Advice Please

[tskeeter]

tskeeter, thanks for the notes on the pucks, I appreciate it, it really helps a lot.   Salmonsmoker, that's a great idea about the trays.  When I do pork butt would it be a good idea to put a water tray on an empty rack below the butt to help maintain the temp and also catch some drippings so the vtray doesn't get too greasy and cause flare ups? or would that negatively affect heat circulation and make the meat soggy?

Thoughts or ideas from anyone welcome
Thanks

CB, Iput a foil "drip tray" on the rack under pork shoulders.  To avoid trapping heat and smoke below the drip tray, I fold down the rim of the foil pan and partially collapse the sides of the pan toward the center of the pan. 

[cherrybergher]

Thanks tskeeter will do

[Habanero Smoker]

You cooked up quite a bunch of ribs.

[cherrybergher]

Thanks Habanero Smoker everyone was quite pleased.  I got a bit nervous and excited during the last 15 mins or so of the cook, just wondering if the ribs would work out.  To my glee and everyone's enjoyment they sure did.

It was about 8lbs of back ribs to start off with and I cut each rack in half so they fit on the trays.  After everyone was done, there was maybe a full rack left, which was eaten for breakfast.  That's what happens when you have 3 teenage boys in the house.

Next time i'll likely only smoke for three hours, and I'll use apple again. Next up on father's day weekend, pork butt

[cherrybergher]

Tonight we tried smoked chicken legs with 2hrs of smoke, apple, and Jan's Rub.  They came out fantastic.  This is a shot of them just as the majority of them went on the grill to crisp the skin.  The ones in the top of the shot came off a bit darker, but still good.



I'm wondering if anyone knows of a Canadian source other than amazon where I could get some "A" (or alligator) rack clips, if that type works for the BDS 4 rack.  Or maybe there's something better.  Next up ABT's this weekend, everyone in the house is excited

Advice and suggestions always welcome
Thanks!!

[Habanero Smoker]

Nice job on the chicken legs.

I don't have any advice on where in Canada you can purchase an "A" clip, but I've learned that they are not all universal. For example, the one Thermoworks sells only fits their probes (or maybe a few others that have a small diameter). The holes are too small for my Maverick probes. The Maverick "A" clip, accepts most probes. The "A" clips seem to work best for me. Alligator clips do work well, and it makes it easier to relocate the probes if you have to, but if the alligator clip was not factory assembled, they have a tendency to detach from the probe.

You can try to google "thermometer clips for grills"; but you may get many odd hits. ;D

[cherrybergher]

Thanks  Habanero, I'll keep that in mind for sure.  BTW, we did some ABT's tonight and they came out truly excellent

[cherrybergher]

Ok the my first pork butt will happening some time this week.  I went to the butcher today and he had no boston butts so I got this 6lb shoulder for about 23.00.  I think that's an ok price for a local business.  He told me that it's a bit lean. So i've attached pics to get your thoughts.

My plan thus far is pretty simple 2 a.m. start

-rub 12-24hrs in advance, starting with a bit of mustard
-bring meat to room temp while smoker is preheating to about 280ish
-put shoulder on rack 2 and extra water/drip tray on rack 3 (smaller than the bradley rack to allow for proper circulation)
-smoke for 3ish hrs and try and cook between 225 and 250 (monitor with my igrill2 probe in the cabinet down close to the meat to get an accurate cooking temp)
-after 3hrs drain bradley bowl, refill, spritz pork, check secondary drip an to ensure enough liquid.
-shut the door continue cooking between 225-250, expect a stall at 140ish and just sit tight (beverage and ipad handy)
-monitor IT with probe and remove shoulder at about 190-195
-spritz, brown sugar (maybe) FTC for min 1 hr
-concoct some type of dipping sauce with booze and dripping during FTC

after the minimum FTC unwrap and consume.  My thought is that I shouldn't be too worried about spritzing more than twice because of the FTC, and the internal temp of 190 should mean it's still plenty moist?  thoughts

top of shoulder



bottom of shoulder



Advice and suggestions welcome!

[watchdog56]

Sounds like a good game plan but I would expect your stay to be around 155-165 for a couple of hours. If need be you can ft. for up to 3 hours and it will still be plenty warm.

[Habanero Smoker]

The butt is part of the shoulder. Different areas refer to it differently by name. It looks like the butt end, just cut a little differently.

I agree. It looks like a good plan. Before putting it in the refrigerator, I will wrap it tightly with plastic wrap. At the beginning the salt will draw out the moisture in the meat, if you keep the drawn out liquid close to the meat, after a period of time the salt will begin to draw the moisture back into the meat.

[cherrybergher]

Thanks for the advice, and it was good and tasty also.  I wouldn't change much of what I did.  But I could use some advice, If the drip trays (bradley and the extra, hot water every time) go dry deep into the cook like 8hrs.  Should I just not worry about it and trust the internal temp.  I made it through the stall and then I made the mistake of opening the cabinet door at about hr 9.5/10 because I was concerned about empty drip trays.  Should I have just left the drip trays empty? and kept the door closed my gut tell me yes, but because I had no idea at what point the trays had gone dry I had concerns about the final product.  Prior to opening the cabinet door my temperature (based on an ambient probe) was in the range of 220-255

Emptied and refilled twice
-first time @ 3hr mark to remove spent pucks etc
-second time @ 10 hrs 2 cups of water in the bradley bowl and about 1.25 cups in the extra drip tray

So at hr 12.5 it seemed like it had stalled again which I attributed to opening the cabinet.  Temp dropped to 205 and recovered to 220ish by hour 13.  At hour 13 the IT was 177, so we fork tested successfully.  When I bought it the butcher did tell me it was pretty lean, so I'm glad we forked when we did. We FTC'd for 90mins and it tasted really good.  I would just like to know about the drip trays for future long/bigger smokes

Thanks for the help and expertise

after foil


pulled or shredded


the bone

[Habanero Smoker]

Looks like you made yourself some good pulled pork.

You can let the pan you placed in there to catch the drippings to go dry, without worrying about any safety issues. Some feel that if it goes dry it may impart a burnt flavor to the meat, but I feel it is not different from drippings dropping directly onto the drip tray.

I noticed that you stated:
"-second time @ 10 hrs 2 cups of water in the bradley bowl and about 1.25 cups in the extra drip tray".

If you did not empty the bowl, it is best to empty it then refill it; especially when smoking fatty cuts like butts and brisket. What is remaining in  the bowl when you get ready to change it is mostly grease.

[cherrybergher]

Thanks HS yes, sorry the second time the bowl and the trays were both empty, so next time I'll just not worry about the second refill and just let it go based on the cut of meat.  Appreciate the compliment on the butt.  Thanks for taking the time to help me out, I always appreciate the feedback

[J-Lo]

Cherry - great job on the pulled pork.  Going to try one this weekend myself.  Will follow your lead - thanks for the notes.

[cherrybergher]

J-lo as I yours on the brisket. Hopefully soon. The only thing I would do differently is that I would not open the cabinet a second time. Only once to dispose of the spent pucks at about the 3-4hr mark