My first smoke didn't come out as good...

Brabus · September 14, 2005, 04:19:33 PM

Hello everyone! As posted in the SS forum, I got my Bradley and immediately seasoned it that night. Then the following day I attempted to smoke a Pork shoulder. It was 6 pounds. I also put in a rack of ribs. Both pieces of meat were dry rubbed.

After 6 hours or so of smoking, we ate the meats... It was very very good, but not falling off the bone like I've had when my friend has smoked some meats with his offset charcoal smoker.

What did I do wrong? Did I not leave it in long enough?

calatexmex · September 14, 2005, 04:33:20 PM

Hi Brabus,
Yup, Sounds like you didn't leave it in long enough. Butt usually takes at least 12 hours. However you can't go by time in cooker alone. You want to shoot for an internal temp of 190-200 degrees. When a Butt is ready to pull apart a temp probe or skewer will go in like butter. Foil and let sit for an hour or 2. Hope this helps.

Mike C

Brabus · September 14, 2005, 04:52:09 PM

Thanks Mike... what do you mean my "foil"??

As in cover it with foil or foil the bottom?

calatexmex · September 14, 2005, 05:03:28 PM

When you take the Butt off the cooker. Wrap it in heavy duty aluminum foil. Let it sit for an hour or 2 then pull apart. Also if it will be a while before you want to pull. You can wrap in saran type wrap, foil, wrap in towel, then place in a cooler. It will stay hot for quite a while that way. Good stuff.

Mike C

BigRed · September 14, 2005, 05:14:01 PM

Barbus!

If for some reason you do not have an internal temp. probe when cooking a Pork Butt, you can tell if it is finished if the bone pulls out easily. If not it is not done. The first thing I did when I got my BS was to get a temp. probe. The 190 -200 degrees is perfect if you are going to pull your pork.

BigRED

Brabus · September 14, 2005, 05:15:18 PM

Wow... didn't know I should wait that long...

So smoke it until internal temp is 190, then take out and foil wrap/place in cooler for another 1.5 hours?

Very nice! I'll try that today!

nsxbill · September 14, 2005, 05:15:21 PM

The tried and true method is call FTC....Foil - Towel - Cooler. I do pork butts/shoulders to about 187°F. internal temp with the cabinet temp set no greater than 210°F. I smoke for 4 hours then just let it cook, after changing out the water after the first 4 hours - often one more time later.

Depending on the size, it could spend 24 hrs slow cooking. When the temp has been achieved, the meat comes out, and is wrapped in foil - some wrap first in saran. I add about 1/8 cup of apple juice to the foil pack, then wrap up in a heavy beach towel and put into a pre-warmed coleman-like cooler for 2-6 hrs.

When it comes out, it is like butter. It pulls easily and melts in your mouth. Even after 6 hrs in the cooler, it is still almost too hot to handle with bare hands.

The FTC time helps the collagen in the meat to break down leaving the meat very tender and additionally, very tasty! Keep trying! IT gets better every time!

P.S. I do ribs the same way, but with heat cranked up to 275°F, but after about 4 hrs, pull the ribs, add the juice, then finish foil-packed ribs in conventional oven at 300°F for about 30-45 min. Almost fall off the bone. Not all like it this way, it is just my preference.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Brabus · September 14, 2005, 05:21:47 PM

Thanks bill, great advice!!!

I will try that technique. A couple of follow-up questions

-So you only smoke 4 hours the FTC it?
-How do you get the temp really high on the Bradley? I can't seem to get my Bradley to go higher than 225 degrees even on the high settings!

edit: I just realized what you meant... you leave the smoker on for 4 hours, then turn that off and let the bradley continue to cook it for many more hours... very nice! Never even thought of that!!

MallardWacker · September 14, 2005, 05:32:51 PM

Brab,

So so sorry, nothing worse then your smoking dreams that have been interrupted by some tough meat.

Cal is right about the shoulder/butt. To make that cut of meat fall off the bone tender like pulled pork is really easy if you do these couple of things.

I will not get into seasoning now, just cooking.

First pull your hunk-o-meat out of the fridge and then go preheat your BS to about 250 or so for about an hour while the meat is on the counter.

Use 4hrs of your preferred smoke.

Second you can cook that piece of meat around 225 with no problem. Doesn't have to be exact just around 220-230. But this one thing you will need is a remote thermometer. You can get one from anywhere from 15 dollars on up. When you are cooking this meat you notice that it will hang with an internal temp of 165-175 deg for a long time, don't worry it's still cooking---it's just rendering. This will be different with any butt you do, some longer-some shorter but the idea it will have some hang time there.

Next, wait till an internal temp of 187-190. Pull the meat then do what we refer to as FTC. Foil-Towel-Cooler method. Double wrap it in foil, then double wrap it in an old towel, then put in a (non full of ice) room temp cooler and shut the lid. Leave it there for 2 hours. Brab--then you will be the King of Q, the Sultan of pork, like "I can't believe that you did this" or "Man, I'm glad you got this smoker". For a brief moment in time(and I do mean breif) you will get the respect you always deserved in your home.

If this method doesn't work for you, tell me and I will send you a check for the price of the butt.

Now about the ribs. Like folks say around here "Ribs are an adventure".

This is my .0235 cents worth here. Big Smoker got me on this method.

