Hi All,
I'm going to smoke my first butt (pork shoulder). Just need a wee bit of advice.
I've already slathered and rubbed, they are sitting in the fridge.
There are two butts, total weight 11.4 lbs, one looks like it weighs 6lbs, the other slightly smaller.
I want to serve around 6pm tomorrow.
It looks like the consensus is to pre-heat smoker and over for an hour.
I'm looking at 220 at about 2hours per pound, so would I be safe putting it in at 5 or 6 am the same day? with a couple hours of FTC?
Thank you
I would start earlier.
I put mine in around 9pm the night before.
I usually do 4 butts.
They start coming out around 2 to 4 pm ready for FTC.
I do cook mine @ 205F, so the 20 degrees difference over that amount of time might do it, but I would start earlier so they don't run late.
What IT are you going to pull them at ? I usually use 190-200F
I second what FLB stated.
I do almost as he does.
Its better to have the butt doing the FTC thing than having a hungry mob waiting for the butt to finish.
smokin65, Isn't it great to have you own personal smokin' team!
I think it's fantastic,
Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm going to follow FLB's advice, 205 sounds like a winner....that's really low and slow. I'll take some pictures.....in the dark, in the rain......did I mention it's dark and raining? ;D
65... They told ya good. Go LOW & SLOW...
Temp ain't gotta stay perfectly steady, just in the slightly-higher-than-you-are shooting-for range...
You get it too hot (for a significant amount of time) and it won't come out "right".
Think real hard about this: That butt can't ***possibly*** get any hotter than the smoker temp.
From your comments, I know you're on top of all that - I'm just reinforcing the plan...
---
P.S.
Dang, your wheels ROCK.
65, 205* should be the cab temp. NO lower.
Hal, I knew that about the temp..............in my brain, locked deep inside. Seriously, it makes so much sense it's funny.
Ok, so they've been in since 12 midnight, so at this point 13 hours, I set the BDS for 210 (for some reason Bradley didn't think we needed 5 degree increments because I wanted to set it for 205) The IT right now is 166, the box is flucuating between 186-210 when it cycles on and off. I'm using the Mav ET73 and it's showing within a degree or two what the digital smoker is showing. I'm hoping that it's done around 4 (3 more hours) then I'll FTC till dinner time which will be somewhere between 6:30 - 7pm. I can always FTC it for a less amount of time if the smoke takes a bit longer. I have spritzed it with a spray of apple juice every now and then. Sorry, no pictures.....but they look great and smell even better. My dogs are spending more time around the smoker today for some reason.
This is a good lesson in patience, I would never have thought that I'd be cooking meat for this long but the proof will be in the eats.
Quote from: smokin65 on January 16, 2010, 01:26:52 PM
This is a good lesson in patience, I would never have thought that I'd be cooking meat for this long but the proof will be in the eats.
Trust us on this one.....
Quote from: smokin65 on January 16, 2010, 01:26:52 PM
the box is flucuating between 186-210
Sounds like you're
averaging just under 200.
Especially since you didn't put it in till midnight...
You might go up one more 10F notch (then you would be averaging 208?).
Regardless, you can't pull it till it hits
at least 190.
(whatever time that is)
I did want to start earlier (9pm) last night, but the truly unpleasant Mrs. Smokin65 said....no way, they'll be ready way to early. I (being older and wiser) said.....yes dear.
You probably should have gone with your plan. 9:00 start.
What is the meat IT now?
Ha, yep....Mrs. Smokin65 just admitted that we should have started at 9pm. The IT is now 177 and it's 4:35pm. It's getting there and we don't mind waiting an extra hour. I just sprayed and peeked....they look beautiful.
The butt will stall breaking down the tissue and the tissue will release moisture and your IT could actually go down or will stall for maybe 1 to 3 hrs.
And then it will take off again.
Have you hit a long stall in IT rising yet?
Yes, the long stall was the 162 + stall, took forever. Now it just turned 180.
Sounds like it's getting there!
It'll be worth the wait ;D
Well, after 48 hours it's done............
I mean, it's gone, eaten up, scarfed down.....I do have one in sections vacuum sealed in the freezer. The 6lb'er fed 3 last night and 6 tonight.
It ended up hitting 190 at 6pm, so overall an 18 hour cook for the both of them. I FTC'd for an hour and a half.
Here are some pics of the smoke on Saturday. Next on my list are spare-ribs, probably Friday or Saturday and the ribs don't look like an all day affair...I hope. One slab is 5.73lbs, the other is 5.37lbs. Do you guru's think somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 - 7 hours total, with 2 hours of that smoke?
(http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/Smokin65/Smoker1-16-10024.jpg)
(http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/Smokin65/Smoker1-16-10023.jpg)
(http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad323/Smokin65/Smoker1-16-10027.jpg)
Nice looking butts you have there!
For spare ribs that sounds about right, for baby backs it sounds a little long.
smokin65,
Nice photos. Looks like you turned out some fine Q with a really nice bark.
Rib timing can fool you or make a fool out of you. Just when you think they are never going to be tender up, they are done and are falling off the bone. This is too much for me as I like a little tug in my ribs. As with any smoke there are a lot of variables. I agree with FLBentRider's assessment but start early and plan on FTC if you have a set eating time.
Thanks for posting your success.
Good luck and slow smoking,
Pachanga
Nice lookin pork butt you've made there smokin65
Good luck on the ribs, there kinda tricky but I'm sure you will get them the way you want.
BeeeeuuuuuTTTfulllll!! Smokin65, that is some mighty fine look'n butt. If that is your first, you knocked it out of the park on your first! That one picture of that piled up pulled pork puts ALL the local joints here to shame. Great Job. And that is some good looking bark. Sure makes the "Q better with good bark.
So what does the "the truly unpleasant Mrs. Smokin65" say now? ;D ;D ;D
Six to seven hours on the spares sounds about right - quite often - iff'n you can keep the CT somewhere around 225. 3-2-1 if you are into foiling.
Thanks everyone......the truly unpleasant mrs. smokin65 loved it and it was just as good if not better the next day. She even said it was better than what our local bbq place is serving, that made me feel pretty darn good.
I'll keep everyone covered on the ribs. I watched one of the videos posted on this board on how to trim up the spare-ribs st. louis style.....that's what I'm going to try to do.
those butts look just like $$ in the bank.
With that as a standard you will never be serveing bad BBQ
65,
Congrats on those butts. They look awesome. 6-7 hours on ribs should work but don't write that down. Ribs have there own built in "I'm almost done" thermometer in them. Low and slow is the way to go with ribs. The built in thermometer is watching for the meat to start slipping up the rib bones, exposing the end of the bones. 1/4-1/2 inch bone exposed? DONE!
Nice ride BTW.
KyNola
65 - as long as you go low and slow, KY has ya covered on that "done" check. No matter how tasty they look, they ain't right 'till they show some bone. Don't over-do it, though; you don't want them really "falling off the bone", just coming off clean when you eat them.
65, those look awesome!!!
mrs
Good job there 65!