Hi all,
New member here. I stopped in the Roll Call section for a quick intro.
So Yesterday I started my first smoke. Boy did I learn a LOT. :)
So the setup is a MES 30 using Hickory and Apple chips. I started the smoke at 232* (about 1/2 way between the 225-240 in the sticky). The Butt was a 4# (just a trial run for the wife and I). I expected the smoke to be ~6 hours so I started at 8am on the nose. I took the Butt out of the fridge at the same time as I started the smoker preheating (about 1/2hour total). So I inserted the temp probe when I put the butt in and it was at 47*. Within 3.75 hours I was above the 140* mark so out of the unsafe zone OK.
The smoke went well until about 170* at which point the temp increase slowed considerably. I figured it was going into a stall so I pulled it, placed it in a foil pan and added 6oz apple juice then double foiled the top. Cranked the smoker to 250* and for the next 2-3 hours the butt climbed to 180. Started doing some "last minute" reading and I see where guys are smoking at >275 so I crank the heat to 275. The butt starts climbing until it hits 192 then it stalls HARD!!! It actually drops back to 190 then hangs there for the next 3-3.5 hours. Then is starts climbing again and I pulled it out of the smoker at 200* on the nose. At this point we are WAY past dinner and I just cover and let it stand for a few hours then pull it.
Man was it tasty! Doesn't even need any sauce!
So at the end it took ~ 17hrs to smoke this little 4# butt.
I think the starting temp should have been more like 250* (and maybe my smoker runs colder than the temp indicator shows not sure yet). That should shorten the smoke time a bit not sure it would get things into the 1.5 -2 hrs per pound though. We'll see. I told the wife we got a stubborn butt for the first go. :)
Chris
New member here. I stopped in the Roll Call section for a quick intro.
So Yesterday I started my first smoke. Boy did I learn a LOT. :)
So the setup is a MES 30 using Hickory and Apple chips. I started the smoke at 232* (about 1/2 way between the 225-240 in the sticky). The Butt was a 4# (just a trial run for the wife and I). I expected the smoke to be ~6 hours so I started at 8am on the nose. I took the Butt out of the fridge at the same time as I started the smoker preheating (about 1/2hour total). So I inserted the temp probe when I put the butt in and it was at 47*. Within 3.75 hours I was above the 140* mark so out of the unsafe zone OK.
The smoke went well until about 170* at which point the temp increase slowed considerably. I figured it was going into a stall so I pulled it, placed it in a foil pan and added 6oz apple juice then double foiled the top. Cranked the smoker to 250* and for the next 2-3 hours the butt climbed to 180. Started doing some "last minute" reading and I see where guys are smoking at >275 so I crank the heat to 275. The butt starts climbing until it hits 192 then it stalls HARD!!! It actually drops back to 190 then hangs there for the next 3-3.5 hours. Then is starts climbing again and I pulled it out of the smoker at 200* on the nose. At this point we are WAY past dinner and I just cover and let it stand for a few hours then pull it.
Man was it tasty! Doesn't even need any sauce!
So at the end it took ~ 17hrs to smoke this little 4# butt.
I think the starting temp should have been more like 250* (and maybe my smoker runs colder than the temp indicator shows not sure yet). That should shorten the smoke time a bit not sure it would get things into the 1.5 -2 hrs per pound though. We'll see. I told the wife we got a stubborn butt for the first go. :)
Chris