Mad Science Experiment - Smoke Rings

Hmmm... I better not eat it then!:icon_bugeyed I'm only doing that one to see if thre really is any factor from the wood ash in the smoke ring. The only way that piece of meat could possibly get a smoke ring is from the ash.

This evening I cleaned up my kettle grill real good, then lit up a chimney of cherry chunks. I dumped the chunks in the kettle and filled in with more cherry, and let it go with inlets open and lid off until they had burned down to coals. Then I put the lid on so the ashes wouldn't get blown around overnight. Tomorrow morning I should be able to get me some pure cherry wood ash.

Twenty four hours after putting the 4 pieces in brine, I took them out along with the other 4 pieces I quartered up last night. Here's what they looked like. The brined ones are the 4 on the left.


I bagged up 2 of the brined ones and put back in the fridge. Then I applied slather to the other 2 brined pieces, and to 2 of the plain pieces. Here's a photo after the slather. The 2 brined ones are on the left.


Then I applied rub to all 6 of these pieces. Even though I had blotted dry the brined pieces, they really took on a lot of rub, and I mean a whole lot. Here's a photo after the rub. The 2 on the left are the brined, slathered and rubbed, the middle 2 are slathered and rubbed, and the 2 on the right only have rub.


Hopefully I'll be able to provide updates tomorrow as the experiment progresses. It's a busy weekend though, so I may not be as timely as I would wish to be. I will take pictures though, and the results will get posted by Monday at the latest.

Well, after looking at the piece after rubbing it with wood ash, I must admit, it looked very tasty. So yummy I'm surprised I didn't eat the piece of pork raw right there. Wait until you see the pic.

The meat is on! I got probably a little over a cup of cherry ash which was more than sufficient.

I took the other cryovac of butts to debone and quarter.


Here they are deboned and quartered. The 4 on the left will be the pieces I use in the oven, and the 4 on the right will be used in the WSM's for the plain pieces and the spritzed pieces.


I got the WSM's synchronized at 275 with Kingsford charcoal and cherry chunks, and set the gas oven for the same temp. For the pieces cooking in the oven, I took half-size aluminum pans and made a HD foil divider to keep two pieces seperately while they cook.

In ths picture are 2 of the oven pieces. The one on the right is the plain piece, and the one on the left has a rub of 1 tbsp Tenderquick.


In this picture are the other 2 oven pieces. The one on the right got a thin layer of liquid smoke and then a rub of 1 tbsp Tenderquick. I think you can guess what is on the one on the left. Doesn't it look yummy?


In this picture are the 6 pieces that went in the WSM with the water pan. On the top row from left to right are Plain, Spritzed, Brined. On the bottom row from left to right are Rubbed, Slather+Rub, Brine+Slather+Rub+Spritz.


And this last picture is the 6 pieces going in the WSM with the sand pan. On the top row from left to right are Plain, Spritzed, Brined. On the bottom row from left to right are Rubbed, Slather+Rub, Brine+Slather+Rub+Spritz.


I will begin spritzing the pieces that get spritz beginning at the 3 hour mark, and spritz them every 45 minutes with Members Mark Apple Juice.

More updates as I get them and can post them.

Oops! I forgot to post the beer tally! Someone asked me earlier what the beer total would be for such an experiment, and my estimate was a 30 pack. So I picked up a 30 pack and started with one a couple nights ago when I started deboning the first butts. I am on my second of the day right now. I'll have to check the fridge so I can get the running tally going.

Beer Tally for this experiment so far: 6

Luckily, I have arranged the empties where I can easily count them.

I applied the first round of spritzing to the pieces getting spritzed. I took the meat temp in the plain pieces in each cooker and they were all right around 160. I'm glad there is a consistency showing.

Current Beer Tally: 8, no wait, just finished that one...9

That's not 9 just today!:lol: I had one on Thursday night, 3 last night, and now I just opened number 5 today. That's one every 30 minutes today for those doing math.:biggrin:

Another spritzing applied. The plain pieces in the WSM's are both 163, and the plain one in the oven is 160.

Beer Tally: still 9, better hurry up it's getting warm. It's nice and warm outside too. A lovely day to be smokin'.

Another round of spritzing complete. The temps for the plain pieces in the 3 cookers are:
Moist WSM: 166
Dry WSM: 165
Oven: 164

Beer Tally: just opened number 11

Spritzing time has come again. Temps of the plain pieces are:

Moist WSM: 170
Dry WSM: 172
Oven: 171

Beer Tally: still 11