I will be trying to do a Boston Butt this weekend its about 7 lbs. During the first 4 hrs of smoke how open should I leave the vents on top or do they stay closed ? After the first 4 hrs do i have to do anything with the vents while its finishing the cooking. Do you have to keep adding water to the bowl during the cooking time?
I am sorry for the LAME Questions but without this forum I would be lost.
You guys are GREAT.
Sorrry I forgot to ask do you have to trim the fat off the butt?
Hi welcome here.Leave the vent open 1/2 way to full .ya can add a little water or just spill out the old with the pucks and put some fresh water in so yes have some water in.I was once lost butt i found my self a block away ;D.
Unless it has an excessive amount of fat I just leave it alone. Vent must be open enough so no smoke comes back through the smoke generator. Smoke coming back through the smoke generator can cause problems down the road so always make this a rule. After the smoking period I leave the vent at least 1/3 open to prevent moisture buildup inside the cabinet. I change out my water after 4 hrs with fresh HOT water. BB normally takes me around 2 hrs per lb at 225f. have fun.
Do you smoke fat side up or down or does it even matter?
Fat side uppie. ;D
Trimming fat is a personal preference. I trim mine down to about 1/4"; especially getting rid of any hard fat. I still end up with moist meat. I just don't like having a lot of fat left on the butt after it has been smoked. I wind up trimming it off at the end anyway, and losing the bark with it.
You definitely want to make sure that you don't close that vent too far...you will end up with excess moisture accumulation which will drip back onto your meat...learned that mistake the hard way when I first got my Bradley... ::)
Man of Turkey,
I'd be doing what BigSmoker says...I'm a bit of a weird guy but I don't change my water and I leave my vent about 1/3. One other suggestion, leave that door closed and wait till your internal temp (187 or so for me) hits and then FTC the thing for two hours for best results.
WELCOME....
Quote from: Turkeyman on April 27, 2006, 04:03:52 PM
Sorrry I forgot to ask do you have to trim the fat off the butt?
I trim to no more than a 1/4 inch. There is plenty of marbling inside the butt and the connective tissue you are trying to break down. If you have a big ole hunk of fat that will not render all the way, you have lost the rub when you shred it and I like bark. Unless of course you want that spicy fat in your sandwich. My 2 cents (which is worth a lot more today than it was a couple years ago CDN/US exch +/- $1.12) :D
Ditto that whitetailfan. Keeping it down to a 1/4" trim seems to work every time. You end up with some dynomite bark that way.
Hey Guys one more question and I will be ready for the morning after smoking for about 4 hrs do you leave the smoke generator on or off ?
Quote from: Turkeyman on April 28, 2006, 03:43:05 PM
Hey Guys one more question and I will be ready for the morning after smoking for about 4 hrs do you leave the smoke generator on or off ?
I leave mine on.
I leave my smoke generator on, because I need the extra heat to maintain my cabinet temperature.
Don't know your location but for most of us leave it on.
I live in wisconsin so I should proably leave it on. Well I just put the pork butt on I will post how it turns out thanks for everyones help.
Well my pulled pork turned out AWESOME I could not believe how good the flavor was and how moist it was everyone just loved it. It took about 12 hours then I did the FTC for 1.5 Hrs man was that good. I just could not belive how good it was for my first time smoking. That would not have happened with out all the help from you guys. This smoker is really awesome the temp held pretty steady for the whole 12 Hrs between 210 & 215 just very easy to use. Now I am hooked lookout Baby Backs are next.
Thanks again for the help.
Scott
Glad everything came out good for you Scott. I just started smoking with my Bradley a few months ago and you are right, its easy to get hooked! This is the place to be for help, these guys all know what they are talking about.
Bryan
Good job Turkey of Man...butts are a great thing to start off on...now just be a little patient with ribs. I think BigSmoker put it this way..."Ribs are an adventure"
I have to agree with mallard.But this weekend i sprayed apple juice in between hours.And man what a differnce.Very very very nice man that made a world of a differnce. ;D They were the best ones yet.So keep that in mined turkey.
I knew you'd like the juice thing once you tried it Rat. I was suprised way back when I first tried it with ribs.
Quote from: icerat4 on May 01, 2006, 09:57:49 AM
I have to agree with mallard.But this weekend i sprayed apple juice in between hours.And man what a differnce.Very very very nice man that made a world of a differnce. ;D They were the best ones yet.So keep that in mined turkey.
