First pork butt smoke.

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Don't be. Your almost there. Keep it at 240 until you hit the 160 to 165 range then wrap and oven. Also. If possible don't open the door. It just releases heat and makes the cook longer. I wish I knew about this site the first time I did my butt. My first butt came out terrible. Like dried out ham. Lol

I have 2 offset smokers. A cheap Brinkmann. And just recently a very nice Klose one. They fluctuate in temployment from 220 to 260 Espically when adding more wood. So just relax. I have a feeling dinner might be on the late side. Lol
 
Don't be. Your almost there. Keep it at 240 until you hit the 160 to 165 range then wrap and oven. Also. If possible don't open the door. It just releases heat and makes the cook longer. I wish I knew about this site the first time I did my butt. My first butt came out terrible. Like dried out ham. Lol

I have 2 offset smokers. A cheap Brinkmann. And just recently a very nice Klose one. They fluctuate in temployment from 220 to 260 Espically when adding more wood. So just relax. I have a feeling dinner might be on the late side. Lol

You are right. According to the post that I took the directions from it should have hit 165 an hour ago. Lol. Oh well. Live and learn. In the oven now.
 
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OK. Finished product.
It was not bad. But a couple of things I learned.

Start earlier. I could have started at least an hour earlier to give it more time to cook

Be a bit more patient. I played with the temp to get to the magic 165 when I probably could have left it alone. That goes back to the starting earlier.

Instead of dumping the apple juice in at the end, spritz during the process. The apple juice made the final product a bit slimed I think.

For a first try it was not bad, but I would rather it be a bit less slimey, and that may have to do with the timing and the attempt to try and get it done on time.
 
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OK. Finished product.
It was not bad. But a couple of things I learned.

Start earlier. I could have started at least an hour earlier to give it more time to cook

Be a bit more patient. I played with the temp to get to the magic 165 when I probably could have left it alone. That goes back to the starting earlier.

Instead of dumping the apple juice in at the end, spritz during the process. The apple juice made the final product a bit slimed I think.

For a first try it was not bad, but I would rather it be a bit less slimey, and that may have to do with the timing and the attempt to try and get it done on time.
Very nice first try, I think you'll be surprised by how much better your second one will come out. My first one was pretty bad but the second try turned out great, spritzed it with during the smoke, give myself plenty of time, put it in the oven, turned out great.

That's nice looking pp buddy.Thumbs Up
 
Well done brother. One piece of advice I learned over the years is it really can't be done too early. What I mean is, if you've got it wrapped up tight, throw it in a cooler with some towels/blankets and leave it. I've put a butt like that in a cooler before and left it alone for 4, sometimes 5 hours and it was still almost too hot to pull when I opened it up. The Texas Crutch and Faux Cambro is fantastic.
 
OK. Finished product.
It was not bad. But a couple of things I learned.

Start earlier. I could have started at least an hour earlier to give it more time to cook

Be a bit more patient. I played with the temp to get to the magic 165 when I probably could have left it alone. That goes back to the starting earlier.

Instead of dumping the apple juice in at the end, spritz during the process. The apple juice made the final product a bit slimed I think.

For a first try it was not bad, but I would rather it be a bit less slimey, and that may have to do with the timing and the attempt to try and get it done on time.

It looks good for a 1st try. Wish my first one came out as good as yours. Looks like the bone came out real clean. That's always a good sign.

I think in the beginning. Folks get too hung up at having to smoke exactly at 200 to 225. Pork butt is a big tough piece of meat. Lately. I've been smoking closer to 250 to 260 with great success. With the 2 offsets smokerers I own. its almost impossible to keep an exact temperature through the whole process.
 
Very nice first try, I think you'll be surprised by how much better your second one will come out. My first one was pretty bad but the second try turned out great, spritzed it with during the smoke, give myself plenty of time, put it in the oven, turned out great.

