this is what I posted in one of the other forums here:
Ok so, Im new to the whole smoking way of cooking and just tried my first pork shoulder (2, 1-4lb, 1-6lb) on my new Char-boil American Smoker...
I started yesterday about 1pm soaking my pork in a water-brown sugar brine for about 5-6 hours, then last night at about 7pm, I got my smoker going...I lit the smoker with regular coal and got the coals nice and hot the added about 4 hickory chunks to it. once I got the smoker to steady at 225-235, I rubbed down my pork with a bottle of stubbs BBQ rub, and threw them on the smoker...I watched the smoker till about midnight and it was doing just fine at the correct temp (225) and then I headed off for a little nap, about 3am I woke up to check on it, and the temp had dropped to about 175, so I played with the fire and got it back up then went back for another snooze, at about 6am I got the meat out and put them in a foil container with about 1 cup apple juice and covered them with tin foil, and put them back in for about another 3 hours...
finally about 9-930 or so, I got them out and took them inside and started to pull the meat apart...at first I wasnt quite sure whether or not they were done, but according to the times I had found on the internet, they should have been...but once I tasted it, I could not believe how smoky the taste was...it was almost unbearable...
make a long story short, I threw it away, and was upset with the out come...and I need someone's help as to what I could have done wrong.
for reference I started the fire with coal's, then added the wood as needed to maintain the heat....smoke was dense white and thick..
and yes, I have cresote ALL OVER the damn thing...
