Buttackular

[Caneyscud]

Why do you think you have a 5 degree swing between the 2?  Is one thicker than the other?  I note they are both on the same rack.  I would think it a bit odd to have 5 point difference in the two.

Sailor, not odd at all.  Even though thickness is probably the greatest indicator of how long or how fast something will cook, there are quite a number of others including moisture content, amount of fat, age of the beast, amount of collagen.  

The theory of a big rotisserie (or carousel as some call it) smoker is that the meat moves around the cooking cabinet.  This means that theoretically all pieces of meat in the smoker have the same amount of time in all the different temperature zones.  This would mean that all the meat would finish at the same time.  Although this does happen, it usually doesn't.  Back last September I did 8 or 9 - 11.5 to 12.5 pound packer briskets in a rotisserie.   I was feeding about 100 high school and college kids.  At 225 to 250 deg, they should have all been finished in 12 to 14 hours.  Not so.  I can't remember all the exact details, but the first two came off at 13 hours, the next two at 14 hours, the next two at 15 hours, and one at 16 and one 1t 18 if I remember.  The lateness of the first ones was because the alarm failed to go off on one of my hourly times (operator error) and the fire almost went out.  

[KevinG]

I'd switch the probes, but I buried them pretty good under the aluminum foil. It took me about 10 minutes to wrap the butts up. Ripped the foil 2 times, so now that I got it I think I'll just leave it.

[classicrockgriller]

Thank for the answer.  Wondering if the probe's were switched if you would get the same reading?  I do understand that it is no big deal as they will be done when they are done.  I am the type that will take things apart to understand why it works this way then when I put it all together again I have parts left over.  LOL

ROFL .... been there, done that and got the extra parts to prove. ;D

[KevinG]

Hell, that was stupid of me, I could've just switched the plugs at the top of the unit. DOH!

[KevinG]

It finally was getting near time to pull the Archer Farms butt as the IT hit first. Before I pulled it I went ahead and switched probes. Boy, glad I did, I must have had a glitch in my maverick because both temps shot up. I went ahead and pulled both butts.

I had a hard time picking up the Archer Farms butt, and it ended up falling apart in the Bradley. I was able to salvage most of it. I noticed I missed the bone altogether yesterday when I cut this one. Probably part of the reason for a temp difference.


Here's the Carolina Treet butt right out of the oven.


I started pulling the Carolina Treet butt and the bone fell right out.


I seemed to have a lot more sauce left over in the Carolina Treet butt than the Archer Farms even though I used the whole Archer Farms bottle, and only about 8/10 of the Carolina Treet bottle. The Archer Farms is on the left and the Carolina Treet is on the right.


As far as taste goes, here's what I found. Open the bottles and Archer Farms reeks of vinegar, however after cooking, the smell is gone. The Carolina Treet has a lot bolder flavor than the Archer Farms, but if you can't get CT, the AF isn't that bad of a compromise.

[classicrockgriller]

Wow, I thought the CT have more vinegar flavor and the Archer Farms was sweeter.

The CT is a 27.5 oz bottle and the AF is 16 oz.

Thanks for Split Butt comparison!

[FLBentRider]

How was the bark?

[KevinG]

There wasn't as much bark as I was expecting on either butt. Probably had to do with the fact I did it all in the Bradley and didn't switch to the oven. Maybe the rack position too, but not real sure.

[FLBentRider]

I've not done a butt with just a sauce, always a rub.

[KevinG]

Good point, a rub probably would've helped too.

[squirtthecat]

Didn't you say you had them wrapped in foil for a while?   The extra moisture might have nixxed the bark formation..

[KevinG]

Yea, after the smoke I wrapped them in foil. I thought that was to keep it tender so it would pull easier. Thought the bark should've formed before that though, cause it was 4 hours of smoke.

[FLBentRider]

Yea, after the smoke I wrapped them in foil. I thought that was to keep it tender so it would pull easier. Thought the bark should've formed before that though, cause it was 4 hours of smoke.

foil = less bark

[KevinG]

That explains it then. It don't matter too much, cause it was good. I've got some good leftovers. I'm still waiting for CRG to post his lasagna recipe to put some of this into.

[OU812]

Looks good even if the bark was a little shy.

The foil is what killed the bark, if you want to foil, next time pull out of the foil and cook for a couple hrs to let the bark form again.

Eather way I'm sure the pork is great.