We’re having family over for a birthday party this weekend, and I want to make pulled pork and brisket. I bought a good brand of bullet-style smoker last May and I’ve had a couple get-togethers this past summer where I smoked a pork shoulder and a brisket, and they turned out fantastic. But even in the warm weather it took 12+ hours to get the pork shoulder to the critical internal temp of 190. That’s with a 12 lb. pork shoulder cut in half on the lower rack and a 6 lb. brisket on top. This weekend it’s going to be a high of 40, which means when I start at 4 am it’s likely to be below freezing.
So, seasoned smokers in all kinds of weather, what do you recommend to have perfectly done BBQ ready by around 4 pm? I plan to do the same 12 lb shoulder cut in half with a 6 lb brisket on top, so basically 3 6-lb pieces of meat.
I’ve read to start with boiling water in the water container. Or use sand instead of water for the heat sink, but I don’t feel like messing around with sand. Or, I guess I could start at midnight the night before and extend the smoking time to 16 hours, since I plan to use the “minion method” for the coals. I also know of the foil-wrapping method at around 150 degrees to get past the “stall” more quickly, when it seems to take forever for the temp to rise. Haven’t had to use that one yet, but it’s good to keep in mind.
Or does the outside temp really make ALL that much difference over the long cooking time?
Exactly. If you can insulate the smoker from the wind it will help. But what you are really looking at is increased fuel consumption to maintain the same internal temperature.
Supposedly meat doesn’t really pick up much smoke past about 4-6 hours, so you can take it inside and put it in the oven at that point without any ill effects.
I don’t know what kind of bullet / h2o smoker you have, I have a Brinkmann that never worked well. Until I put it over my Smokey Joe BBQ, Had to reverse the legs & prop it up on 3 bricks. Airflow was much better, though the first time I used it after the modifications I dropped a turkey into the waterpan which put most of the coals out. I finished the bird in the oven.
I echo the above two comments. If you can keep your smoker at the desire temp (225-250 degrees, for example), it doesn’t matter what the outside temp is. As mentioned, it will take more fuel and you will probably have to open your vents wider to let in more oxygen to maintain the desired temp. But 12 hours at 225 degrees is the same no matter what the weather is. Shielding or insulating your smoker will do wonders to hold in the heat.
I agree - if the temperature is the same, the cooking time will be the same. You might need double the amount of charcoal or whatever to get it there.
I know I’m somewhat of a heretic on certain BBQ techniques, but I have two opinions about BBQ that might help you:
2 hours of smoke is all that you can taste. Anything more is lost on my tongue, at least. That means that you can do the two hours of smoking outside and then bring it in to finish in the oven. This is especially true if you’re going to wrap in foil - the foil blocks smoke, so if you’re wrapping, you might as well move it to the oven so you can control the temperature better.
Longer is not always better. The best brisket I’ve ever cooked (my guests agreed) actually came out after four hours because the grill got way too hot for a while. In fact, the bark on the bottom of the brisket was so dark that it wasn’t even edible. But the rest of the brisket? Tender and juicy, full of smoke and flavor. I’m still experimenting with this theory on cuts like brisket and shoulder, but I’ve thoroughly tested it on pork ribs: I do half the time and 50 F hotter than the conventional wisdom (about 2-3 hrs at 300-325 F), and get rave reviews about it.
I dunno. I have a hell of a time grilling stuff when the temps drop below about 50. Even with all burners on high and a prolonged warmup time, meat tends to warm through/turn brown/dry out more than really grill with a good char and hot, moist interior. If your smoker is capable of higher net temperatures to compensate, I guess it would be the same.
Makes sense that the time should theoretically be the same if the cooking temp is the same, just use more fuel in doing so. I guess I’m concerned mainly about the time getting it up to temp. The smoker I’m using is a Weber Smoky Mountain, and it has an enormous water pan. Hence my thought of giving the water a head start by getting it to boiling or near-boiling before I add it.
