Butt on the small

saluki2007

I've had my small since February but have never done a low and slow on it. Use it mostly for grilling and let the large do the fun stuff. Welp that ends today. 10.5 pounder on. It settled in at 270 so I'll let it ride from there. 

lousubcap

SBGE is a hacker- as long as you max loaded the lump you will be fine. I have found that the vent settings are much tighter than my LBGE-no worries as the temp drives the cook.  Enjoy the cook and follow-on eats.

shtgunal3

I've done several butts on the small but never one that big. Looks great so far, enjoy.

rifrench

Looks good, I may try that!

blind99

looks good! i really like my (borrowed and not yet returned) small. only dislike is that it's hard to clean the ash out.

saluki2007

blind99 said:

looks good! i really like my (borrowed and not yet returned) small. only dislike is that it's hard to clean the ash out.

Agree that it's tuff to clean out. I bought a kick ash basket for it and that's helped tremendously.

Budaman5000

Looks good. That's a big butt...

blind99

How do you use the KAB? Does it replace the fire grate?

saluki2007

blind99 said:

How do you use the KAB? Does it replace the fire grate?

You do not have to replace the grate, but I did take mine out. So whenever I'm ready to clean just pull the basket out and vac out the ash in the bottom. 

blind99

Good stuff. I can imagine a vacuum making the job a lot easier 

lousubcap

I use a High-Que grate and the SBGE ash tool.  No issues with clean-out, just have to be patient getting the tool into the ash collection area.  The deep off-set from the base opening is where the challenge exists.  

RV10Flyer

Let us know how it turns out.  I just bought a small a few weeks ago and have not done a low and slow.  I need to do a test run to see how long it can hold 250 since I have no idea how long it can go.  I'd like to be able to do briskets but I'm not sure if it will go that long without a refill.

lousubcap

@RV10Flyer -  the single biggest issue you would have with the SBGE and a brisket is the size it can handle.  No doubt it can deal with flats and a small packer (likely up to around 10 lb/pre-trim) but after that space becomes a limiter.  You will likely find the vent settings are quite tight to get into the 240-270*F dome thermo temp range-but it can certainly run there and for as many hours as you need for the cook.  Just load the lump to to the top of the ring, light and enjoy the cook.  FWIW-
Give the search function a look as I believe there have been some very creative ways to shoe-horn sizable proteins under the hood.  

saluki2007

I've been fighting the temps. Been trying to hold 275-300 since I started late. Went ahead and pulled the Daisy wheel and just going really slim on the bottom vent. 

saluki2007

Guess I should specify that the temps kept dipping to 230-250. 

SoCalTim

I love this cook - gonna look into a small!

RedSkip

A controller for the small would be nice, no worries on up and down temperatures.  

Mattman3969

lousubcap said:

SBGE is a hacker- as long as you max loaded the lump you will be fine. I have found that the vent settings are much tighter than my LBGE-no worries as the temp drives the cook.  Enjoy the cook and follow-on eats.

I've found the same thing on mine.  Mine will cruise at 200 with no issues. Only done it once because it takes to long to cook stuff at that low temp. 

saluki2007 said:

Guess I should specify that the temps kept dipping to 230-250. 

I've noticed the same on mine when really loaded down.  My guess was that the dome thermo was blocked enough that it wasn't reading correctly.  I did a turbo 9lbr 3wks ago in 6hrs.  Stabilized at 350 after the meat went on I never saw anything higher than 275. Just trusted the egg.  

bgebrent

Love the photo of that big butt on the small!  Good eats ahead for sure!

blind99

RedSkip said:

A controller for the small would be nice, no worries on up and down temperatures.  

Must admit I like running long cooks on the small using the flameboss. I can dial in a temp on the large pretty easily but haven't learned to do it as well on the small. 

saluki2007

I knew the thermo would touch so I pulled it out most of the way. No touching bit there isn't much room between it and the meat. I do have my maverick grate thermo going too. 

saluki2007

After about 50 min were crusing at 295. 

blind99

Sounds perfect!

Mikee

The small egg is plenty big enough to cook a pork butt. I do load it up with lump, it easily can cook for over 12 hours. Bottom vent opened up at 3/16 to 1/4" once the temperature comes up after putting in the platesetter and the pork butt. The temperature remains relatively constant for the whole cook.

saluki2007

I feel like I'm on a Kings Island roller coaster with this thing. Temps have been all over the place. Anywhere from 235-320. We had a torenchal down pour for about an hour that caused flash flood warnings. The butt is sitting at 190 right now. 

saluki2007

Next time I will go with out the kab and put the grate back in and see if that will help with more stable temps. A smaller butt might help too. Not sure if the size of this is affecting airflow or not. 

saluki2007

13 hours later...will pull here in a little bit.

bhedges1987

Looking tasty

Budaman5000

Job well done

saluki2007

So here is the final product.



So not my best product.  I pulled from the egg when it wasn't quite probing like I wanted, but though I would FTC for an hour or so and that might do the trick since it was getting late.  Thinking I should have just left it FTC'd until I woke up this morning as it still wasn't quite done.  Definitely edible and will be great for making nachos and what not for the next couple of weeks.  Biggest lesson I learned during this cook, don't go to your parents house to swim when doing something for the first time even if you are only 5 min away.  I had my nest cam helping me monitor what was going on, but that really can only do so much.  Second lesson, only do pork butts on Friday and Saturdays.  I know it could have been a better product if I just had the patience to let it do it's thing, but I was getting tired and was ready to go to bed.  I will be doing another one on the small again in the near future when I can be home to monitor and let it do it's thang.  I will pull the KAB and use the stock grate (don't have any other kind) and see if I can hold more steady temps.

RedSkip

No science behind this comment... Id think the KAB will help you maintain temps due to air flow not being restricted.  With the factory grate, I'd suspect you'll see swings in temp due to the air flow being choked off.  

It it will definitely be interesting if you can compare the cooks.

Either way the food will be great!