# New to smoking have no idea



## L177LE (Oct 28, 2020)

Hi guys thanks for letting me in I've recently brought a hark smoker I've done 1 rack if ribs and now I'm doing a pulled pork butt as we speak now I'I'mfinding really hard to get my smoker low enough in temp I have little fire yo get to temp then it's to low to ignite the next iron bark wood go bigger then to high in temp any help would be good I try and use dampners at half then to high so neally close it and choke it to much


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## TNJAKE (Oct 28, 2020)

Is that a propane smoker? Uses chips? What chamber temp are you trying to achieve?


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## drunkenmeatfist (Oct 28, 2020)

Pork butt is very forgiving so I would suggest letting the cooker run at whatever temp it wants to as long as it is reasonable.


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## jcam222 (Oct 28, 2020)

Welcome. Not familiar with the smoker you mention. More detail will get you plenty of help.


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## kruizer (Oct 28, 2020)

Welcome to SMF from Minnesota.


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## thirdeye (Oct 28, 2020)

Welcome aboard.  Please describe your smoker and set-up, and what kind of "low" are you trying to achieve?  For example, pulled pork needs long cooking times and will tender up north of 200°.  If you are cooking at 200° it will take forever to get there and still might not be pullable.


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## mbassom (Oct 29, 2020)

Welcome from TX!


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## SmokinGame (Oct 29, 2020)

Welcome to SMF!!

Not being familiar with Hark smokers, just had to look them up. Is the one you have an offset out of Australia? https://urbangriller.com/hark-offset-smokers/

Lot of offset guys on here, I just don't have any experience with them ... yet ... someday!


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## TuckersBarbeque (Oct 29, 2020)

thirdeye said:


> If you are cooking at 200° it will take forever to get there and still might not be pullable.



Agree with this.  Minimum 225, preferred 250.  The magic of melting tenderness happens around 190, and at 200 smoke temp you're in for a 24hr+ cook which could mean very dry pork.


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## slapaho_injun (Oct 29, 2020)

I do 8 pork butts at a time and I use the same method every time. Never had any complaints.

Apply whatever rub you want on the meat, the night before & let sit in fridge overnight, covered. I use McCormick Grill Mates Applewood Rub.

Set meat on kitchen counter while firing up your smoker and getting up to temp.

Set a pan of water in the bottom of your smoker. Warm the smoker up to 225f. I keep all air intakes wide open and the exhaust stack too, then close off the exhaust stack if I need to lower the temp of the smoker. you want thin blue smoke, not thick acrid dark smoke. This will transfer badly to your meat.

Smoke it at 225f til you reach 165f internal temp (fat side down)

Spray  a mixture of warm water, brown sugar & maple syrup onto the meat after the first hour. Continue every hour til wrapped in foil.

Double wrap with foil once you reach 165f internal temp and finish smoking it to 200f internal temp. You can kick your smoker temp up to 250f to finish, once the foil is on.

Remove it from smoker at 200f internal temp, set it on your kitchen counter & leave in the foil, to rest for an hour.

Remove  foil & pull the pork. Discard any bone or fat. Eat or vac seal. I always save as much of the juice as I can and pour it over the pulled pork before eating or storing.

Good luck & welcome from Minnesota.


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## joetee (Oct 29, 2020)

slapaho_injun said:


> I do 8 pork butts at a time and I use the same method every time. Never had any complaints.
> 
> Apply whatever rub you want on the meat, the night before & let sit in fridge overnight, covered. I use McCormick Grill Mates Applewood Rub.
> 
> ...


This sounds great. I'll have to give this one a try.


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## L177LE (Nov 1, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> Is that a propane smoker? Uses chips? What chamber temp are you trying to achieve?


It's a offset smoker


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## L177LE (Nov 1, 2020)

drunkenmeatfist said:


> Pork butt is very forgiving so I would suggest letting the cooker run at whatever temp it wants to as long as it is reasonable.


Ok thanks for that sorry for the late reply


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## L177LE (Nov 1, 2020)

joetee said:


> This sounds great. I'll have to give this one a try.


Thanks so mi


slapaho_injun said:


> I do 8 pork butts at a time and I use the same method every time. Never had any complaints.
> 
> Apply whatever rub you want on the meat, the night before & let sit in fridge overnight, covered. I use McCormick Grill Mates Applewood Rub.
> 
> ...


Thanks for this I'll give it a go my pork butt turned out really good very happy with it


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## L177LE (Nov 1, 2020)

thirdeye said:


> Welcome aboard.  Please describe your smoker and set-up, and what kind of "low" are you trying to achieve?  For example, pulled pork needs long cooking times and will tender up north of 200°.  If you are cooking at 200° it will take forever to get there and still might not be pullable.


My smoker is the hark chubby offset smoker my pork butt turned out really good but still found it hard to keep in range it's easier to keep it at 260 then 225


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## drunkenmeatfist (Nov 2, 2020)

L177LE said:


> My smoker is the hark chubby offset smoker my pork butt turned out really good but still found it hard to keep in range it's easier to keep it at 260 then 225


If it settles in at around 260 then I would cook everything at 260. No need to try to fight the cooker to get it to 225. If anything I might throw a little more wood in so the temp would be in the 275-300 range.


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## kawboy (Nov 3, 2020)

drunkenmeatfist said:


> If it settles in at around 260 then I would cook everything at 260. No need to try to fight the cooker to get it to 225. If anything I might throw a little more wood in so the temp would be in the 275-300 range.


I agree, once I let my offset run the temps it preferred, life got easier.


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