Quote from: iceman on May 01, 2006, 01:09:21 PM
I knew you'd like the juice thing once you tried it Rat. I was suprised way back when I first tried it with ribs
Iceman,
How often do you spray your ribs when smoking? Do you take them all the way out of the BS or just spray them down inside the smoker? Do you use 100% juice of some type of mixture?
Thanks,
Bryan
Hi begolf25;
I usually spritz the ribs twice during the last part of smoking then just before putting them in FTC. Make sure your ribs are about done smoking BEFORE spritzing with juice or they won't take smoke very good. I mix a bit of beer with my juice to give the taste buds a small suprise tingle. I smoke my ribs meat side up. It just seems that the fat and juices flow through the meat better that way. Just my opinion. I don't use a Bradley smoker, just the generators on my smokers. They are big enough and set up for leaving the racks in while spraying a light mist on them. If I was using a Bradley I think I would slide the racks out then spray and pop them back in to keep the mess down. This WILL mess with your cooking time though so keep that in mind. Ann likes hers pulled a little early then sauced up and grilled for a few minutes. I like mine right out of FTC with sauce on the side for dipping then over the lips and into my belly. Hope this helps out.
Excuse my ignorance, what does FTC mean?
FTC:
Foil - the item(s) when they reach your target internal temp.
Towel - wrapped around the item to help slow down heat loss, and more importantly to keep cooler interiors from cracking due to excessive heat.
Cooler - Place and leave item in a cheap/old cooler for awhile. The longer the better, up to 4 or so hours.
The maintaining of the heat does wonders. It sounds so simple, you'd think yea, whatever. But it does make a huge difference. Give it a try. I have an old Omaha Steaks shipping cooler I use. Things like brisket and butts really shine when you go thru this routine. And I think it helps in being able to start something ahead of schedule, and the 4+ hrs of FTC gives you some beer drinking time with friends instead of frantically scrambling around trying to synch finish time w/ with what the crowd is expecting :]
I guess the theory behind this is that connective tissue starts breaking down at the end of your target temps. When you go thru a very slooow cooling down process, you give the food a longer time to have the fatty chewy stuff rendered into a gelatin type material that's tasty and moistens the meat.
Damn, now I'm hungry...
Dude!
I want ribs again. Guess that has to be next weekend. Still got some Goose Bay Company rub and sauce. Might need more sauce soon....
the Apple Sauce and Beer is a twist I have not tried yet. What kind of Beer Patrick. Amber Pale Ale, Stout, IPA? Does it make a diff.
Quote from: gary_CO on May 12, 2006, 07:31:06 PM
FTC:
Foil - the item(s) when they reach your target internal temp.
Towel - wrapped around the item to help slow down heat loss, and more importantly to keep cooler interiors from cracking due to excessive heat.
Cooler - Place and leave item in a cheap/old cooler for awhile. The longer the better, up to 4 or so hours.
The maintaining of the heat does wonders. It sounds so simple, you'd think yea, whatever. But it does make a huge difference. Give it a try. I have an old Omaha Steaks shipping cooler I use. Things like brisket and butts really shine when you go thru this routine. And I think it helps in being able to start something ahead of schedule, and the 4+ hrs of FTC gives you some beer drinking time with friends instead of frantically scrambling around trying to synch finish time w/ with what the crowd is expecting :]
I guess the theory behind this is that connective tissue starts breaking down at the end of your target temps. When you go thru a very slooow cooling down process, you give the food a longer time to have the fatty chewy stuff rendered into a gelatin type material that's tasty and moistens the meat.
Damn, now I'm hungry...
Thanks very much!
Louis,
FTC...
Really it's a method to insure doness and enhancing the flavoring. Especially with butts, if you want them to be pull able, this will almost guarantee it, I also use this on my briskets with excellent results. Another thing is the ability to get your end product keep it's moisture.
This is how I FTC.
I pull my meat when it gets to my desired internal temp. Double wrap in foil and before I seal it up I put a splash or two of apple juice. I get a couple old beach towels and wrap again and then place in a room temp cooler. I normally do this for two hours, it will keep your butts blazing hot up to five hours with no problem. I do not do a butt with doing this...I just make sure to add this step to the total cooking time. IT DOES MAKE A BIG DIFFERANCE. When you serve this, you will, for a breif moment of time you will be king of butts and they will ask you how you made such a good piece of meat, I would tell them everything except this step...
Did some baby backs this weekend and sprayed with apple juice as iceman suggested and they were my best batch yet by far. I usually slather them with mustard before putting on my rub but this time I covered them in grape jelly before adding the rub and I think that added a little something also. Thanks for the help Pat!
Bryan