Cold weather smokes

thedart51

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  1. Stampede
Excited to try out my new RT590 this weekend! Going for pork butt. Question though for all you cold weather smokers - when you take the meat out to wrap, does exposing it to the cold mess it up or somehow destroy the cook? Should I be sprinting indoors with the meat to wrap there? Or am I overthinking it?
 
You can wrap outside in the cold, just don't let it sit outside the smoker longer than needed. The interior of the butt is plenty hot to withstand a minute or two outside the smoker to wrap it. Just wrap as quickly as you can and back in the cooker it goes, you will be fine.
 
Good question. My smoker is about 40' from the house so it's a fairly long walk with the meat when it's really cold. hThe couple times I've smoked wrappable meats in the cold so far I've wrapped it right at the smoker. I get the foil as ready as I can and do the deed as fast as I can, probably only a minute or so. Must take me 4 or 5 minutes to carry into the kitchen, wrap, and return to the grill.

I think even in warm weather it works out to wrap outside. The only issue I run into is the wind, foil and wind don't get along.
 
Not really a concern when you're dealing with a solid meat muscle like a Boston Butt/pork shoulder. That sucker retains a LOT of heat and the way it cools on the outer surface just causes the internal heat to move outward to replace it. I wouldn't do anything any quicker than you normally would. Don't risk injury or anything but you don't want to leave the lid open and your meat sitting out for no reason. In fact, the air rushing around it from you running into the house and then back out will take more heat off than just wrapping it at the smoker real quick so you wouldn't be saving much. For me I do one of two things: 1) if I have a shelf I lay my foil on it and then simply open the lid and spatula the whole thing out and onto the foil. Wrap tightly and place back in smoker or 2) if I don't have a shelf I'll have the wife help me out by putting the foil underneath it as I spatula it up off of the grates and into the air. The first is easier especially at 3:00am when it's 12 degrees out and snowing. lol

tldr; Don't overthink it. Move with purpose, don't dilly dally but no need to rush anything. You'll be fine.
 
Just gonna throw this out there... I stopped wrapping anything and everything. Have never turned back. Makes smokin much easier and the product is great.

try it once or twice and see if you miss the wrap. I don't.

I smoke in cold weather all the time - no issues - just get a cold weather cover or welding blanket or you will fly through pellets.
 
Just gonna throw this out there... I stopped wrapping anything and everything. Have never turned back. Makes smokin much easier and the product is great.

try it once or twice and see if you miss the wrap. I don't.

I smoke in cold weather all the time - no issues - just get a cold weather cover or welding blanket or you will fly through pellets.
I tested both out and for me I noticed a more caramelized texture to my bark when I wrap which I prefer. When I would go naked the full smoke the bark would be drier and I also noticed that the meat was also not as moist. That last part could have had more to do with the quality of the butt I got but it happened more than once. I also live in Colorado where it's super dry so perhaps this is more of an issue here than other places with more traditional or high humidity levels. I think it's subjective and the affects don't seem to be drastic in either direction but for me, I foil at 165deg. I wouldn't fault anyone for not messing with it though.
 
Using the same thread... Has anyone done a long smoke with temps in the teens, does it add time to the cook?

Teens tonight, putting on a pair of butts about 9pm, normal for me would be having them done about 3pm.

I will be using a felt welding blanket.
 
Using the same thread... Has anyone done a long smoke with temps in the teens, does it add time to the cook?...
Done a couple overnighters in the single digits on my 700. It didn't add any time. My set temps, low 200s, held steady as a rock. It does consume a lot more pellets to maintain temp when the air temp is that low, so top off that lil 590 hopper.
 
Not that I'm adding much, but cold and WET seemed to get my 1250 confused. It wasn't that cold here (30's and 40's) on Christmas day, but it was wet and the steam billowing from my soaked grill translated to the Recteq trying to correct and correct and correct with my set pit temp at 250, but spiking to 325 off and on. It still worked though.
 
Not that I'm adding much, but cold and WET seemed to get my 1250 confused. It wasn't that cold here (30's and 40's) on Christmas day, but it was wet and the steam billowing from my soaked grill translated to the Recteq trying to correct and correct and correct with my set pit temp at 250, but spiking to 325 off and on. It still worked though.
That seems odd. Was it real windy?
I do use a welding blanket below 40 to help retain heat and use less pellets. Grill holds just fine. Even did a pork butt last year at 0 degrees.
 
That seems odd. Was it real windy?
No just super wet. The cook came out fine, but with all of these gadgets notifying you about all sorts of unusual events and looking out the window to see the top of the Recteq looking like sauna rocks that someone just dumped a bucket of water on, it was an interesting cook.
 
That seems odd. Was it real windy?
I do use a welding blanket below 40 to help retain heat and use less pellets. Grill holds just fine. Even did a pork butt last year at 0 degrees.
do you just lay the blanket on top or do you actually tuck it under, etc. Do you have a picture? If the blanket is on top, does that not allow as much Oxygen to get to the fire so it doesnt burn as well?
 
I use a blanket on mine in freezing temps and notice much less pellet use. I looked at a few of my welding blankets, but when handling them, I can see fiberglass floating into the air, which I don't want in my food. I got a purpose made blanket that has a smooth waterproof outer shell so no fiberglass floating around. It has strong magnets sewn in which holds it in place and allows you to easily open the lid. It takes less than a minute to install or remove.
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how about where the back side covers your exhaust? Did you cut out around them? I used a Pitt Boss cover but had to have three holes cut out in back for the exhaust. ?? And it worked well.
 
PS. And the magnets don't work when it heats up.
 
Here is my welding blanket. I bought the felt type so I didn't have the fiberglass. I put a magnet in four corners on the side of grill
 

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PS. And the magnets don't work when it heats up.
how about where the back side covers your exhaust? Did you cut out around them? I used a Pitt Boss cover but had to have three holes cut out in back for the exhaust. ?? And it worked well.

The blanket I used has slots where the rear vents are located so I didn't need to hack any holes for the vents.
Most magnets don't get weaker until temps in the mid 200s, some in the 300s depending on the magnet ratings. I only use the blanket for low and slow cooks so the temp never effects the holding power of the magnets, I have to give the cover a good pull to release the magnets when I open the lid.

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