2nd smoke ever- Boston butt

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egledhill

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Oct 18, 2013
75
11
Pittsburgh, PA
Got my 2nd smoke rolling. Picked up a 3.75# pork butt last night. Late start today so I just got the grill smoking a few mins ago and used 2 chunks of apple wood and 2 pecan. Made my own rub and coated it up

Maverick is showing 226
Gonna let it smoke for 3 hours then stick the temp probe in

I'm a little nervous on this one. Wind is kicking up a little bit outside (doesn't help that I live on top of a hill). Check back with yinz at the 3 hour mark
 
Sounds like you have a pretty good plan. Don't sweat it if the temp spikes, butt is pretty forgiving and I usually do mine at 275˚ and get good results. If your temp drops or you're having trouble keeping it high enough, you can always give it 3 or four hours of smoke, then foil it and finish in the oven. Apple and pecan should be an awesome combo for pork!!

What kind of smoker are you running?

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Sounds like you have a pretty good plan. Don't sweat it if the temp spikes, butt is pretty forgiving and I usually do mine at 275˚ and get good results. If your temp drops or you're having trouble keeping it high enough, you can always give it 3 or four hours of smoke, then foil it and finish in the oven. Apple and pecan should be an awesome combo for pork!!
What kind of smoker are you running?
Good luck and keep us posted!

Sweet. That gives me a little relief. I'm running a 18.5" weber smokey mountain. Temps are holding pretty good at 240 +/- 5. It hit 250 so I closed the dampers down a bit and it seems it's holding good. Foil it up around 165?
 
If you want alot of bark then dont foil. If you are going to foil then 165 is the spot
 
I'm looking for bark so no foil it is. Thanks for the heads up. Should I give it a spray down at any time? I have a mix of apple juice/apple cider vinegar.

3 hours in butts at 154 and WSM is holding in the 240s

Nothing but time on my hands so I whipped up some baked beans with brown sugar, ketchup, onion and bacon. Got the idea from Dutchs wicked baked beans but I butchered the recipe so bad I didn't want to insult him by saying they were his

I'm gonna put those in when I foil and bake up a batch of Kats buttermilk biscuits while I'm waiting for everything to finish and make some of soflaquer's finishing sauce. Yes, this cook is made possible by the fine members of this forum!
 
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 Foil it up around 165?
That's a personal preference. Some do, some don't. I find foiling gives a more tender, moist final product. It will inhibit bark, or crust, but I'm fine with that as I don't really like it. Some feel that foiling gives a final product that's too mushy. It's been my experience that pulled pork that hasn't been foiled is a little dry and chewy for my taste, even when others are raving about how perfect it is. So it really depends on your taste. If you like a meatier, more substantial pulled pork then don't foil. If you like more moist and tender pulled pork, then do.

One other consideration is the stall. At lower temps, your pork will likely stall at between 150˚ and 165˚ for up to several hours. Foiling seems to lessen the stall.
 
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That's a personal preference. Some do, some don't. I find foiling gives a more tender, moist final product. It will inhibit bark, or crust, but I'm fine with that as I don't really like it. Some feel that foiling gives a final product that's too mushy. It's been my experience that pulled pork that hasn't been foiled is a little dry and chewy for my taste, even when others are raving about how perfect it is. So it really depends on your taste. If you like a meatier, more substantial pulled pork then don't foil. If you like more moist and tender pulled pork, then do.
One other consideration is the stall. At lower temps, your pork will likely stall at between 150˚ and 165˚ for up to several hours. Foiling seems to lessen the stall.

Awesome advice. Thanks. Wife likes it tender so I guess we're back to foiling. I'm stall phase now. Sitting at 158. Figure nows a good time to catch up on the DVR and netflix shows I've been neglecting the past week.

Do you foil around the probe or take it out, foil, and stick the probe in through the foil?
 
3 1/2 hours in and I hit the 165 mark. Wrapped it up with some left over apple cider I had in the fridge.
Beans are on and the smoker is hovering in the low 240s. Butt dropped to 160 but I figure that's from taking it off, wrapping, and putting in the cold apple cider. Now, the wait...
 
Pulled it off a little early. I was getting hangry (anger caused hunger).
Didn't pull as easily as I wanted but it was tasty. Finishing sauce added a nice touch

Beans turned out great also.

Learned for next time to wake my lazy butt up earlier on my days off so I'm not on a time crunch
 
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looks like it turned out great enen though it was pulled early
 
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