at about 155. 5 hours later I woke up to a cool egg.... (too many beers to get up any sooner)[p]So, I had to peek :) The butt looks great and I just got the fire going again. (Still plenty of full and wood chunks in the fire box.) I hope to stabalize again and get some more sleep.[p]Cheers
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  • Painter
    Painter Posts: 464
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    Pace Yourself,
    Did you use a wiggle rod of some sort to clear the lower grate vents holes before going to bed? If you had charcoal left you may have had holes plugged with ash restricting airflow to fire. For some insurance of keeping the coals going for the long hall, clear out the grate holes before retiring for the evening.
    Good Luck and Good Eats
    Bob
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  • Michael B
    Michael B Posts: 986
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    Pace Yourself,[p]> hours later I woke up to a cool egg[p]Do you have a quick read thermometer?
    What is the near surface temp of the meat?
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  • Unknown
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    Michael B,[p]The polder read 155 at 12:30am. When I got up at 5:30am it read 125 so my guess is the fire went out around 3am for the egg to be cool by 5:30. I got the fire going again and the meat back on at 5:40 (the fire started up very quickly)and now we are back to 240 at he dome and 155 internal. I hope the pause didn't do any real harm.
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  • Unknown
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    Goog Morning Painter,[p]I did not clear the vent holes until getting it re-started this morning. I had hoped that having the large pieces of lump at the bottom of the fire would of kept them clear.[p]Thanks for the tip and I will make sure to pay more attention to the air flow before going to bed in the future.[p]Cheers
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