6 lb Pork Butt And One Rack of Pork Back Ribs Smoked During 11 Degree Weather

I decided to smoke a 6 lb pork butt and one rack of pork back ribs during 11 degree temperature.  The pork butt was butterflied open to get more surface area for the rub and to make it easier to cook.  Both were rubbed with Rufus Teague - Meat Rub.  I did not use any wood for this cook.  I used water in the water pan and also had a pizza pan (wrapped in aluminum foil) on top of the water pan.

Initially, I wrapped the smoker with a welder's blanket, but that brought the pit temperature to 315 degrees which is way too high for "low and slow" smoking.  Taking it off, the temp dropped to 257 degrees which is ideal.  I ended up putting the welder's blanket back on the smoker when the pit temp dropped to 250 degrees.  After the blanket was installed, the pit temp stabilized at 255 degrees.  It also started to snow lightly after 1.5 hours into the cook.

I did have to add perhaps 20 more briquets of charcoal to the fire pit towards the last hour of the cook. I didn't fill the charcoal ring initially, so it wasn't surprising that it needed a little more charcoal. I put Kingsford Original to start but the 20 additional were Kingsford professional. The temp of the pit went from 257 degrees to 272 degrees.

I smoked the ribs for 3.25 hours unwrapped and then another 2.25 more hours wrapped with aluminum foil. The pork butt remained unwrapped until the stall at an internal temp of 150 degrees and then it was wrapped. It happened to coincide with the time I wrapped the ribs. Apple juice was added in an aluminum pan before covering it with aluminum. The pork butt was cooked until it reaches an internal temp of 197 degrees. Total time for the butt was 6.5 hours.

Both items turned out great. No issues with either one!

Watch a video of the smoker here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJUYr31WFwM 

Watch a video of the smoker with a welder's blanket on:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbdIn47ubXU