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My first try at smoking a pork but on the 4th of July came out pretty good, but it was a challenge controlling the temp as I'd never tried a low and slow on the grill. I tried it again a couple days ago using a "fuse" and had much control of the temp and wasn't constantly adding charcoal and fiddling with the dampers.



Basically you lay the coals out so that they will start at one end and burn along a snake like pattern. I added some birch and another hunk of alder and a few more coals and was able to get a pretty even burn for four hours. I need to put in some accurate temp gauges but I was able to get a good smoke and then finished it off in the oven to bring the internal temp to 190F.

Interesting.

So a single layer, double row of standard briquettes, as shown in your pic, was sufficient?

They seemed to run about 3 hours. I started a dozen briquettes in the chimney and dumped them on the right side of the grate to get the coals and alder going. After ~3 hours I added more wood and a handfull of brickets on the other side as most of the coals had burned down. The temp gauge in the grill is useless but was reading 225-250 and after 4 hours I had an internal temp of 140F. It did the trick in terms of creating a smoke ring and crust.

458, that's a good looking pork butt.


How'd the smoke ring look?

The smoke ring was somehwere around 3/8-1/2". I think the 4th of July butt had a smokier flavor, but this one came out fine. I figure after a few more I start to get the hang of it.

As far as the two wide coals, putting a third coal down the middle would probably be a good idea to get the temp up, but then no place to nestle the wood.

Thanks 458.

Will give this a shot next butt.

I bought a smoker some months ago and queried Lt. Powell. He advised how to proceed with a sausage, turkey breast and brisket mix and also advised it would get better each time. As usual, he was spot on.

Sounds great, 458!