Advice needed for first BB fest

egghead

I recently purchased a large BGE thanks to the demo sale at the Atlanta store (I'm a dirt poor student, but the sale was calling me like a harpy) and following a couple trial runs that led to a few very successful meals, I am committed to smoking a couple BB's this weekend. Favoring the NC style I read the entry in the recipe section for NC pulled pork and am set on that.[p]What I need is any pointers/suggestions about fire building, and temp. maintenance. From the recipe I gather that the fire (when ready) should only be burning a small portion of the lump charcoal. Is this the case? [p]Thanks ahead of time,[p]J

Strmn2Smoke

EggHead,[p]North Carolina Pulled Pork
Read Elder Wards piece in the Recipes section on Pulled pork, special attention on how to build a fire. It is a masterpiece...nde

bigmikej

EggHead,[p]I am currently in the process of cooking my 2nd pair of BB's ever. You should have only a small portion of your coals burning when you throw on the butts. I find that once you have stabilzed the temp (200-250), you need very little adjustments. I like to have a steady 240-250 before I go to bed, as you may or may not lose 15-20* overnight, and this still keeps you in good cooking temp range. if anything, I am afraid, my butts might be done TOO early. Last cook, it took 22 hrs for 2 6lb butts, and they were the best BBQ I have ever tasted (and I have eaten a LOT of BBQ in my time!) Don't worry if you get stuck at 150-170 internal for a while, it will eventually break through and you will reach the optimum 200* internal.[p]Good luck and enjoy what is sure to be the best PP you have ever tasted!

Chuck

<p />EggHead,[p]I have had great success using Char-Woody's smokey fire method when doing butts. Start out with only a couple of hand fulls of lump and light it from under the ash grate. Get this lump burning pretty good, don't worry if your dome temp gets as high as 300* or so, it won't stay that high. Then add a layer of fresh lump, then your smoking chips or chunks, then fill her up with lump. I usually go half way up the fire ring. Now put on your meat, I use an inverted plate setter, drip pan and cooking grid. When you close her up the dome temp will be down to under 150*. You will now get a very smoky fire that will slowly climb to your cooking temp, I usually cook at 225* others recommend 250* or so. [p]Using this method I have never had a fire go out in the middle of the night. The only other thing I do is poke up through the ash grate before turning in (you can use a bent coat hanger) and make sure the holes are clear and it also stirs up the coals a little without getting ash on the meat. [p]Good luck, you will love the results I'm sure.[p]Chuck <><

Zeke

<p />Visit the URL below and it will help with the building a fire. My first pulled pork and overnighter went without a hitch.

[ul][li]TNW BBQ Page[/ul]