Tomorrow is Butt day

[pdigg]

I got out of work today and picked up a 7.5lb Butt.
Got home, put together a rub, rubbed it down, yellow mustard'ed it, and then rubbed it down again...

I'm using Meowey's directions from the sticky post so I went to make my 3/1 apple juice/rum spray and... Oh jeesh... I don't have a spray bottle...
My fiance has "spritzer" lite salad dressings... I don't think she will notice that I poured one down the drain for at least a week, so at least I will be able to enjoy the Butt in peace...

It's all wrapped up in plastic wrap.. Sitting in the fridge waiting until tomorrow... Every now and then I get up to just go look at it... Maybe give it a poke or two... Then I chuckle and close the fridge door.

I can't wait until tomorrow gets here. Yet at the same time, I am also a tad nervous. It's my first Butt....

 

[walking dude]

you'll be fine digg........butt is kina hard to mess up

you better hope that butts turns out the best your girlfreind has ever had.......once she finds out you dump her fav. salad dressing.......LOLOL

 

[pdigg]

Yeah, now that I think about it, I'm kind of wondering how I am going to spray it without her noticing.
I tore the label off but it is kind of obvious what the bottle used to be.
I'll have to keep the bottle hidden in my apron and spray when she's not looking. :-)

Thanks for words of encouragement :-) Hard to mess up = good.
I'll take some pics and see if I can get em up here.

 

[smokin' joe]

you could smoke a butt for 3 days and still end up with the best PP you have ever tasted. Smoke on man you are going to be impressed. Dont forget SFQer's finishing sauce...its the only way to go.

 

[j-rod]

I agree, follow the directions closely on your first and you will turn out some good BBQ, but if you want fantastic BBQ make sure you also use the finishing sauce (a little dab will do ya). After that you can try new things or make small changes to suit your taste. Good luck!!

 

[desertlites]

your gonna do fine pDigg-enjoy your smoke and thats gonna be 1 under the belt.

 

[bustedluckbarbq]

You'll be hooked on Butts after today... they are easy and taste great!! Like others said try out a sprinkle of SoFLAQuers finishing sauce.... it is really good....

 

[bassman]

Yo'll be just fine with the butt! I did all my smoking yesterday, now have to sit back and watch yours!

 

[capt dan]

Love the enthusiasm! The only thing I seen ya did wrong was to not put the salad dressing in another container, then you coulda put it back in the spritz bottle when done smoking!

Like everyone said, butts are easy, and everyone was nervous on their first couple of em!

 

[lc in va]

pourin the dressing down the sink would be dangerous in this household.

 

[pdigg]

In my own defense, the bottle was almost empty, she's got about 50 different kinds and I had to get rid of the evidence!!!

The Butt has been on for about 30 minutes now.
Here's a picture of it when it woke up this morning...

 

[lc in va]

you have a nice lookin butt there.

 

[pdigg]

3 hours down and just hit 100*
Well it looks like 100*, the meat thermo that I am using starts at 130, and I am estimating. I wish my ET-73 would have gotten here but it's not being delivered until Monday

Anyway, I just sprayed the Apple Juice/Rum on it for it's first spray. For anyone that has done this or uses other sprays every hour - how much spray do you do? Just a light misting? Really soak it? Somewhere in between? Any advice would be appreciated.

Here's a Q-View 3 hours in after the first spray.

 

[walking dude]

i always spray, till the meat glistens........tho not enuff to make the rub run off.........if you wait till at least couple hours into the smoke, tho, that shouldn't happen..............then i spray bout every hour.........here that is

 

[pdigg]

The weather is starting to turn nasty outside here in Atlanta. Big temperature drop and I'm worried that the ECB is going to start losing some temperature. As long as I get it to 165*, I have no problems transferring inside to the oven.

Is there an average temperature that the "plateau" comes in to play?

 

[walking dude]

here in my world..........anywhere from 145-155.......and can last from a hour to several hours..........it always changes from piece of meat to peice of meat.........i smoke in a ecb........wind is the only thing you have to worry bout........not ambient temps.........so just get it outta the wind......make a temp windbreak of summin if nothing else........or wrap the ecb in a heavy blanket......or maybe a moving blanket

 

[pdigg]

Thanks WD -
So I shouldn't be surprised if I go out there the next time to spray it and it hasn't moved. Great, just trying to gauge the rest of the day. Thanks for the input.

Luckily it's not too windy and my balcony has a nice nook in it away from the wind. Should work out fine then.

 

[cowgirl]

Mmmm. looking good already PDigg!

 

[pdigg]

8 hours later, finally hit 165*

Just sprayed it down, wrapped it, and off to the oven it goes until 200....

 

[walking dude]

nice looking barq there dude.........did you remember to give it a good spraying before wrapping?