Trial run at pulled pork

[db14]

To this point my only experience with pulled pork has been consuming it.  Therefore, I have plenty of questions.  I've checked the recipe site, so I'm hoping I'm set on preparing and cooking stages, but anything additional advice would definitely be appreciated.  My first question is what cut of meat should I use?  I typically hear shoulder or butt or boston butt.  Are there major differences between them?  I know the boston butt has a bone through the middle (not sure about the others).  How does that effect the cooking through the middle of the meat and where would I want to position the therm probe?  Also, do you guys typically brine the meat or just rub and smoke?

[FLBentRider]

What you want is a pork shoulder, butt end.

A whole pork shoulder has a shank (picnic) and a butt end. Also called a boston butt.

Sometimes I brine, I depends on the timing(how much time I have)

I rub it, wrap and plastic and let it rest in the fridge 24 hours.

Pre-heat the smoker.

I put four hours of smoke on @205F and continue to cook @205F until an IT of 195-200F.

FTC for at least an hour.

Pull and enjoy.

[FLBentRider]

Here's a pic of the meat map.

[RAF128]

I've done 2 so far.    I've preheated the smoker to 250º before I put the meat in.   When you open the door and put the meat in the temp drops down to where I'd like it.  I've set the temp on my PID at 220º but because of the size of the meat and it's temp the temp of smoker drops further and usually remains around 205º.   I smoke for 4 hours and the last time I used hickory.   Of course you can choose your favorite.  
Allow plenty of time.    My last one was a 7 lber and it took 22 hours.    Then I FTCed.  
Never had one with a bone.   I got the boneless ones.    I put my probe right in the middle or as close to it as I could guesstimate ;).
I've haven't tried brining and have only rubbed it.  I used this one.  http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?86-Pulled-Pork-and-Sauce

[db14]

Wow, 22 hours for 7lbs?  Hopefully I'm not getting in over my head here.  You can FTC for up to 6-8 hours though, right?

With the probe, my question was more for if the meat had the bone in it still.  Since the bone goes through the middle do you just put the probe next to it?  I didn't know if it would effect the temp reading.

[jiggerjams]

Try to get your probe in the thickest part of the meat without being interfered with by the bone. The bone or fat will give you inaccurate readings.

[classicrockgriller]

db, smoking a Butt is very time consuming, but very rewarding.

You can't hardly mess one up.

FTC'ing for 6 to 8 hours is on the far end of the stretch, but up to 5 is probably more like it.

been several post on Turbo cooking butts at 250* or more and the results were very good

and cuts down on your cook time.

The bone doesn't run all the way thru the Butt so there is a part that the probe can be placed.

Get you a Butt and go for it. You will be pleased.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

RAF128 - gotta a question ...  where do you put the PID controller probe relative to the pork when you cook it?  Is it above, below and by how much?

[FLBentRider]

I put the PID temp probe just below the lowest rack of meat.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Thanks- that was my plan but wanted to check with the experts.

[RAF128]

RAF128 - gotta a question ...  where do you put the PID controller probe relative to the pork when you cook it?  Is it above, below and by how much?

I drilled a hole in the top of my smoker and feed it in that way.    I goes down about ½ way in my 6 rack and ends up beside or just barely below the meat.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Thanks!

[DTAggie]

I am a fan of the Turbo method Classic talked about.  Cuts down on time significantly and was awesome.

[db14]

Since I'm cooking without a PID, I may end up turbo cooking whether I want to or not ;)  I'll probably try something in between.  I won't be cooking it at 205F, but I probably won't be at 250F either.  Somewhere around 230F might be a good comprimise.  Ideally I should try one at the low end and one at the high end so I can compare.

[RAF128]

I found with my digital 6 rack that there is quite a diffence between the temp shown on the PID and the temp displayed on the Bradley.   The Bradley is quite a bit higher.   Before I got the PID everything seems to take a lot longer.   IMO it's because of the temp difference.    When the is set on the Bradley it's lower than the actual temp.   I believe it's because of the location of the sensor.