For insulation I have sheets of plywood to act as a windbreak on 3 sides, though the welding blanket insulation idea is intriguing…
Finishing in the oven would be a good fall-back, except there are other things to cook which might make that tricky. But possible as an emergency measure.
I’ve smoked in 0F weather, and basically what is said above is true about it taking more fuel. But it can also take longer if you have trouble keeping up to temps. Generally, my WSM stays at around 250-265 in summer weather, and more like 225 when it’s really cold (well below freezing) out.
If you’re having trouble maintaining temps, just smoke for 3 or 4 hours and finish inside in an oven, as others have suggested. Nobody will be much the wiser. I find barbecue very finicky in terms of determining exact finishing times and make sure I allow for about one to two hours leeway in the cooking time. If it’s done early, just wrap it tightly in foil, throw it in a Coleman cooler (or similar), along with some blankets on top, and you can hold it pretty good for a couple hours (and some people do that anyway.)
Nothing much to add. I prefer to smoke in cold weather, helps keep the temperature under control. Starting with a high temp for an hour won’t harm anything and will speed things up a little. The boiling water will also help getting things started. If you are up at midnight take the meat out of the fridge to get up to room temp by 4AM, that could cut a couple of hours off the total time.
When I’m on a tight schedule I’ll smoke the day before, cut the time a little short, then I just have to heat it for an hour or two the next day.
You’re talking about two different kinds of cooking, there. Grilling can be problematic in the cold because it’s hard to get the temperatures as hot as you’d like. With smoking, it’s easier to maintain lower temperatures within the smoker.
I routinely smoke about 25 pounds of turkey (2 mid-sized whole birds) for Thanksgiving and I generally concur with all the wise old smokers up earlier.
Your real enemy isn’t ambient air temperature: it’s wind. The effect of breeze stealing heat from the smoker is just more pronounced if the ambient air is cold.
Expect to use more fuel to keep up a working temperature against a higher temperature differential.
Find the best wind shelter you can if it’s more than slightly breezy. Dead calm is best. Windy is virtually impossible if you can’t find a good windbreak. Gusty or variable winds will make your working temperatures variable, and results less predictable.
I have, in really bad conditions, pulled the meat out of the smoker after it’s gotten its smoke penetration (about 4 hrs, in my experience) and finished in an oven. It works out well, other than the competition for oven space on Thanksgiving day. :smack:
Yeah, I use a gas grill. Sue me and strip me of my manliness medals.
I use a set of Jenn-Air tools that don’t take two hands to lift, too, because they’re only twice the size of the restaurant tools I use inside. Always gotta wonder about the compensation issues with guys who use tools Andre would find a little oversized…
(Yeah, I know smoking and grilling aren’t the same thing. But the GUYYYYY thing irritates me.)
Oh, one thing to add: I use sand in my bullet smoker year-round, and that helps tremendously in cold weather in keeping the temps steady. Just fill the water pan with sand, wrap it up a few times in heavy duty foil, then, when you’re done, dispose of that foil and re-wrap it with clean foil. (I actually don’t worry too much about keeping temps down, as I prefer smoking more towards the 265 or even 275 range, vs the 200-225 range.)
Oh, and I don’t know what method you use to stack your coals, but I basically do a Minion method type of thing. Fill the coal ring half-way with charcoal. Stick a couple fist-sized pieces of wood in there (you can do three or four for something like shoulder, if you are using a WSM or similar smoker with good air vents on top). Fill the rest of the way to the top and then dump a fully lit chimney starter full (I like the Weber chimney starter, and it’s also a little bit bigger than other brands, and I fill it a little over the top before lighting) of coals on top. Add a few more chunks of fist-sized wood. Assemble your smoker. Let it burn for about 5-10 minutes (you don’t really want billowing white smoke, you want wispy blue-white smoke), then arrange your meat. With your set up of meats (3x6 lbs), you should be able to do it with just one fill-up of coals. Also, for cold weather, I find that briquettes work better than lump, but that’s up to you.