A couple big old butts! (w/Q-view)

[mortisdraco]

Got a couple of 9.5 pound butts in the smoker this morning.  One of them is for the family and the other one I'm taking into my office tomorrow for my co-workers for lunch.  I rubbed them down last night.  Here are the pics and more to follow.

Here they are naked.  :-)  Funny how different they look, but they are almost exactly the same weight.  Should be interesting to see how they progress time wise as they cook.



Here they are not so naked after getting some of my rub.  Ran a little short on the cayanne, so hopefully it will have enough bite for me in the finished product.



More to come as the day progresses.

see ya,

Brad

 

[rdknb]

Looking forward to see how they smoke as far as time and temp is concerned

 

[pineywoods]

Hope ya didn't fall asleep on us

  hows the smoke going?

 

[raptor700]

Should be gettin close to a finish pic!

 

[mortisdraco]

It's turned out to be an interesting smoke.  It's the first cool weather smoke with my Brinkman Vertical and the cool air has really slowed things down, especially for the butt on the upper rack.  I pulled the one from the lower rack after 13.5 hours at 190 (foiled at 180 to speed things up) because I was about to have a riot on my hands if I didn't feed my wife & kids.  It actually pulled very nice!

Here is a shot at around 7 hours.



Here is the first butt right before getting pulled.



Here it is after pulling and adding my finishing sauce.



And here is the money shot from butt #1.



Butt #2 is at 199 degrees closing in on 16 hours.  Should be at 205 and I'll pull it off in about 30 minutes, but pics will probably have to wait until morning.

see ya,

Brad

 

[shoneyboy]

That's some good looking pulled pork.... If it taste as good as it looks they are melt in your mouth good......

 

[smokin-jim]

Nice looking pulled pork. I bet it tasted awesome.

 

[mortisdraco]

Here is the second butt.

Right after I pulled it out of the smoke.

As I was starting to pull it I was so happy with the smoke ring and the way it was falling apart I stopped and took a pic.

Here it is all pulled and mixed with my finishing sauce.  It's actually right around the corner now warming up in the crockpot for everyone at the office today.  In about another hour this place should smell like a smokehouse.  :-)

see ya,

Brad

 

[beer-b-q]

They Look Great Brad...

I have a couple of questions, 

• Were you having any problems with holding the temperature up in the cabinet?
• What temp were you smoking them at?

The reason I ask and since I am not familiar with the smoker you are using is I noticed you had both top vents wide open... 

I would have thought you would have been able to cut your smoking time down had you closed them down a little...

 

[mortisdraco]

Since I have a Brinkmann Vertical there are always temp issues. 

  I use a wok for my charcoal pan, and if I hang it with the original pan sitting in the bottom to catch ash it will get way too hot, although it's gotten better since I added some gasket rope around the bottom edge of the firebox door and some of the Green Egg sealing gasket along the side of the same door to keep air from leaking in.  If I set the wok on top of the firebox rack with the original firebox pan hanging beneath it to catch ash I get better temps that can be regulated, but by about 6 or 7 hours into a smoke I start having ash build up problems...

I was trying to keep it around 240-250, which I accomplished for most of the time, but once the sun went down I struggled to keep it in the 230-240 range.  I usually keep the top vents wide open and just adjust the bottom ones to regulate the temps.  I've only had an actual smoker for about 6 months, before that I smoked in my weber kettle, but that was kind of how I was taught to always smoke and grill.  Keep the top vents open so you don't get stale smoke backed up around what you're smoking/grilling, and use the lower vents to regulate the fire. 

Do you think adjusting the top ones down would help?  I'm always looking to learn.

thanks,

Brad

Originally Posted by Beer-B-Q  
 

They Look Great Brad...

I have a couple of questions, 

• Were you having any problems with holding the temperature up in the cabinet?
• What temp were you smoking them at?

The reason I ask and since I am not familiar with the smoker you are using is I noticed you had both top vents wide open... 

I would have thought you would have been able to cut your smoking time down had you closed them down a little...

 

[realtorterry]

Looks good from here

 

[northern greenhorn]

Now those are some nice looking butts.

 

[mballi3011]

the butts looks great too me and it has some fine looking bark to it too.

 

[kevink]

Great placemats!  Oh, and the pork...yeah that speaks for itself.

Can you tell us about your finishing sauce?