Butt Journey 2


 
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Joe McManus

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Like Todd, I'm trying my first butt and first smoke in my WSM tomorrow morning. Hope you guys can help with one question before 6:00a tomorrow. I noticed Todd put both butts on what looks like the top rack. Is this the best way to go, or should I try one on each level? I'm hoping for dinner by 6:00p, I know a little agressive, but if I have to I'll pull one and slice and let the other get to good pulling temp (only 4 of us eating and two are kids). Thanks for the abundance of information so far. I took lots of pix so far, but they'd be repeating Todd's so far so I didn't think they'd add much value right now. Wish me luck.
 
12 hours could do it..or not of course depending on the butt/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

for the grates you can do it either way..2 on top, or 1 and 1 top/bottom..try both ways and see if you can tell a difference.

the top grate cooks a tad hotter though i believe.gl/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
Putting the butts on at 6AM for a 6PM meal is cutting it awfully close. I'd put the butts on around midnight and cook them at 225 all night. You never said how big the butts are so it's hard to be more specific.

As for cooking on the top and/or bottom grates. I prefer the top grate when possible. But if everything doesn't fit then by all means use the lower rack. You didn't say how big the butts were, but I've squeezed two eight-pounders on the top rack without a problem.
 
Joe Mac....

I hope you're in bed by now! LOL

I would put one on each level. If you notice the pics, you can see where the 2 of them hung over the water pan....much hotter and they MAY burn.

Simply trade places half thru the cook. You will be awake and it is a good time to mop.

I gotta agree..cooking your first butt and planning on eating at a specific time is a good way to mess up. 12 hours is much too close for me...mainly because I have been there! LOL

BUTT...all is not hopeless! You can do 1 of 2 things.....jack your temps up to 250-270? at the grate OR use foil the last several hours.

One final thought...don't you dare put those in the oven! That is no way to finish a butt...especially if the guests are looking! OK, OK, I'm SORTA kidding.

Best of luck and let us know how the timing went!
 
I personally wouldn't expect anything larger than a 6lb boston butt to be done in 12 hours. You might get lucky and finish sooner, but you might not - that kind of depends on the conditions and the attitude of the cut. Sometimes they're ornery! ;-)

If I have two different cuts I try to put the larger one on top, since there's about a 10-15 degree difference between my top and bottom grate. I will also leave a little more fat on the outside of the larger cut to render and baste the bottom one a little bit. I don't know if it really makes a difference but I enjoy thinking that it does. Besides, I heard some yay-hoo on TV once say that "Pork Fat Rules," and TV hasn't lied to me yet.
 
With the help all these veteran BBQ'rs offer it is almost a guarantee of success...Best of luck to you!
 
Well they're on. Got 'em started about 6:00a. Smoker's been at ~270 now for about two hours and I'm starting to trim down the vents (at about 75% open on all right now). This is the first usage of my WSM, so if I understand correctly, I should expect a little hotter than usual.

As for the timing, I know its close, but I had planned on foiling at least one of them and letting the other go uncovered. Figure I'll foil after it's reached 165 or 170 and I can't stand it any longer.

So far so good. My biggest problem right now is to resist the urge to crack a cold one and just watch that baby smoke away. I'd be done myself by 6:00p if I started that now.

I'll let y'all know how its going throughout the day.
 
270 probably won't hurt pork butts at all, especially if that's the dome temp - the grate temp might be just at 250 or so at the top. I try very hard not to "chase" the smoker temperature unless something really bad happens. And I don't think that foiling hurts pork that much (personally), especially if you do it late in the game.

Today I have 3 racks of ribs and a 4lb brisket flat going for a 5pm dinner, started them at 8am. I know the ribs will be done with plenty of time to "spare" (HA!), but it is so windy today that I might have to resort to finishing the brisket in the oven. My windbreaks haven't been painted yet and it's supposed to rain today, so I have to suffer through another windy day.

That 4lb brisket is from a local place called the Whole Foods Market. They carry pork from that Niman Ranch (as mentioned here on TVWB), but the brisket wasn't from there. I bought one anyway and paid something like $6.99 a pound, so this brisket better turn, baste and slice itself.
 
They're done. The Mr. Brown's were fantastic. Ravest reviews from my biggest critics (my kids). Ended up foiling one of the butts for the last 2 hours of the cook, that took it right to 190* and it was the best pulled pork I've eaten since Big Bob's BBQ in Decatur AL (I'm not implying mine was even close to that). I left the other one for what turned out to be 13 hours to get to 185*. Some parts were higher. Didn't matter, it still pulled great and tasted wonderful.

The Mr. Brown rub is a little too peppery. Not too hot, just too peppery. A sweet sauce might complement it better the the "bold" one we used tonight.

As for the WSM, every thing I read was spot on. Took it about two hours to level off...spent most of the day at 245 - 250. I made some bonehead moves, like forgetting to add water, but all in all my first experience was fantastic. I probably should have added more charcoal sooner, but no harm done.

Thanks for all the advice and encourgement. I'll be asking about ribs for next weekend.
 
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