First off, I hope everyone is having an enjoyable Saturday!
This weekend I am cooking 2 4.5# boneless butts and 2 slabs of St Louis ribs. A few members of the extended family plan on stopping by so I hope all goes well. Living in central Indiana they don't get much, if any, quality BBQ. We will see what they think. The smoke has been pretty heavy today.
Last evening I cut the spares into st louis, and I tied/rubbed the butts.
I looked at 3 different supermarkets and called 2 others to try and find butts/shoulders that were not enhanced. The only place that carried them was an actual butcher shop (upscale part of town) and they were asking 2.89 bone-in, 3.29 boneless. The enhanced, halved butts at the local supermarket were 1.19 a pound. Obviously I purchased the enhanced butts. The two rubs I used have minimal amounts of salt so I dont think it will be an issue.
One BIG problem I noticed when opening one of the "butts" was that it was one big piece, with 2 large flaps connected to it. A la HACK job when removing the bone. I guess they figured when packaging the butt that if they made it look like a roast, it would sell as a roast. Being too tired to drive back to the supermarket I just tied the butt as well as I could to make it a shape that should cook evenly.
This is one thing I am pretty worried about. I am worried that parts of it will dry out while the larger, connected pieces will be OK.
The non-hacked butt is in good shape so i expect that to cook evenly and it is the butt I have the probe in for temp readings.
I started the smoke at 6:30 by banking hickory chunks and unlit charcoal on one side of the kettle held in place with 2 firebricks. I lit 5 coals in the chimney. I put a good amount of hickory chunks in with the unlit charcoal. I would say 6-7 chunks. It may be too much, but at least the meat wont be questioned whether or not it was smoked.
At 7:00 AM I placed the lit coals on top of the banked coals and went back into the kitchen to apply a final rub, fill water pan, etc etc etc.
At 7:20 the meat was on, reading 37 degrees, and the temp at the lid was 160. Both top and bottom vents were open 100%. Within 20 minutes the lid temp had jumped to 340 so I cut the bottom vents off completely and shut the top vent as much as possible with the probe in the way. It went down to 290 within 5 minutes. WIthin 30 minutes of putting the meat on the grate I have been cruising smoothly between 260-300 lid themp.
The bottom vents closed and top vent for temp monitoring is MUCH more efficient and reliable than tweaking both. Also, if temp is dropping quickly I can open the bottom vent 10-25% (I have them marked) for a few minutes to introduce more oxygen into the chamber and then close the vent. This method has been working very well today. Another observation is that the wind really doesn't have an effect of the kettle temp when the bottom vents are closed.
It is 10:30 here and I just passed the 140 degree mark, starting at 37 degrees. I am now 3.5 hours into the cook. Hopefully this will result in a nice smoke ring.
I used two different rubs on the butts. One of the butts I used Mr. Brown and the other HACKED butt I used a sweeter rub. I rubbed over the twine on both.
Around 12:30 or 1 (5 hours into the butts) I plan on adding the 2 slabs of rolled ribs. I will rub them with a Raichlen basic rub about an hour before. I will guage the amount of smoke at the time and then decide if I want to add more with the ribs or not. When adding the ribs I plan on rotating the butts 180 degrees and switching spots on the grate. I do not plan on flipping the butts.
Hopefully the butts will finish between 8-10 hours putting me at 5:30 (10hr) and giving me at least an hour to rest, foiled, in a cooler. My guess is the ribs should take anywhere from 5-6 hours and finish between 6 and 7.
Another change that I made with this smoke is to drop the temp probe through the top vent instead of having the wire come out under the lid. Obviously this is one less air-leak which means more stable temps.
Something that I noticed about an hour into the cook is a bad-smelling, grease looking substance dripping off the rims of my kettle lid. I have since put pieces of cardboard where the liquid is falling. My guess is that it is due to the moisture from the water pan combined with the cold, dry air outside of the kettle forming condensation inside the lid and collecting some of the built up residue on the lid over the last few smokes. I really hope the little drops arent falling on the butts!
I am not sure if I am going to baste/spray the butts when I rotate them. Is it more ideal to mop/baste smaller butts????
I have the southern succor mop recipe and a basic pork baste recipe. I also have apple juice and a spray bottle if need be.
Here are two pictures from 7am this morning. The darker, butt is the HACK butt. The lighter butt is the Mr. Brown.
