Doing my first smoke tomorrow

[Duster]

wow I'm blind now. that tower sure looks perty! anyway I'm getting on this a bit late. I figure your butt is just about done by now. However You might wanna try a good brine on your next one. Yes buts are very forgiving but a good brine imparts a lot of flavor and moisture. also you may have better luck when you get your maverick due to the inaccuracy of the Bradley temp gage.
as far as I am  concerned a good pork butt is the best thing that come out of a Bradley. here is the recipe I use over a weekend and never have any complaints.

2@7-8 lbs. Boston Butt – bone-in
1 Large Bottle Yellow Mustard
2 Bottles of Grill Mates Pork Rub (or make your own if you prefer)
3 cans of frozen Apple Juice concentrate
2 12oz cans of beer
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup barbecue sauce
1½ cup of kosher salt
1 Spray bottle
1 Box of Tin Foil
1 Box of Cling Wrap
Internal Temperature Gage

Tuesday evening 

Make brine

2 cans of frozen apple juice
2 12 oz cans of beer
¼ cup of molasses
¼ cup of brown sugar
¼ cup of preferred rub
¼ cup of barbecue sauce
1½ cups of kosher salt
21 cups of water

Combine in a plastic cooler (12 pack style) apple juice, beer, and 17 cups of cold water. In a large saucepan combine 4 cups of water, molasses, brown sugar, rub, barbecue sauce, and salt. Bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly. Once all ingredients have dissolved in the water with the exception of maybe some spices in the rub then pour this into the cooler with the other mixture and stir. Once brine cools place butts directly into the brine and place a large sealed bag of ice on top of them to make sure they do not float up, they must stay completely submerged. The ice will help keep them cool but make sure the water from it melting dose not leak into the brine.



Thursday evening

1. Slather yellow mustard all over Pork Butts
2. Coat Butts with Pork rub
3. Wrap in Cling Wrap plastic
4. Put in fridge over night

Friday at around 4:00 p.m.

1. Remove butts from fridge and remove wrap.
   Coat butts with more Pork Rub.
2. Let butts sit 1-2 hours at room temperature and preheat the smoker around 210 degrees.
3. Start the smoker with 6 hours (20 briquettes) of whatever smoke you will use
4. Place butts in middle of the smoker fat side up and the larger one lower. Insert your temperature gage into the middle of the lower, larger butt.
5. Heat the smoker to a temp of 210 degrees with top vent at least ½        way open.  Shut the door and wait until the butts has been smoked for three hours
6. Open the door and check the water in the bowl; fill bowl with water if needed.
7. When the butt has been smoked for 3 hours,(8 or 9 pm) spray apple juice all over the butts. 
8. When smoke is done at the 6-hour mark (about midnight by now) put new water in the bowl and then spray the apple juice on the butt again.
9. Shut door and GO TO BED!!
10. At around 7-8 a.m., check the temperature.  If it is not 195 degrees, do not remove.  Spray some more apple juice on the butt and wait until it reaches 195 degrees. (Approximately 13 to 16 hours)
11. When the temp reaches 195 degrees, remove the butts from the smoker and spray again with apple juice. Then wrap them in foil and place a bath towel around them and place them in a cooler to let rest and keep it warm.
12. Wait at least two hours to take the butt out of the foil and shred with a fork. (The butts can sit in the cooler and stay hot up to 6 hours till you are ready to eat.)

Anyway I'm sure your pork taste amazing. I wish I could be at your place for dinner!

[Smoking Duck]

Duster,
That sounds like an amazing way to do Butts!  I may have to give that a try when the family comes in for Christmas.  I was just happy to crawl this time and I'm happy to report that it was a huge success!  My family absolutely loved it.  I thought it was pretty good myself but think I may do a little stronger wood next time (maybe maple or oak) but I like a really strong smoke.  Here's the pics of the finished product:

After FTC and a little apple juice bath:


And some pulled:



For my first effort, I'm really happy.  Now, I just gotta find a way to get the spousal unit to wash the trays up and life will be good.  Now, it's time for an Italian beer!

[Consiglieri]

Peroni or Moretti?  Heck, why not both!

[Mr Walleye]

Congrats on your success Marc!

He11.... A guy deserves a couple of beer after all that stress!  ;D

Mike

[Smoking Duck]

Moretti.  I don't have any Peroni on hand any more (after 9 hours of smoking, I blew threw it pretty quickly).  Need to pick some more up soon but right now it's a Moretti.  I've found that Italian beer goes real well with smoking.  I may have to see how Coronas go with smoking next time.

Wow, I've really opened up a whole new world.....course, it could put me in the grave a little quicker than anticipated.  Well, I've always said that when I go, I want people to look at me and say "What took him so long?" rather than "He looked so good."  I figure they'll know I enjoyed myself that way  8)

[Habanero Smoker]

I'm probably the one you see posting the 175°F for pulling pork. I've been taking mine to 175°F for years and it pulls easy, and I don't FTC. The trick is to smoke at 200°F - 210°F. The break down in connective tissue is not just the final temperature, but also the length of time the internal temperature above the 160°F - 165°F.

I wouldn't recommend taking it out at 175°F if you cabinet temperature is 225°; but at 175°F it would be good for slicing.

[Wildcat]

Congradulations Smoking Duck.  That looks great.  I, like Habs, keep the temp down during the whole cook.  I try to maintain at 200 until meat is around 190 to 195, then FTC for 3 or 4 hours.  It takes longer but it is so tender that you can pull it with a tooth pick.  My favorite way is to rub with Iceman's rub, then serve with Iceman's sauce.

[Smoking Duck]

Thanks for the props guys.  I really appreciate it.  You helped me take a $12 piece of meat and turn it into a meal that is as good as anything I've eaten around here (to be fair, I really haven't found that many good BBQ restaurants up here in northern Indiana).  Better yet, the word is already spreading around the family of the job I did on the pulled pork.  Now, I gotta get to work on the family dinner over the holidays.  I'm thinking a turkey, some ham, and maybe some of that smoked onion soup I saw last night at Oldman's site.  That's what I love about this place........if there isn't a recipe for it, someone has at the least experimented with it.  I just may go and buy my brother in law a DBS for Christmas now so he can have some smoked foods up there in North Dakota.