8.5 lbs of Smithfield Pork Butt On The 14.5" WSM

 

I made a YouTube video of this cook which you can see here: https://youtu.be/wBzV6WnBi_I

Trying to duplicate the last cook on the 18.5" WSM, I wanted to see if the 14.5" cooker could do it.  While the taste was identical, the meat did not pull apart as easily and had sections that were hard to pull.  Even after 8.5 hours, it just did not match.

I think it's all because of the quality of the meat and the fact that the 14.5" smoker could not keep a lower temperature through most of the cook.  In the beginning, the temperature was pretty much 315 degrees for at least the first couple of hours.  I would have preferred a lower temperature, but it's hard to do any kind of thing similar to the Minion method for charcoal in such a cramped space where the charcoal ring is at.

I refilled the water level once in the smoker and added just a little bit more charcoal about and hour before the cook finished.

Overall, the 14.5" WSM just is a lot harder to keep temps correct for low and slow cooking.  Still took 8.5 hours and it wasn't anywhere close to the quality of the easy pulling from the 18.5" WSM cook from last time.

Watch the video for more details.