This weekend I am cooking 2 4.5# boneless butts and 2 slabs of St Louis ribs. A few members of the extended family plan on stopping by so I hope all goes well. Living in central Indiana they don't get much, if any, quality BBQ. We will see what they think. The smoke has been pretty heavy today.
Last evening I cut the spares into st louis, and I tied/rubbed the butts.
I looked at 3 different supermarkets and called 2 others to try and find butts/shoulders that were not enhanced. The only place that carried them was an actual butcher shop (upscale part of town) and they were asking 2.89 bone-in, 3.29 boneless. The enhanced, halved butts at the local supermarket were 1.19 a pound. Obviously I purchased the enhanced butts. The two rubs I used have minimal amounts of salt so I dont think it will be an issue.
One BIG problem I noticed when opening one of the "butts" was that it was one big piece, with 2 large flaps connected to it. A la HACK job when removing the bone. I guess they figured when packaging the butt that if they made it look like a roast, it would sell as a roast. Being too tired to drive back to the supermarket I just tied the butt as well as I could to make it a shape that should cook evenly.
This is one thing I am pretty worried about. I am worried that parts of it will dry out while the larger, connected pieces will be OK.
The non-hacked butt is in good shape so i expect that to cook evenly and it is the butt I have the probe in for temp readings.
I started the smoke at 6:30 by banking hickory chunks and unlit charcoal on one side of the kettle held in place with 2 firebricks. I lit 5 coals in the chimney. I put a good amount of hickory chunks in with the unlit charcoal. I would say 6-7 chunks. It may be too much, but at least the meat wont be questioned whether or not it was smoked.
At 7:00 AM I placed the lit coals on top of the banked coals and went back into the kitchen to apply a final rub, fill water pan, etc etc etc.
At 7:20 the meat was on, reading 37 degrees, and the temp at the lid was 160. Both top and bottom vents were open 100%. Within 20 minutes the lid temp had jumped to 340 so I cut the bottom vents off completely and shut the top vent as much as possible with the probe in the way. It went down to 290 within 5 minutes. WIthin 30 minutes of putting the meat on the grate I have been cruising smoothly between 260-300 lid themp.
The bottom vents closed and top vent for temp monitoring is MUCH more efficient and reliable than tweaking both. Also, if temp is dropping quickly I can open the bottom vent 10-25% (I have them marked) for a few minutes to introduce more oxygen into the chamber and then close the vent. This method has been working very well today. Another observation is that the wind really doesn't have an effect of the kettle temp when the bottom vents are closed.
It is 10:30 here and I just passed the 140 degree mark, starting at 37 degrees. I am now 3.5 hours into the cook. Hopefully this will result in a nice smoke ring.
I used two different rubs on the butts. One of the butts I used Mr. Brown and the other HACKED butt I used a sweeter rub. I rubbed over the twine on both.
Around 12:30 or 1 (5 hours into the butts) I plan on adding the 2 slabs of rolled ribs. I will rub them with a Raichlen basic rub about an hour before. I will guage the amount of smoke at the time and then decide if I want to add more with the ribs or not. When adding the ribs I plan on rotating the butts 180 degrees and switching spots on the grate. I do not plan on flipping the butts.
Hopefully the butts will finish between 8-10 hours putting me at 5:30 (10hr) and giving me at least an hour to rest, foiled, in a cooler. My guess is the ribs should take anywhere from 5-6 hours and finish between 6 and 7.
Another change that I made with this smoke is to drop the temp probe through the top vent instead of having the wire come out under the lid. Obviously this is one less air-leak which means more stable temps.
Something that I noticed about an hour into the cook is a bad-smelling, grease looking substance dripping off the rims of my kettle lid. I have since put pieces of cardboard where the liquid is falling. My guess is that it is due to the moisture from the water pan combined with the cold, dry air outside of the kettle forming condensation inside the lid and collecting some of the built up residue on the lid over the last few smokes. I really hope the little drops arent falling on the butts!
I am not sure if I am going to baste/spray the butts when I rotate them. Is it more ideal to mop/baste smaller butts????
I have the southern succor mop recipe and a basic pork baste recipe. I also have apple juice and a spray bottle if need be.
Here are two pictures from 7am this morning. The darker, butt is the HACK butt. The lighter butt is the Mr. Brown.
