going to try a pork butt for party (first time) MES30"

[chefscott]

Ok here is the plan, Get pork butt at walmart IF the local butcher cant get it for me.

Get a pork rub at BassPro IF I can get there,if not brown sugar,garlic,cyan ect....

Rub butt night before

Fire up the MES about 6-8 hours before party.

Smoke butt til IT is 205F

Let rest for half hour in foil pan

Pull pork,add juice back in,enjoy.

It may sound like I know what I am doing but trust me I DO NOT,so pleas let me know if this will work!

 

[jbills5]

One suggestion, let it rest for at least an hour before pulling.  When doing that, just wrap it in foil, no pan.  Put it in a cooler with a towel as well to help insulate some more.

Also, what size are you getting?  That will be key to know if 6-8 hours will be enough.  What temp are you going to run your smoker at?

 

[jbills5]

Also, below is a basic rub recipe to use.  I use this with some additions. Or, order up Jeff's Rub recipe from this site.

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne

 

[themule69]

With your 6-8 hours of smoking you can't go any larger than 5 LB and that leaves no time for a rest or a stubern butt. That is at 1.5 hours per LB so 7.5 hours If it goes 2 hours per LB you are going to have a lot of hungry people looking at you 

. 

You really need to allow more time. You can hold it for a long time in a cooler or turn your MES down and use it like a proofing oven. What size butt were you planning on smoking?

Happy smoken.

David

 

[foamheart]

 
Ok here is the plan, Get pork butt at walmart IF the local butcher cant get it for me.

Get a pork rub at BassPro IF I can get there,if not brown sugar,garlic,cyan ect....

Rub butt night before

Fire up the MES about 6-8 hours before party.

Smoke butt til IT is 205F

Let rest for half hour in foil pan

Pull pork,add juice back in,enjoy.

It may sound like I know what I am doing but trust me I DO NOT,so pleas let me know if this will work!

Just a few suggestions.

Get a large, like 10# butt. Believe me you'll eat it. No sense doing a 18 to 20 hour smoke for just a couple a sandwichs.

The MES30 is like the best tool I know to do butts. Its set and forget.

I like the salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and then just before entering the smoker the light brown sugar better than any store bought rub I have yet tried.

With the MES you can easily do the entire smoke, no need to wrap, foil, pan, or spritz, mop, & sauce.

If you'll simply keep the door shut, there is no need for water. If you only open the door once an hour you have basically extended your smoking time by two whole hours on a 12 hour smoke. 12 becomes 14. Long story but its true, best to not peep.

LAst but my biggest suggestion, don't cook it the day of the party. Cook it the day before or even the week before. Then reheat it with some finishing sauce the day of your party. It takes 90% of the stress out of cooking your first one, and pulled pork, like stews, beans, and soups is much better the second day than the day its cooked. It has time for the finishing sauce to mimgle, marry to the meat. It is wonderful.

Loads of suggestions, but those are the most basic I can recommend.

Oh, one more........

If you have an AMP's it will help also, its just made for long duration smokes.

Bon Chance! Take and post pictures so we can all enjoy your smokin hot butt!

PS::: If a new MES, add a remote thermometer to ensure precission cooking while getting a good nights sleep. When I got one for my Pop, thought it the most useless thing I ever saw, Pfft...  Now I use it every smoke.

 

[brooksy]

You're not giving yourself any wiggle room with a 6-8 hour time frame. Depending on butt size I would give myself minimum of 10-12 hours. You don't want guest sitting there waiting to eat. Meat can be stubborn and doesn't always go by your time frame.

 

[oboerista]

I don't think you're allowing for enough time to smoke a butt in a MES30.  Here's the post I made while trying my 1st pork butt in the MES 30.  The result was nothing short of amazing, but the dreaded stall really did a number on my timing:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/166513/mes-30-2nd-session-pulled-pork

Good luck!

Dave

 

[disco]

I agree the big problem is your time frame and agree with Foamheart. Cook it the day before. It reheats great and you don't have to worry if it stalls for a long time. As for whether you foil it or not, that is a personal preference. If you like thick dark bark, don't foil. If you like a lighter bark, foil. I do both depending on my mood.

One other thing you left out, you need to take lots of pictures and do a post! We love seeing others' efforts.

