First Butt 6/28/08

[ddave]

Planning to try my first butt on Saturday. Got a 5.6 pounder from Safeway and will be doing pretty much Meowey's instructions to the tee followed by SoFlaQer's finishing sauce. Only vairiation is I might try a scored fat-cap-up a la Capt Dan 'cause it looks cool. Made a fresh batch of Jeff's rub yesterday and will rub and wrap Friday night and hopefully it will be on the smoker by 6 am Saturday.

I ususally use bourbon in the spritz . . . I mean spray

but thought I would give the Captain Morgans a try. I am trying it right now on the rocks with Sierra Mist and it tastes pretty good!

(As it turned out, as my son and I were making our way through the grocery store, the first and ONLY two items in the cart were the bottle of Captain Morgans and a bottle of Jack Daniels. As I was scanning my list in order to determine the next destination, who should pop up for a visit? My son's elementary school principal.

)

Looking forward to Saturday and some yummy pulled pork!

Dave

 

[capt dan]

LMAO, thats funny. Bet ya didn't tell her that you sometimes smoke a fatty or two on weekends!

 

[capt dan]

Dave, remember, I have never done a fat cap up in my silver, they were always down because of the heat differential issues. With the Lang and the reverse flow heat distribution, It is not an issue. So I am just cautioning you. I hope you have made some mods to your SnP to help with heat spikes!

 

[ddave]

LOL, No. With a 7 and 9 year old a "butt" is a "pork shoulder" and a "fatty" is "stuffed sausage". Although my 9 year old does like the term "Atomic Buffalo Turd".

Dave

 

[ddave]

Dan,

Thanks for the heads up. I added the baffle and tuning plates



and will place the water pan under the meat. I also converted to propane with the Afterburner so it is a lot easier to control temp wise.

Dave

 

[waysideranch]

Good luck, Dave. As for the Principle invite him over for some pig & swig.

 

[capt dan]

well, I think you should give it a go then! If you want to do them like I do, remember to cut all the way through the top layer of fat(false cap) , through the thin layer of meat under it, and most of the way through the next layer of fat.



I hope it works out good for ya, make sure you pack the creases well with rub!

 

[seboke]

Dan, you's gettin a cult following on your scored fat cap!

 

[capt dan]

every guy I know likes to score butt!

 

[seboke]

WOO HOO!!!

 

[desertlites]

good luck on the butt Dave-sounds like u have it figgured to a t.

 

[ddave]

Thanks for the info, Dan . . . and the picture.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Theory is one thing . . . execution is sometimes quite another. We'll see how it goes. I'm feeling pretty good about it though . . . got a lot of great info here.

Dave

 

[ddave]

Getting things prepped a little early since we are taking the kids to the movies tonight.

Here is what I am starting with.



Got my knife all sharp ready to score the fat cap . . . but I couldn't find it.

This was the fatty side.



Don't know if I bought the wrong cut or if the Safeway butchers got carried away. Maybe they thought they were doing me a favor by trimming it up.

Oh well, I am sure it will eat. So I rubbed it up and put it in the fridge.



I'll pull it out tomorrow, maybe put some more rub on it, and hopefully have it bathed in TBS by 6:00 am. Maybe earlier if I wake up early.

Dave

 

[capt dan]

looks good dave, LOL, they all look like that, there is another layer of fat under that thin little flap of meat. hehehe.
Thats ok. I'm sure you'll do just fine without the "pork chex" look!

 

[ddave]

Oh . . . whoops!

I guess if I would have looked at it more carefully, I would have noticed that. Oh well, next time. (I am somewhat disappointed that I didn't get to score butt this time . . . but i did take the opportunity to rub it some more this morning.

So much fodder for immature minds like mine . . .)

Goy my butt out of bed (and the pork butt out of the fridge) at 5. Got the smoker setup and heated and the meats on at just a little after 6.



Smoker has recovered nicely from placing the meat on and TBS is gently wafting out of the stack. Off to a good start.

Time to fix a little breakfast and have some coffee.

Dave

 

[pineywoods]

Looks good Dave gonna be some good eating

 

[ddave]

About 1 hour and 45 minutes into the smoke and the meat broke 100 degrees so I will start with the hourly apple juice/Captian Morgans spray per Meowey.



The breeze came up a little bit so I put the smoker's "hat" on.



Not a cold breeze by any stretch of the imagination but just enough to mess with precise temperature control.

Weather has been pretty warm here lately but the air has been really smoky with all of the fires in the area -- not the thin blue kind of smoke either.

Dave

 

[ddave]

Coming up on 4 and a half hours and the butt is at 147. I'm waiting for the plateau that will inevitably come.

I am absolutely stunned at how much effect the light breeze has on the temps in the smoker -- even with the cover on. I have the firebox facing into the wind but need to move it slightly closer to the patio next time and I think I will be out of the worst of the wind. I am not really "chasing temps" per se but am doing a fair bit of fiddling with the regulator knob to keep things between 230 and 245 or so.

I really have a TON of respect for those of you who can to this with lump and wood -- especially on the long smokes.

Dave

 

[capt dan]

Your doing everything fine DD, oh boy that pic of your rig with the cover looked like snow at first, I almost spewed my cola!

You don't have to worry about temps as much as you are, we were just joking with ya!

jk, just keepit between 225 and 250, 10 degrees either way will not be the end of the Butt!

Sorry to hear that ya didn't score any butt this mornin!

 

[ddave]

Yeah, I think I get to anal about it. I think once I figure out what a good temp range is on the analog thermos on the door (seems about 210 to 225 on the door thermos converts to about 225 to 250 on the digitals) I should regulate the fire by them. They don't react as fast as the digitals so they would keep me from chasing my tail as much!

The digitals are great for the alarms though -- although the ET-73 seems to be about 5 degrees higher than the Taylor and the probes are within an inch of each other in the chamber. I checked them all in boiling water yesterday and they were fine.

It sure goes smoother with experience. I not baby sitting the smoker like I was the first few times out.

Dave