Making pulled pork on the Weber Jumbo Joe is very possible but stretches the vertical limit on this little cooker. I was cooking a 6.5 pound butt in this cook and the top of the butt was about half an inch from the top of the dome. If you find your butt won’t fit on the Jumbo you might need to slice it in half. That’s okay, it will cook faster and you’ll get more bark. 🙂
This butt was injected with Dale’s low sodium marinade and apple juice before it got rubbed with Simply Marvelous Sweet and Spicy rub. I score the fat cap to help increase the bark and get more flavor into the meat. I filled a charcoal basket with unlit Kingsford, placed a drip pan beside the charcoal and added some hickory. The butt went on the indirect side of the grill, both vents were set to 50% open and the lid was placed with the air vent over the pork.
After three hours of smoking I opened the Jumbo Joe and flipped the butt 180 degrees to help it cook evenly. I gave the charcoal basket a little shake to knock off the ashes and filled it back up with unlit Kingsford. The lid was closed for another three hours.
Three hours later (six hours into the cook) I repeated the process. The charcoal was freshened up and the butt was flipped. I used a little stick to knock some ashes through the bottom vent and onto the ash pan. I don’t think I was having any problems with spent ash blocking the air flow through the bottom vent but I did this anyways as a little insurance. I added a little more rub to the fat cap to keep myself entertained. The lid was closed and I walked away for another three hours.
Here she is after nine hours. Real pretty! A word of warning..if you wrap your butts in foil while you cook then you will have a problem on the Jumbo Joe. This is a seriously tight fit and the extra bulk of the foil would probably keep you from closing the lid.
Be sure to check out some other Weber Jumbo Joe Upgrades!