Do the pre-heat thing again with the meat on the counter and smoker.

I cook mine at 200 deg.

Put them in the smoker and cook for 2-3 hours then wrap in foil and place back in the for only 2 hours.

Pull the little packages of love out, unwrap-then finish them on the grill with or with out you favorite sauce. THIS HAS BEEN THE MOST CONSISTANT METHOD FOR ME. I don't even use a remote thermometer any more on this.

Now there is RULE#1 that must be followed on these two cooking methods, or for that matter on just about anything you put in the BS. THAT IS:

KEEP THAT DOOR SHUT! 

They say curiosity will kill the cat, it will do the same to your cook. Let your Bradley do its thing, don't worry that some little nasty Q monster won't come and steal the meat while you are not looking.

Hope this helps and don't give up, good things are around the corner.

Also if you want to get into seasoning, we can do that later.

DANG, there was only one responce to this thread when I started and I think there was about 6 or seven when I got done typing. SO humbly forgive me if things were repeated.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

Gordon · September 14, 2005, 05:46:39 PM

Actually, what was meant was you only load enough pucks to have smoke for 4 hours (see bubba pucks). You leave the meat in the Bradley for as long as 190-ish takes ( start early). When you reach that temp, you take it out wrap it in foil, wrap that in a towel, then put it in the cooler for at least an hour, two if you can wait. Some chefs will add a splash of apple juice to the foil. I have never tried it, but those that do seem to like the results.

a 6 pounder will be a lot of pulled pork. If you are like me, you have really big friends, and it will not be a problem.

Getting a really high temp is not really what the Bradley was made for. If you can get 225, you are in the neighborhood. The term used is "Low and Slow." Low temp, slow cooking. It is the pen-ultimate in home bbq. The Bradley does it best. IMHO. If you load up the cabinet with meat, it is very, very hard to get anywhere above 225. Olds has the physics, but it is not what the Bradley was intended for.

Welcome to the forum....good stuff here - it makes you look like a genuius....

What a piece of work is man!

Brabus · September 14, 2005, 06:53:24 PM

Mallard!! Thanks sooo much for the thorough response!! I will definitely take these words and use them to the fullest extent!

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by MallardWacker
 Brab--then you will be the King of Q, the Sultan of pork, like "I can't believe that you did this" or "Man, I'm glad you got this smoker". For a brief moment in time(and I do mean breif) you will get the respect you always deserved in your home.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Hilarious!! hahahah... but even as it stands right now, I'm totally glad I bought the smoker. I have lots of learning to do and I've always had a knack for cooking meats, so smoking was the natural progression for me.

Thanks to all who have given me tips so far, I'll keep you guys updated on my progress :D

Yeah, I need to make sure to not to keep opening the door, I have a habit of doing that :P hahaha

nsxbill · September 15, 2005, 03:57:16 AM

Brabus,

After the pucks finish the four hours I mentioned earlier, I don't turn off the smoke generator. It continues to put out heat that helps regulate the temp inside....you need all the heat you can get in the BS! You asked about how I get the temp up. I preheat the BS for at least an hour with no pucks. Temp usually climbs way up that way. Then I put in room temp meat to start the smoke. BS doesn't have to work so hard to get back to temp that way. Ribs and chicken wings is the only thing I cook at maximum temp, and the wings only for two hours then finish on the grill!

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Brabus · September 15, 2005, 06:44:24 AM

Second smoke has occured... I used smoke for 6 hours and then just heat for another 5 hours. Then I used the FTC for about 1.5 hours. It still didn't come out as tender as I've had it but it was defintely better than the first time.

I think next time I need to do a better job at regulating the temperature. It had a lot of flux. I was at work so I couldn't watch it too much. Thanks for all the tips guys, keep them comin!!!

calatexmex · September 15, 2005, 06:46:14 AM

Since were on pork butt I've got a question. Starting with a statement. I bought my BS only for jerky, sausage, and seafood ie: smoked oysters, and salmon. I use my Weber Bullet for Butts, ribs, city Hams and such (Large Meats) So my question is. How do you all deal with all the drippings from the large meats in the BS. I know that the above mentioned meats put out a tremendous ammount of fat drippings. How do you keep from fouling up the BS [?]

Mike C

Habanero Smoker · September 15, 2005, 09:47:24 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Brabus
 Second smoke has occured... I used smoke for 6 hours and then just heat for another 5 hours. Then I used the FTC for about 1.5 hours. It still didn't come out as tender as I've had it but it was defintely better than the first time.

I think next time I need to do a better job at regulating the temperature. It had a lot of flux. I was at work so I couldn't watch it too much. Thanks for all the tips guys, keep them comin!!!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
You would be better off investing in a digital remote thermometer so that you will know when the correct internal meat temperature is reached. If you can afford it, the Maverick ET-73 wireless remote is better for smoking, but there are other manufactures that make remote thermometers such as Bradley, Weber, Radio Shack, Polder etc.

Mike C.;
There are very few problems with drippings in the BS. It was designed very well. The V pan funnels all drippings into the water bowl. Just make sure you empty the water bowl, and refill with hot water periodically. Also, whenever possible, prevent the meat from touching the walls of the cabinet, or the dripping will run down the side of the wall. When this happens the V pan is unable to catch these dripping, but the bottom tray usually catches what the V pan misses.