Pork butt questions

Roget · December 15, 2011, 09:42:52 AM

I am planning on smoking a butt for my son for Christmas.
I have a 4 rack DBS w/pid.
Should I be able to sustain a 225/235 cabinet temp. at a 30-45 degree ambient temp.
I have never smoked when it was this cold.

Also, how long will it take a 7/8 pound butt to thaw from fully frozen? (thaw in the fridge???)

Thanks in advance for your advice.

DTAggie · December 15, 2011, 10:06:54 AM

I don't have the digital version but I have no problem keeping temps with my OBS when outside temps are where you describe. You can also drape towels over the smoke cabinet to help maintain temp. Just do not cover the vent.

The thawing depends on the temp of your fridge. I will take two or three days I bet.

Roget · December 15, 2011, 10:24:59 AM

Would the towels actually help? What, maybe 2 /3 layers of towels?
Is it safe to do that?

DTAggie · December 15, 2011, 10:58:57 AM

The help me when it is really cold and / or windy. I use one beach towell over the back half and one over the front half. Just don't cover up the puck feeder while in the smoke time or the vent. Absolutely safe in my opinion.

viper125 · December 15, 2011, 04:36:05 PM

I have the OBS and PID and I can hardly ever reach those temps at all. Thats why I'm doing the dual mod. With a big hunk of pork I seriously doubt it at those temps. But do use a favor and let us know.

DTAggie · December 15, 2011, 05:13:34 PM

Quote from: viper125 on December 15, 2011, 04:36:05 PM
I have the OBS and PID and I can hardly ever reach those temps at all. Thats why I'm doing the dual mod. With a big hunk of pork I seriously doubt it at those temps. But do use a favor and let us know.

With my OBS I can hit that temp with two butts in there, even in cool outside temps. I really think shielding the cabinet in some manner helps.

viper125 · December 15, 2011, 07:17:57 PM

Well I can't! Never could. I was smoking some meat the other day PID set to 225 for 4 hours. Reach 191 at max.

KyNola · December 15, 2011, 07:26:44 PM

Quote from: Roget on December 15, 2011, 09:42:52 AM
I am planning on smoking a butt for my son for Christmas.
I have a 4 rack DBS w/pid.
Should I be able to sustain a 225/235 cabinet temp. at a 30-45 degree ambient temp.
I have never smoked when it was this cold.
Also, how long will it take a 7/8 pound butt to thaw from fully frozen? (thaw in the fridge???)
Thanks in advance for your advice.

Air temp is not the problem with a Bradley. I smoke in 30-45 degrees often. The issue is the wind blowing across the top of your Bradley where the vent is located. Wind coming across the top of your Bradley will suck the heat right out of it. Figure out a way to block the wind and you should be good to go. DON'T close the vent thinking that will alleviate the problem. That just creates a different problem.

devo · December 15, 2011, 07:31:43 PM

When one of my duel elements burnt out I could get to 22o max, it just took a little longer to get there.

Habanero Smoker · December 16, 2011, 02:33:45 AM

I've smoked when temperatures have been in the 20's, and obtained 220?F with one element. As Devo pointed out, it will take a bit longer to reach that point.

Smokeville · December 16, 2011, 06:10:17 AM

I smoked 4 smaller butts yesterday in my OBS. It was unseasonably warm, almost 50F at one point. The PID was set for 225F and finally got to about 205F when the smoke time ended. Recovery after each water bowl change was rapid.

But, after about 6-7 hours, when I rotated the racks the temp didn't come back up past 190F. I've seen this before around 4PM and often wondered about it, but this time I thought to check the V-tray (I don't use a pan on top of it like some) and it did have a lot of slop on it, so I put in another clean tray and, sure enough, within 15 minutes the temp was up to 205F.

KyNola, your comment about the draft over the vent was an eye-opener! It also explains a lot.

What we need is a thread where we can each share "Things I have learned the hard way...." in one short sentence.

Rich

Habanero Smoker · December 16, 2011, 01:18:54 PM

If you didn't have the second drip pan, using a 2-inch metal putty knife to scrap the drip pan off, and a empty food can to put the scrapings in also works. A plugged up drip tray has been the cause for some of the cabinet fires, the heat get trapped below the tray. My drip tray oftens get like that when I am smoking/cooking large loads, and if there is a lot of sugar in the rub that compounds the matter.

Roget · December 23, 2011, 02:26:42 PM

Current outside temp is 38.
I got my smoker up to 240 preheat, then lowered it to 230.
Later in the day (after the smoke gen. went off) the wind came up a little & cabinet temp. hovered at 220.
I draped towels over the cabinet & it slowly climbed back to 230.
It does recover rather slowly at this ambient temp.
I'm not sure what will happen tonight when it gets down to 25 as expected.
When I can't maintain at least 220 I will transfer my butt to the oven to finish.
Thanks to DTAggie for the advice on the towels. It definitely helps.

Pork butt questions

devo