Pork butts in progress with Q-View

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

Put them on at 11pm last night in my MES at 225. First time using my new AMNS with hickory. Everything was fine and smoking when I went to bed about 1am. Woke up at 6 and inserted my probes, and had 155 and 156, but my AMNS had quit on me. Todd warned me to do a test run, but I didn't have time. One side burned the straight line where I lit it, then stopped at the S curve. The other side never really got going. I didn't have butane for the torch, so I used my wife's candle lighter thing-a-ma-jig. I relit it in the middle to try to get some more smoke on them. I also had to put the AMNS on the first rack with the pork butt, as it wouldn't fit under them.

At 8:16, I'm at 164 and 161. I'm going to go to 170 to allow more smoke time, then foil to 205, then into the cooler for an hour or two.

They were rubbed with mustard and Grill Mates pork rub Thursday night and wrapped in saran wrap for an overnight rest.

No before pics, but here's the 8:15 shot:

More to come.

fpnmf · Jun 18, 2011

They are looking good!!

You need a hotter lighting tool fot the MES.

I use a propane torch at times or a butane cigar lighter.

Then you need to let it get burning good.

And then leave the chip tube out some so it gets plenty of air..

Just the learning curve,you are doing fine...

Craig

hardslicer · Jun 18, 2011

those are some nice looking butts.......good luck!

jak757 · Jun 18, 2011

Butts look good. Can't wait to find out how they taste.

Stronger flame for lighting the AMNS is in order. I tried using my butane grill lighter, but found the micro torch does the trick much better.

A drip shield might help also. Looks like part of the AMNS is under one of the butts. Is that juice/grease I see in the first row?

Let us know how it turned out.

seaham358 · Jun 18, 2011

Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't own one yet.. Aren't the AMNS units suppose to filled up more with the dust? Yours looks low to me, that could be part of the reason you did not get a full burn... JMO>>> I watched the demo on you tube and they do look cool.

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

fpnmf said:
They are looking good!!

You need a hotter lighting tool fot the MES.

I use a propane torch at times or a butane cigar lighter.

Then you need to let it get burning good.

And then leave the chip tube out some so it gets plenty of air..

Just the learning curve,you are doing fine...

Craig

Thanks Craig. Like a dummy I didn't start playing with my AMNS until Friday night. I should have paid attention to Todd's website and noticed that the torch did not include the butane, which it plainly states. I had to make do with what I had available. I'm picking up some butane and will nuke it on the next run!

I did leave the chip loader out and pulled the chip tray out about an inch or so to help with air flow. Todd was very helpful and sent me an email with some great tips.

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

JAK757 said:
Butts look good. Can't wait to find out how they taste.

Stronger flame for lighting the AMNS is in order. I tried using my butane grill lighter, but found the micro torch does the trick much better.

A drip shield might help also. Looks like part of the AMNS is under one of the butts. Is that juice/grease I see in the first row?

Let us know how it turned out.

Hey Jak, I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. It does look like some of the fat dripped down. It was dark when I loaded them into my smoker, and I thought I pushed the butt far enough over to the side to prevent this. Hindsight, I should have made a foil tent, another one of Todd's tips. (One day I will learn to listen...or at least this is what my wife tells me)

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

seaham358 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't own one yet.. Aren't the AMNS units suppose to filled up more with the dust? Yours looks low to me, that could be part of the reason you did not get a full burn... JMO>>> I watched the demo on you tube and they do look cool.

Hello seaham, I used 3 cups per the instructions with the AMNS, but then I pressed it down some to keep it from jumping rows.

Trial and error...at least I can eat my mistake!

talox · Jun 18, 2011

The other thing I noticed when using the amns Is that if youve had a long period of high humidity, the sawdust gets damp it may need drying before use. I found that it lights faster and seems to burn better. Especially for cold smokes....

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

At 10:15 they were at 169 and 166, so I decided to go ahead and foil.

The temps:

In the smoker:

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

Out of the smoker:

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

I did not spray them any at all to this point, so they got a good spritzing with apple juice then foiled and back into the smoker.

More to come.

voldaddy · Jun 18, 2011

At 3:30, they were at 204 and 203, so they were put into a towel filled cooler to rest about 2 hours.

I'm making SFL's finishing sauce now to add when I pull the pork.

I will get the finished picture posted later tonight.

This was a 16.5 hour smoke total for 2 butts that were just shy of 8 pounds each.

Can't wait to taste!

beer-b-q · Jun 18, 2011

Voldaddy, you don't appear to have enough dust in the AMNS and placing it over the water drip pan adds humidity to the dust and prevents it from burning...

Try placing your AMNS under the drip pan to the left of the MES heating element.

Also make sure your rows are full.

See this is where I place mine.

SmokinAl · Jun 19, 2011

Looking forward to the finish shot!

voldaddy · Jun 19, 2011

Beer-B-Q said:
Voldaddy, you don't appear to have enough dust in the AMNS and placing it over the water drip pan adds humidity to the dust and prevents it from burning...

Try placing your AMNS under the drip pan to the left of the MES heating element.

Also make sure your rows are full.

See this is where I place mine.

Hey Beer, the AMNS won't fit in my MES to the left of my element. I guess this is a good reason to upgrade to a new 40" version. :)

I did not use a water pan in this smoke. I had a disposable tin underneath the butts to catch the drippings.

I used 3 cups of dust per the instructions, but then I took my thumb and packed it down to help keep it from jumping track per Todd's email.

The meat came out exceptional!

voldaddy · Jun 19, 2011

Sorry for the delay in posting the final picture, but we had a severe storm come through about 4:30 yesterday with 70 mph straightline winds, and we lost power until 5:00 this morning.

This is what's left of the pulled pork. It was attacked like a pack of cheetahs on an injured antelope.

I took the drippings from the foil and put into the freezer to defat the best that I could. It worked pretty well, but remember, no power.

I tried the pork w/o the drippings added, w/the drippings added, and then when I squirted SFL's finishing sauce on it, and hands down the best was with the finishing sauce.

This is a definite on my to do list again, and once I master the AMNS, putting them in at night before bed will be the way to go!

Thanks for watching.

voldaddy · Jun 19, 2011

One last thing, Happy Father's Day to all the dad's on the board.

If you still have your dad, make sure you make it special for him.

I lost my dad November of last year, and wish I had one more Father's Day with him.

raptor700 · Jun 19, 2011

Looks like you "pulled" it off

Great job

beer-b-q · Jun 20, 2011

Looks like a success... Looks Great...

Voldaddy said:
Hey Beer, the AMNS won't fit in my MES to the left of my element. I guess this is a good reason to upgrade to a new 40" version. :)

I did not use a water pan in this smoke. I had a disposable tin underneath the butts to catch the drippings.

I used 3 cups of dust per the instructions, but then I took my thumb and packed it down to help keep it from jumping track per Todd's email.

The meat came out exceptional!

Any reason is a good reason...

Pork butts in progress with Q-View

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