My First Overnight Smoke With The Party Q.

[Happy Hapgood]

This is about my 5th time to use the Party Q on my 18.5 WSM. Went with a cook temp of 275*F and foil lined pan/no water.

The victim. The wife found a heck of a deal:

Used Simply Marvelous Sweet & Spicy with some Kosher Salt:

Went to load KBB into smoker and found had close to a full ring after using the Party Q to do ribs cooked for about 6 hours. In the past I would have used twice that much for the same cook time:

Reloaded the ring and added a good dose of Pecan wood chunks and lit some of the used KBB to start This was arount 9:30 PM:

Got the butt on around 10 PM while the WSM was making Thin Blue Smoke:

Fast forward to this morning. I guess the temp stayed exactly 275*F for 12 hours straight. I did not pull the lid off the smoker for 12 hours. I did have a meat probe in the meat but never used it. Here's what I had this morning:

It probed like butta but is not mushy. It did come apart in 3 pieces when I picked it up.

I will be doing the overnight smoke again for brisket and butts. The Party Q nailed the temp but that was on a calm night with no wind and a low OAT of around 77*F.

The other takeaways from this trial are that I have to leave the top vent 50% closed to get perfect temp control but my smoker leaks some/is not air tight. And if the lid is removed (learned from previous cooks) it's best to turn off the PQ and wait a few mins after replacing the lid so the temp can stabilize before turning it back on. Otherwise the temps can go high and the PQ can't bring them down.

PS: No butts were wrapped in the making of this pork.

Thanks for lookin'.

 

[Fwismoker]

Good looking butt Mike! I don't understand something though. It took 12 hours to cook @ 275? That surprises me a little.

 

[Bludawg]

Good looking Butt. To me them things take all the fun out of it I like to let my skills shine.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

Good looking butt Mike! I don't understand something though. It took 12 hours to cook @ 275? That surprises me a little.

It was a 10 pound butt.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

Good looking Butt. To me them things take all the fun out of it I like to let my skills shine.

Yeah while I was sleeping so good I had a dream that I had mad skills. :grin:

 

[cowgirl]

Beautiful hunk of pork Mike! Looks delicious!

 

[BaronVonOttomatic]

Looks tasty.

I've got a PartyQ for the UDS, it's a nice tool for the price.

 

[AClarke44]

Great looking butt Mike! I didn't see where you mentioned the flavor.....How'd this butt compare to the others you've made flavor wise?

 

[Fwismoker]

It was a 10 pound butt.

Before i went "hangin nekkid" high heat I was using my mini for 10 lb butts and cooked 300-325* and was always around 45 minutes per. I suppose that extra 25-50* does really speed things up.

Ya know I could have sent you my old partyQ. The thing works like a charm but just don't have use for it anymore, hasn't been used in years. I did break out my pitmaster IQ not too long ago and tried to sleep but I couldn't! Lol

I still can't trust them even though I know it will work unless there's a malfunction....which i have seen a few of those on here where people wake up to cold meat.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

Great looking butt Mike! I didn't see where you mentioned the flavor.....How'd this butt compare to the others you've made flavor wise?

It's among the best I've made. The SM rub is great for pork and the pecan wood goes well with it too.

 

[AClarke44]

It's among the best I've made. The SM rub is great for pork and the pecan wood goes well with it too.

Yeah I like pecan too. I use either apple or pecan most of the time.

 

[DetTigersFan]

Looks great man... I like the pic of your chimney also :mrgreen:

 

[bluetang]

Way nice cookin!

 

[Meatguyver]

Id hit that and take a nap! Looks amazing love the bark on it! Good work toast!

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Very nice Mike Guru puts out a good product Did you let your wife put that savings towards the New Bass Rig

 

[Lordkifar]

I am very temptrwd about getting one of these gizmos for my newly built UDS....your results look great!!

 

[Kmartyn]

Party Q

I have mine on a Pit Barrel Cooker, no more playing with the vent.

I got this battery based model, as the cooker is pretty portable, so I did not want a controller that plugged in.

I changed the batteries after 4 cooks, just to be safe. I will watch to see how long they last this time.

 

[grantw]

I wanted one of those for awhile, thought they would be nice to take out with my 14.5 wsm with no cords running to it

 

[Rustwood]

Yeah while I was sleeping so good I had a dream that I had mad skills. :grin:

Funny! It sure is nice to sleep through the night without rolling over and thinking, "I should go out and make sure the fire is OK." Some people aren't built that way and sleep just fine without worrying, but for those of us who aren't a temperature controller is nice thing to have.

Other than that, short of the fire completely going out or cooking on a tight schedule, I can also completely understand why many people don't feel the need for a guru - the meat will be done when it is done and for the most part the results are going to be just the same.

There are also competition folks who feel that controlling the fire is part of the skill. I get that, but unless/until a particular competition bans everyone from using them, I think you are handicapping yourself if you aren't. You may know your cookers and manage your fires just fine, but you still run a risk of a fire problem and that could hurt you (I've seen it happen). Meanwhile the 10 teams down the row are dialing in the temperatures on their cookers, focusing their attention elsewhere and virtually eliminating temperature control as a potential problem. I am not saying that is right or wrong, but it seems to be the way things are these days.

Of course I realize I am not the first person to think or say these things, I am just mentioning them as a counterpoint to some of the other comments.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

Funny! It sure is nice to sleep through the night without rolling over and thinking, "I should go out and make sure the fire is OK." Some people aren't built that way and sleep just fine without worrying, but for those of us who aren't a temperature controller is nice thing to have.

Other than that, short of the fire completely going out or cooking on a tight schedule, I can also completely understand why many people don't feel the need for a guru - the meat will be done when it is done and for the most part the results are going to be just the same.

There are also competition folks who feel that controlling the fire is part of the skill. I get that, but unless/until a particular competition bans everyone from using them, I think you are handicapping yourself if you aren't. You may know your cookers and manage your fires just fine, but you still run a risk of a fire problem and that could hurt you (I've seen it happen). Meanwhile the 10 teams down the row are dialing in the temperatures on their cookers, focusing their attention elsewhere and virtually eliminating temperature control as a potential problem. I am not saying that is right or wrong, but it seems to be the way things are these days.

Of course I realize I am not the first person to think or say these things, I am just mentioning them as a counterpoint to some of the other comments.

Also if you drink enough Cold Beer you can go to sleep without worrying about it 'er I mean...