10 Hours Into My 2nd Smoke...

[Dennis Lubertozzi]

So I'm 10 hours in to my 2nd smoke. I'm smoking two 5-6 lb pork butts. It's my 2nd time and again I'm amazed at how well the Bullet and the Minion Method allow the cooker to hold a temperature. For the first 9 1/2 hours of the cook my Bullet held at about 235 with only minimal adjustments to the bottom vents. I am a bit disappointed with how long the two butts have been in the 160-175 degree range, so I opened up the smoker for the first time to move the shoulders up to the top rack and stir the coals. I also added 5 freshly lit coals because I had all three vents 100% open and the cooker was slightly dropping in temperature. I think I'm good to go now and am prepared to wait as long as it takes to get these butts up to the 200 degree range. The coals looked really healthy and I can't wait to have a taste of these butts.

Hopefully they turn out well and they'll be the hit of our Bears tailgate tomorrow!

 

[Don Irish]

Sounds like everything is going well....this baby can really hold temp. Was that temp at meat level or vent? If vent, then expect that it may be 25 degrees cooler at the bottom rack. Regardless, butts will plateau for often "forever", bumping up the temp a bit can help....let us know how things go and pics are always a joy to see.

 

[Bill Hays]

Dennis, welcome to the board!

The stall in the 165-170º range is quite normal .. It's where the "magic" happens in that the connective tissue and calogen break down thus turning that tough shoulder into a succulent tender piece of meat. Usually takes a few hours to get through it. Don't rush it!

If you're using Kingsford charcoal, the temp drop is normal as well because the ash tends to choke the fire. Tapping the legs or lightly stirring the coals will help restore the temps but beware of floating ash.

TAKE PICS! and post them.

Bill

 

[Dennis Lubertozzi]

The temp was at the lid, so I was probably cooking at too low of a temp for some time. I have now moved the butts to the top rack and have the temp up closer to 250.

One of the butts was at 158 degrees from about 2:00 this afternoon until 7:00. The other was at about 165 that entire time. After 7:00 both butts bumped up about 8-10 degrees, but have not moved much, if at all, since about 7:00 (it's 9:00 here). I'm going to give them another hour or two at 250 before I take any further action (adding more coals to bump up the temp of the smoker).

 

[Dennis Lubertozzi]

Alright... I'm now just short of 14 hours into the smoke. The butts have moved past their plateau and are approaching 190 degrees. I've moved the smoker temperature up to about 260-265 now (measured at the lid) and things are moving along nicely. The smell coming out of the cooker now is heavenly. I'm not looking forward to the rest these butts are going to take after I get them out of the bullet; I would love to dig right in and get a taste!

I'll post some pictures for everyone yesterday.

 

[KenP]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dennis Lubertozzi:

I'll post some pictures for everyone yesterday. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Huh? You've been up too long! Take a nap.

FWIW, I start cooking butts around 10pm for afternoon eats.

Can't wait to see the pics and welcome to the board.

 

[Scott P.]

We had some butt today as well. I had a pretty 10 lb butt go on last night. I pulled her off today after about 13 hours of cooking.

Pork butts are one of my favorites cooks. I vacuum pack the leftovers into meal sized servings and freeze them. Boil in the bag for easy reheating and you have an excellent quick lunch or dinner.

 

[Dennis Lubertozzi]

haha - Good catch Ken. I definitely was up too late.

The butts ended up coming off the smoker at about 1:30am (they took about 15 hours in total, though that first hour was spent getting the cooker up to temperature). When I went to pick up the butts off the grate of the smoker they started to fall apart and it was difficult to even pick them up. After they rested for about an hour and a half I took them out and started to pull them. In total I had about a cup and a half of fat left after I finished pulling the pork apart, all of the rest had rendered out.

After the pork came back my roommates and I decided to go for it and put on 4 slabs of ribs. I used the cooking method suggested in the "best ribs in the universe" article. The ribs went from about 2:30am until 6:30 am. When we took them off of the smoker they looked amazing and tasted even better.

Now for the bad news. Because of the lack of sleep I stopped taking pictures before I took the butts off the smoker.

I'll try and do better next time!

Dennis

 

[doug gillis]

I'd have to say boston butt smokes are my fav.- especially for an all night smoke. I just love making the neighbors jealous with the smell of hickory permeating the air! The plateau or stallout seems like forever but is definitely the magick building up. I found that cooking the butt to an internal temp of 200 deg. is the optimum temp for the best and easiest pulling as it almost falls apart. I also found from folks at this site that using some of your rub to put into your mound of pulled pork really enhances the flavor.