Disco

 

[nc landshark]

I just smoked a 7# pork shoulder yesterday in my Trailmaster Vertical Smoker @ 225.   It took 14 hours to get to 195.  I was hoping for around 10 - 12 hours.  I would recommend giving yourself a lot more time than 6-8 hours.  I have found that some pork butts are stubborn and take their own sweet time to finish.  Good luck!

 

[worktogthr]

Foam is steering you in the right direction.  Big hunks of meat are too unpredictable with strict dead lines.  Something that has worked for me with big parties is to pre assemble pulled pork sliders.

Here's how I do it.

2-3 Days before the party:  Smoke the butt, let it rest, pull it in a foil pan (so you keep all the juices), let it cool, cover the pan in foil and into the fridge.

1-2 Days before the party:  Put bottom half of buns in the bottom of another foil tray (I use potato slider buns and can fit 8-12 in a half pan depending on the size), place a good amount of pulled pork on each bun half, sprinkle a little bit of the dry rub you used during smoking onto the pork, drizzle with a little of your favorite bbq or finishing sauce, put the top bun on, smush the sandwich down a little, and cover the whole tray with foil.

Day of the party: take the tray out of the fridge for a little bit to take a little of the chill off, throw the trays COVERED in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes, take them out of the oven, open it up and you have pre-made pulled pork sandwiches.  I like to put a little dollop of coleslaw on each before I serve them but that is up to you.  Serve extra sauce for those who like it on the side.

I love this method for a lot of reasons.  You do most of the prep work and cooking ahead of time, the reheating is very predictable give or take a few minutes, and it avoids waste.  I have a lot of kids in my family and if you let them make their own sandwiches, half of your hard work ends up in the garbage.  Slider buns are perfect.  Kids usually eat one, adults 3,4 maybe 6 hahaha. 

Hope this helps and we all can't wait to see how it turns out.  Here is a random picture I have of the assembly process:

pulled pork.jpeg

• worktogthr
• Oct 15, 2014

EDIT:  Another thing I like about this method is the texture of the buns.  They are slightly toasty...just enough to support the pulled pork but still soft enough probably because they are being steamed in the foil tray.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Chefscott, hello and welcome to the Clan...

A Butt is a very good choice for smokers with limited experience. You have been given excellent advice through Kevin and David . Following either of them will give you a great Butt.

I , however , have one bit of advice also... be Patient

 The "stall" has Jaded many a beginner and lead them to increasing the Heat ( possibly making the meat to dry-out) or abandoning smoking altogether

.  Don't let that happen and wait out

the stall (there's going to be one ) and let your patience overcome the urge to look in at your Butt (thus extending your cook time) . As Kevin said , you have am MES , so the work will be easy. Follow your IT's and keep it at a steady heat (225*F) is

great for that , and give yourself plenty of time... the Butt will hold and the extra time in the 'cooler' will help break it down.  \\

Time is your friend , use it wisely...as always . . .

 

[chefscott]

THANK YOU ALL!!!!   this helps a lot! I am putting the but in today,and my only question is what temp should I set the MES to????

 

[nptwnsmkr]

 
THANK YOU ALL!!!!   this helps a lot! I am putting the but in today,and my only question is what temp should I set the MES to????

I don't have an MES but I usually smoke butts between 225* - 250* and have always had good results! As it has been said in some of the previous post be patient and don't forget the Qview!!

 

[dockman]

225-250 is good.

 

[foamheart]

At 220 degrees cooking temp, a 10 pound butt will take and average of 18 to 22 hours to smoke to a 203 IT generally, without using the crutch. And with the MES there is really no need for the crutch.

 

[rgautheir20420]

Set it at 235. The MES has a bit of a swing to it when it's maintaining a set temp.

 

[chefscott]

ok guys thanks much! The butt went in at 9:30 AM at 240F maybe ill knock it down to 235F  thanks again!

 

[chefscott]

BTW its a 9 pound butt  dont know if i said that yet.......

 

[heubrewer]

Can't wait to find out how long your smoke will be. When I smoked pork butts at 225F they took FOREVERE. About 3 hrs per lb. Yes that sounds crazy but that is the way it worked out.

I am smoking 2 shoulders right now. Juiced it up to 250F this time. Also they are boneless from Costco, I tied them up so they would remain in shape.


The MES is great. I noticed smoke output is greater at 250F then at 225F. Running that heating elements longer gives considerably more smoke.

 

[heubrewer]

wrong post