Well the Weber Smokey Mountain is living up to its reputation. I stoked it up with about 12 pounds of Kingsford and a bunch of lump charcoal + some apple chunks and Hickory chunks.
I did 8 big sausages and 8 pound pork butt. As for the bit of pig filet there, for 2 bucks a pound I'm going to enjoy it plenty.
I took the sausages off after about 6 hours and looked at the roast. Carmelization was low and there was no significant bark. We had smoked sausage sandwiches for lunch, with Swiss cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo & spicy mustard, on lightly toasted sesame buns.
If you feel like you're getting fat just reading this, do what I do: go out and sand on your old boat until you get skinny again. Or run out of sandpaper on Sunday night again, which is where I am now.
So I opened the Weber one time at 4.5 hrs to turn sausages & once at about 6 hours to take them off & I closed it up fast. It had gone for 6 hours at a steady temperature of about 215 degrees. I had a good stall at 165 and it lasted about two and a half hours. I was busy sanding on the boat so I didn't really pay much attention. Plus I was already well fed, so in no hurry for the pork roast.
After 10 hours the temperature had declined to about 205 degrees and I poked up the fire. It stabilized quickly at 225. Most of the water was evaporated from the pan. It started absolutely full of hot water.
After 11 hours I peeked at it real quick. I just cracked the lid and looked underneath. Bark was not at the meteorite state yet.
At 12 hours at the meat is 183°. The smoker is still holding 225, and I'm holding out a bit longer.
It's hard to believe this thing is still cooking after 12 hours and only one poking. I seasoned it heavily when I first got it and it paid off.
Oh yeah I used a few big lumps of Cowboy brand lump charcoal, but most of this is a modern Kingsford charcoal and it works great.