All I can really say is "wow, that's GOOD!"
Following the advice here on the forum, especially icerat's excellent "one post says it all" procedure quoted below, I, and some select friends, just had a transcendental experience with a couple of pork butts.
Well i happen to do 2 8 pounders often.And here is my way.Mustard up the pork with any king of yellow mustard.Put the rub on and then wrap in plastic then place in fridge.The next day 1-2 hours before you want to start the smoke take them out of the fridge and leave them sit.Start the smoker at 6-7 pm that same night.SMOKE them for 4-5 hours with alder or what ever wood ya like.Spray apple juice after the 3rd hour of the smoke and there after when you like.Before ya go to bed change the water out.AT about 7-8 the frist one should be done at temps of 195 .Then ftc the 1st one and move the second one down a rack lower.SPRAY apple juice again.A few hours later it should be done at internal temps of 195 remove the second one then ftc that one also.These butts in the ftc should be plenty hot even to pull at 5-6 pm that evening this ftc keep heat a very long time so dont worry about cold food.This is the best and easiest food to do in this bs machine.Make you look like a bbq champ
That's pretty much exactly what I did. Starting with 2 7 lb butts, I made a rub up of sugar, salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic and cayenne and poured it on after the mustard. Overnight in saran wrap, then more rub on top right before smoker entry at 5 pm Saturday. Gave it 4.5 hrs of hickory, then got the box stabilized at 210 (with the bisquette burner switched off) and went to bed. I did sneak out at about 3am just to check the temps, was holding right at 210. (early morning P run...)
8 am Sunday morning, internal temps of both butts were 165. Again, no panic, due to the understanding gleaned from you all here... I let it go on at 210, knowing that at 165 the magic is happening, must be patient.
Since I'm still using an instant read thermometer, not a Maverick (yet... I've now got one on order...) each time I opened the door to check temps, out came the apple juice sprayer.
Box temp started to rise as the butts passed the plateau, I let it get to 220 before starting to turn it down to maintain temp. The lower butt hit 190 at about noon, and was promptly FTC'd with lots of apple juice. Hmmm... looks like a meteorite, but is already trying to fall apart. Moved the upper butt to the lower rack, and it peaked at 3pm. FTC we go.
At 5, pulled the first butt and sliced off the bark and it literally pulled itself into a huge pile of the juiciest, most flavorful pork I've ever had the good luck to eat. I chopped up the bark and served it separate, to add to the meat based on each eater's preference. Man, good stuff!
After dinner, with many a good belch, I pulled the other one, which by now had spent 4+ hours in the cooler, and it was still too hot to handle. I feel confident that I can FTC for 6 hours or more and still have hot meat to serve. Bagged it up for another day.
Possibly the most successful BS adventure to date, I'm definitely getting a "rep" with my friends as a BBQ master. LOL!!
There's no doubt at all that none of that would have been possible without the great advice from the forum. Thanks, everyone!!
Next adventure: a smoked whole turkey for New Years... gotta go do some research!
