But, But , Butt

[Bob-B-Q]

Got my OBS about 4 weeks ago.  Have done ribs a couple of times with good results the first time and better the second.

I smoked my first shoulder yesterday.  Mixed reviews on it and I'd like to know if anyone can see where I might have went wrong or tell me if I just had a bad piece of meat.

It was a 4 pound roast.  I slathered it with yellow mustard, onion powder, cayenne, cumin and paprika.  Then I took fresh garlic and almost covered the top of the roast with it.  My wife and I love garlic!!  I smoked it for 4 hours with hickory, fat side down.  (Now, I have been told, in the oven, roasts should be cooked fat side up and have always down them that way.  Everything I read about smoking said fat side down.  Which is it??)  Left it in the OBS for a total of about 10 hours.  It was a nice 70 degree day yesterday, so I don't think outside temp was a factor.  With my wife and I checking the thermostat all day, it never got near 250 and most of the time it was right around the 225 mark.  Only opened the door at about the 6 hour mark once so as not to loose the heat in the smoker, just to check it out.  Everything I read said about 4 hours of cooking so I was a little worried.  But, also read don't go by time, go by IT.

Pulled it when it hit 190 IT and the bone fell out when I pushed on it with my thumb.  Outside looked really good and juicy.  It looked like it shrank quite a bit.  Pulled the ends and it just fell apart.  However, in the middle the piece would not shred at all.  I ended up slicing it.  It was not a tender as the ends but, still better than the pork chops my Mom would make as kids! 

Why did this happen??  How are the ends perfect but, the middle is on the tougher side and wont shred?

Here are my pics of the finished butt.  Overall, I'm happy with my results but, it is not where I want it to be.  Any feedback you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated!

Here is the whole shoulder once it came out with the bone out of it.



Here is how it looked on the parts I could shred.



Here is the part I sliced from the middle.

[Wildcat]

I never cook mine at that high of a temp.  Hopefully some of the folk on here that do cook at higher temps will chime in.  My guess is that the meat was rushed and you probably should have taken the meat temp to 205 OR perhaps you had a faulty meat temp reading.  Placement of the probe is important for accurate readings.  Should be thickest part of the meat, near but not touching the bone, and making sure you are not getting a reading from any internal fat.

I generally do butts at a cabinet temp averaging 205 until the meat temp of 175 to 190.  The meat should stay in the stall range for several hours.  It normally takes me 18 to 24 hours to smoke a single butt.  I only apply 4 hours of smoke.

[KyNola]

I'm with the Cat on this one.  I do have a question for you.  What were you using to measure the temp in the smoker cabinet?  I'm suspecting something can be at fault there.  Most of my pork butts go 24 hours or so.  Still your finished product looked pretty darned good to me.  4 hours of cooking time meant 4 hours of smoke time in the Bradley, then several more hours of low and slow cooking.  As for the butt shrinking, that is absolutely normal.  A lot of weight loss is part of the process.  Don't sweat it.  Try another butt with something that will accurately monitor the temp in the box and have fun.

KyNola

[Bob-B-Q]

OK, so lower temp and longer time next time.  Now, do you guys use a PID or just let it go over night once you know the temp is in range?  I would be worried the temp was going all over the place at night while I slept. 

I was using the door thermometer for cabinet temperature.  I had the meat on the shelf right above it so I thought that would work.  Maybe I need a better temp source too.

Thanks for the tip about 4 hours of cook time really equals 4 hours of smoke time!!  I was wondering about that.

As far as the taste it was really good!!  Sampled some last night and had some pulled pork sandwiches with some slaw on them tonight!!  I am going to make Cuban sandwiches out of the sliced pork tomorrow!!

Thanks for all your help so far!  This is fun!!!!!

[NePaSmoKer]

With cat and Ky here. When i do butt i only put 2 to 4 hours of smoke @225* If the butt stalls i boat it wrap the top in a foil tent and put it in the Traeger @250* (which is really 225*) The butt is done faster.

BTW nice butt you did there.

nepas

[KyNola]

Hey Bob,
The weakest part of a Bradley is their thermometers.  Invest in a Maverick ET-73 dual probe thermometer.  It will measure the temp of the butt and the temp in the box.  As an added value, it comes with a remote receiver meaning you can sit in the house and monitor everything going on in your Bradley.  It also comes with alarms you can set so if the temp in the box falls below or rises above where you want it to be, it will let you know.  Another alternative is once you have smoked your butt for 4 hours, move it inside and use your house oven.  I find I can control the temp better inside.  After the Bradley has done the smoke period, it is nothing more than an unstable oven.  HINT:  Check your house oven first with your Maverick.  I learned my house oven is about 30  degrees off to what I set the temp for.

I think you're doing a great job.  Some of my more learned friends will be along to give you better advice than mine.  I most cerrtainly will yield to their expertise.

KyNola

[Bob-B-Q]

Just realized I had 2 pics of what was shredded.  I now corrected and put the sliced part up now.

I have my eye on the Maverick ET-73 now!

[Habanero Smoker]

To add to what others have already said, your placement of the meat probe is also important, it must be in the thickest part. Also from looking at the bone, it looks like a picnic shoulder (lower arm), not the butt ends (upper arm). The picnic has a couple of different muscles in it, and they cook at a different rate. I generally will only take picnics to around 165°F, and slice them; but others on this forum will only smoke the picnics for pulled pork and have great success.

[Caneyscud]

Habs nailed it.  IT should be taken at the part that will take the longest to cook - the thickest.  Unless you want a combo of pulled and sliced - which is not a bad thing!  Thin parts and the outside will get to your desired pulling earliest.  And depending on how fast it got to the IT, sometimes it needs to stay at your final IT for awhile - that is somewhat what FTC does.   On a tough piece of meat, it is not how fast you can do that - just cook it over 600 deg until "done" then try to eat it.  The meat needs some time at 145-165 minimum to be able to break down the collagen and render the fat.  That does some real nice things with your meat.  Think about it, that is what a crock pot does, or what you do when you cook a roast or bake a cake - you don't just rush to temp, it has to stay there for awhile.  Bet it tasted good anyways.

[Wildcat]

Yes, I do use a PID.  I did not at first, but I got tired of constantly having to adjust my slider during the over night smokes.  My door gauge is fairly accurate for its location in the box.  You can't count on it for cabinet temps though until the meat starts getting close to being done.  In the OBS the heat source is in the back bottom of the cabinet and the door gauge is in the upper front of the cabinet and their will be cooler meat in between the two which makes it inaccurate.