fule is what u can get in the south during the winter unless you can find a BGE store retailer nearby. Mine is almost 30 miles from me. So I buy a bunch in the summer (8 bags or so) then usually get find whatever Krogers has in the winter. the NakedWhiz.com has HUGE resource of types of fuel. He’s the consumer reports of charcoal!

So, with good fuel in hand, once you get the egg to the proper temperature, leave the vents alone!! 1/4″ and 1/2″ refer to the gap that the air can go through and they are merely guides! The quality of the lump, the humidity in the air, and air flow conditions within the egg (plate setter or no, how much meat is present, etc..) all impact exactly how the vents need to be set to maintain a particular temperature.

The key, again, is to adjust the vents to the point where you get the temperature you want and then not touch ‘em unless the temperature starts moving. If it does, adjust the vents just a tiny little bit and wait a good 15 minutes for the temperature to stabilize again. Then adjust again.

I’ll do a short cook — 4 or 5 hours — without the Stoker. Sometimes (the Stoker is really convenient). However, I’m usually doing my butts about 24 hours now and, as such, having something like the Stoker is a god send. It is the difference between a good night’s sleep and laying awake all night wondering if your butts are getting scorched or cooking at all.

- grill steak, chicken, chops whatever….emjpy, cook some more while I eat the first batch.

- Use my foodsaver and vacuum seal the 2nd and 4rd batches for dinner the rest of the weeks, freeze or refridgerate based upon when we arr going to consume them

- reload with a few bigger chunks of charcoal not too much

- Lower my vents on the BGE (about 1/4″ on the top and 1/2″ on the bottom vent til I reach under the 300 degree mark (temp will lower to mid 200’s- soak some wood chips, about 12 ounce cup worth, not fond of apple for some reason, makes chicken taste smokey. I am most fond of mesquite but that is probabbly due to my Texan heritage! Also like Pecan, hickory and oak I have used the red oak chunks left over some some of my furniture building!

- throw on the wood chops

- Place an old cookie sheet on the grill. This is to catch the drippings AND to make sure there is no direct heat

- Put on a rib rack on the sheet and put the butt on top of the rib rack giving a 2.5 airpath under the butt

- watch a movie on TV

- make sure the temp is somewhere in the mid 200’s

- Go to bed

- Cook till 6am, stir the coals, reload if using cheap charcoal (it seems to burn faster)

- Cook some more till internal temp reaches 175….usually around 2 more hours

- wrap in 3 layers of foil

- pour some Sprite over the butt(s) (1/4 cup) once you have a the first layer of foil almost covering it.

- put back on the grill for 4 more hours. This steam cooks the butt holding all the juices in and making sure the colegen is very well cooked.

- pull off BGE and chop all the chunks that just fall off the bone.

- I save the outer red ring parts for me!

- Place on buns cover with Stubbs BBQ sauce (another Texas fav from Austin, TX. Krogers carrys it or order online or better yet Harolds BBQ sauce from Abilene but I only get there about 1 time every ten years or so. He don’t do online. )

- Eat, foodsaver the rest, if there is some leftover.

Turkeys

Place turkey on a Vertical roaster funnel which stands on the cookie sheet. Cover skin with Butter and smoke overnight @ 275. NO rub, no marinade, nothing. Make sure internal temp reaches 175-180. Wrap in foil, place in towels then a cooler for insulating reasons. Drive to grandma’s and slice. Guests will SCREAM it is the best smoked turkey they have ever had….cousins and uncles will beg to know how you did it. Aunt Gwen will pat your backside, bat/raise her eybrows and offer a trip to the barn wanting to know your secret. Hands down the moistest (is that a word) turkey you will ever eat.

Chickens
Basically the same as above except I do shoot them with Creole butter or BBQ suace with a heavy duty needle.

Brisquits
the same as butts but temp of the grill needs to be 220 and nearly 20 hours for a FULL size slab.

Remember the smoking takes place the first hour. this is where you will get your ring of fire on the meat. (maybe this was the RING OF FIRE JOHNNY CASH WAS SINGING ABOUT!!!)

Enjoy

When you pull it off the grill, immediately wrap it in double or triple layers of aluminum foil. Then wrap it in a beach towel. Then drop the whole thing into the smallest cooler that will fit it.

It’ll stay warm for hours that way — I have used this method to keep it warm for over 4 hours.

Pork shoulder is a wonderful piece of meat to cook and more importantly to eat. Your finished product looks great. I also cook on ceramic but a different make than yours. When I do mine I try to maintain a temperature of 225-250 at grate level and take my meat to an internal temperature of 200 degrees. It seems to pull easier when I cook to this temperature. I wrap in foil like you to let it cool down.

Dave

PS: One more tip, I am really meticulous to get as much of the fat out of the pulled pork as I can. This creates a different problem as pork tends to dry out very quickly. My secret is to add low sodium chicken stock to the meat after I have pulled it. It will plump up the pork without adding flavor. If I am going to save some in a food saver for later, I will let the pork firm up in the refrigerator first before sealing.

Again, nice looking pulled pork..