That's nice looking pp buddy.
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Thanks for the compliment.  I actually warmed some of the leftovers for dinner last night and it was a bit better.  Had a bit more flavor.  I think next time I am going to try and keep the heat at a constant and run it in the smoker until done.   Give my self plenty of time and foil and wrap in towels if it gets done early.   Will be a long day, but if it turns out better hitting it with apple juice during the smoke instead of at the end, it will be worth it.  And maybe work up some sort of sauce to put on it afterwards.  Either way, it was not too bad, and with all the help I got here, it was not as bad as i thought it was going to be.    
 
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It looks good for a 1st try. Wish my first one came out as good as yours. Looks like the bone came out real clean. That's always a good sign.

I think in the beginning. Folks get too hung up at having to smoke exactly at 200 to 225. Pork butt is a big tough piece of meat. Lately. I've been smoking closer to 250 to 260 with great success. With the 2 offsets smokerers I own. its almost impossible to keep an exact temperature through the whole process.
It looks good for a 1st try. Wish my first one came out as good as yours. Looks like the bone came out real clean. That's always a good sign.

I think in the beginning. Folks get too hung up at having to smoke exactly at 200 to 225. Pork butt is a big tough piece of meat. Lately. I've been smoking closer to 250 to 260 with great success. With the 2 offsets smokerers I own. its almost impossible to keep an exact temperature through the whole process.
Funny you should say that, my smoker (Smoke Vault 18 propane model) seems to be able to hold at 250 with not much problem.  220 to 225 it was a bit more finicky.  It would creep up from 220 to 230 within a few minutes. and turning the knob ever so slightly made it drop down below 220 a few minutes later.  But, I seem to be able to stick at 250 without too much issue, at least for the first few smokes I have done.  So, 250 for the duration would probably be easier to hold the temp and as long as it is not going to ruin anything, I might try that.  And spritz with apple juice every hour from about hour 4 to about hour 10 or so.  Sound good?  
 
I was never much of a spritzer or mopper. For me I ended up with dryer product at the end. Some folks seemed to have great success doing it. Go figure. You need to find what works for you. And that just takes experience.
I don't know if you kept opening the door to look at the bbq. Starting off that was a big issue for me. Everytime you open the door. Lose heat. Longer smoke time. Dryer product.

Try this next time. Put butt in smoker. Set to 240 to 250. Don't open the door until ready to foil. Hit 165. Triple wrap in foil with a little beer or juice. Oven for 3 or 4 hrs in oven at 250. Rest for an hr or 2 and pull. I'm pretty sure you will be happy with the end results. Basically how I do my butts every time. And they come out basically perfect every time.
 
One last thing. Go on YouTube and check out Aaron Franklin Pork butt. The guy is famous for his bbq brisket. He makes some really informative vids. And loves sharing his knowledge. Basically learned alot about smoking brisket just from him.
Anyways watch the vid. He smokes his butts at 275ish. And the end result is amazing. His pulled pork looks pretty damn spectacular. To each their own. As long as it taste good at the end.
 
I was never much of a spritzer or mopper. For me I ended up with dryer product at the end. Some folks seemed to have great success doing it. Go figure. You need to find what works for you. And that just takes experience.
I don't know if you kept opening the door to look at the bbq. Starting off that was a big issue for me. Everytime you open the door. Lose heat. Longer smoke time. Dryer product.

Try this next time. Put butt in smoker. Set to 240 to 250. Don't open the door until ready to foil. Hit 165. Triple wrap in foil with a little beer or juice. Oven for 3 or 4 hrs in oven at 250. Rest for an hr or 2 and pull. I'm pretty sure you will be happy with the end results. Basically how I do my butts every time. And they come out basically perfect every time.
Awesome, thanks.  I will give that a try next time.  I think the bulk of my "problems" were that I tried to speed it up in the oven.  My thought was that since I had the apple juice in the pan, I could kick up the oven a bit to speed things up.  I think that was a bit of a mistake.  Going to try again, this time using the 250 or so temp and just let it run until at least 165.  I am going to print your suggestions so I have it when i try again.   Thanks for the info.  
 
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