First overnight burn

Rockosteel

Beginners question. To cook an 8 lb butt how much lump should I pace in the egg and while cooking overnight do I need to keep checking the temp or will t say steady ? 2 hrs a lb the correct calculation ?

BigWader

Look at this site for good advice on building a fire... www.nakedwhiz.com (don't try www.thenakedwhiz.com if you're worried about your browser history!

Anyway - under recipes read the Elder Ward North Carolina pulled pork recipe for tips to get you going.  I followed the fire building method for most of my first cooks and had good success and got crazy and started dumping lump... first wake up to falling temps and ash clogging my fire grate and I appreciated Elder Ward's advice more.

Basically though clean it out, build the fire Elder Ward style and fill it up... it will be lots to last you.

Finally - welcome to the forum - stick around there is tons of great advice, good people and awesome cooks (food *orn) if you're into that sort of thing

 If you're feeling adventurous for your first one - check out this post for a bit more complex way to season your pork butt - http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1144753/pulled-pork-wow-from-diners-drive-ins-dives#latest

:@)

BigWader

Sorry forgot to mention - once you get the fire going plan on a good 45 min - 1 hour the first time to get your temp stabilized before adding the butt.  Get the platesetter in so it is hot too so once your temp is where you want it you can add the meat and the egg will pretty much come back to where you had it set.

twlangan

I did a pair of 7.5 lb butts a couple of weeks ago - also my first overnighter. I filled with lump all the way to the bottom of the platesetter, about as full as you can get it. My cook took 17 hrs and I was surprised at the amount of lump I had left when all was said and done. VERY surprised as a matter of fact.

I had just bought a PartyQ controller so I can't answer your questions about temp stability. I can say that the controller worked perfectly until the batteries went dead at about 14 hours. Fortunately, I was checking progress right about the time it happened and got fresh batteries installed right away. I suspect I may have ran into problems had I not used the PartyQ though. I went to bed about 11 pm and it was dead still outside and 26 deg. I got up the next morning to very windy conditions and 18 deg. I doubt the temp change would have messed with my Egg temp, but the wind may have created draft that I think would have led to higher temps than I wanted.

I just dump my lump in - I do not stack. I do use a High-Que grate in my Egg though. Still the best money I have spent on my Egg. No worries about ash or small pieces of lump plugging the grate and limiting air flow. Highly recommend them. No worries on the long cooks and Egg will get hot quicker for pizza cooks.

Rockosteel

Thanks for the advice. I wouldn't have thought to clean out the prior ashes to keep good air flow for a prolonged burn. One more question. If the butt has no bone do I have to tie it with butchers string? And one more - do I need to add any thing to the drip pan or is it for this cook only to catch juices ? Again thanks.

Eggcelsior

Some tie, some don't. I do not. Tying will allow for more even cooking. I don't add anything to my drip pan but feel free. The egg doesn't need any extra moisture since it is so efficient. Do raise the drip pan up off the heat deflector. Otherwise, the drippings will burn.