First time user

nchoa · February 04, 2011, 12:00:52 PM

Got a BPS, planning to smoke a 6 lb pork shoulder Saturday. Any recommendations to first timers will be greatly appreciated.

jiggerjams · February 04, 2011, 02:30:09 PM

Welcome nchoa,

I do not own a BPS so my advice to you is patience and allocate yourself lots of time to let that happen. Low and slow. You can always FTC (foil, towel, cooler) or FTM (Foil, towel, microwave) to hold till time to serve. There are plenty of others with more experience than I so I will let them have at. Enjoy....which I am sure you will!

FTC AND/OR FTM means once the product is done cooking you can wrap in foil then wrap in a towel and put in a dry cooler or microwave (off) to hold the temperature. The temerature will hold for hours.

JJ

TestRocket · February 04, 2011, 02:53:22 PM

Welcome nchoa,

Season that shoulder up tonight (I rub mine down with mustard and apply a rub and wrap it in plastic wrap for an over night say in the fridge). Take it out of the fridge tomorrow about 2 hours before you plan to start smoking so it will have the chance to get close to room temperature and get it smoking. I have the OBS so I can't really give you and idea on the times but I take mine to and IT of 190 degs and FTC for several hours before I pull it to eat. Good luck and we really like PICS! ;D

nchoa · February 04, 2011, 03:58:25 PM

Appreciate the response. I just finish applying the dry rub to the shoulder. I have a temperature probe that gives me instant feedback of the internal temperature. Plan to serve it for lunch on Sunday after church and perhaps warming it up in the oven sealed with foil to keep the moisture in. We plan to serve it like the North Carolina pull pork sandwich top it with cole slaw, and vinegar dressing for the meat.

I will let you folks know how it turns out.

Thanks!

FLBentRider · February 04, 2011, 04:13:37 PM

W E L C O M E to the Forum nchoa!

DTAggie · February 04, 2011, 08:02:32 PM

Welcome nchoa. Pulled pork is a great first smoke. Keep the temp adjuster all the way up to maintain a cabinet temp of at least 220*. I personally like to take my butt to an IT of 200* then wrap in foil, wrap in a towell and place in a cooler (FTC) for a few hours. For your vinegar based sauce try a cup of this. You can still put a BBQ sauce on a sandwich after using this vinegar recipe.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?124-Vaunted-Vinegar-Sauce-For-Pulled-Pork

GusRobin · February 05, 2011, 06:38:22 AM

Another way is to pull after FTC, put in fridge until ready and heat in a crock pot. Add some juice or other liquid to the crock pot. I put a small bread pan under the butt when I cook it and capture the drippings, put drippings in fridge. Fat rises to the top, c=scrap it off and you have some very good tasting juice left over. I use that in the crock pot.

nchoa · February 05, 2011, 07:27:25 AM

Thanks for the vinegar recipe, I kept it for future use.

I Have a question relating to FTC and just to understand what effect it has to the final process?

From what I can tell, it allows the cooking process to continue and therefore tenderize the meat further. Second making the meat absorb it's juices and doesn't dry up the meat.

nchoa · February 05, 2011, 07:28:32 AM

Thanks for the recommendation. I will find me a bread pan to catch the drippings.

muebe · February 05, 2011, 08:14:13 AM

Quote from: nchoa on February 05, 2011, 07:27:25 AM
Thanks for the vinegar recipe, I kept it for future use.

I Have a question relating to FTC and just to understand what effect it has to the final process?

From what I can tell, it allows the cooking process to continue and therefore tenderize the meat further. Second making the meat absorb it's juices and doesn't dry up the meat.

Yes...you have answered your own question ;D And if you cut/pull the meat while it is still hot it will release steam/moisture and dry out the meat so FTC is a very important step.

nchoa · February 05, 2011, 08:25:41 AM

Appreciate the feedback.

I'll be firing the smoker up in a couple of hours.

schneep · February 05, 2011, 09:39:18 AM

Welcome and good luck!! You will find all the people on this forum to be very helpful and they will answer any question you can come up with. They did for me and it has been great.

nchoa · February 05, 2011, 01:17:14 PM

I'm at the 4th hour of smoking w/ internal temp of 146 and the coloration is starting to look good. One observation relating to the bisquettes, it burn maybe 1/3 and then it was replaced 20 minutes later.

The internal temp this AM was a bit concerning but when the outside temp warmed up, then I noticed the heat coming strong. When I moved the smoker under my patio cover that really help the temperature going too.

GusRobin · February 05, 2011, 03:01:46 PM

You will hit near the 160s (varies a bit with each butt) and then stall. It will stay in that range for hours. Don't panic, it is the meat breaking down and releasing moisture in the process. This stalls the IT temp rise. If you need to go to bed and don't want to leave it on, you can pull it and finish it in you oven. I have pulled them when I had to go out, FTCd them for a few hours then put in the oven set at 230 until they reached an IT of 190. It came out great. I put it on a rack in a pan (don't want drippings burning in the oven). Just a thought if you get in a pinch.

nchoa · February 05, 2011, 03:31:02 PM

Thanks, I'm almost there, 20 degrees to go!