Does my butt look fat??

deuce · Mar 18, 2012

Putting a couple butts on the smoker tomorrow and will try to document along the way with pictues to see what I can improve upon through suggestions and advice from people who know a hell of a lot more about this than I do!. Just got them seasoned up with yellow mustard, some dry rub, and cayenne pepper and letting them sit in the fridge for 18-20 hours. I scored the top fat layer in 1/2" criss cross pattern prior to putting on mustard and rub. I am new to the smoking world and just got my first smoker and thankfully found this website with some excellent advice and tips! So far I have smoked whitefish which turned out pretty good, a beef brisket that was good but I know I can improve on, and did a pork butt last week. I could not get too many pictures last week as it was a struggle to keep a constant temp with 20-30 mph winds, but I got it done and it turned out pretty dang good. This is a similar dry rub concoction as last time. I have a propane smoker with a water pan inside and I am going to use hickory chunks soaked overnite with the water from that in water pan, and some apple wood chips also. I will add a signature with smoker description as soon as I figure out how to.....

scarbelly · Mar 18, 2012

Looks like you have a good start. Looking forward to seeing the rest

davidhef88 · Mar 18, 2012

Great start !! Welcome aboard.

smokin vegas · Mar 18, 2012

That is a lovely butt now strut your stuff!!!

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

6:30am and smoker is up to temp and she be a smokin! Time to put my butts in! Also found some "riblets" in freezer from a year ago that I forgot we had which are basically trimmed pieces from pork ribs I believe, but they were ok size so I put some dry rub on them and then brown sugar on the top (an idea that I also picked up here).

Too early for a beer, time for some coffee.

Trying out my new wireless meat thermometer also, so far I like it with the 100' range, although I burnt my dang finger putting probe in meat......guess I should not have left probe in smoker while heating her up or wore gloves

va_connoisseur · Mar 19, 2012

Welcome aboard Deuce. Looks like you're off to a good start but you've already made one error...it's never too early for alcohol and BBQ.

terry colwell · Mar 19, 2012

va_connoisseur said:
Welcome aboard Deuce. Looks like you're off to a good start but you've already made one error...it's never too early for alcohol and BBQ.

Agreed,,,NEVER too early....

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

va_connoisseur said:
Welcome aboard Deuce. Looks like you're off to a good start but you've already made one error...it's never too early for alcohol and BBQ.

Seems like good advice to me!

2hrs in, and I added a handfull of apple wood chips to the smoker. After snapping this pic, I noticed that my inside temp was higher than the door temp reads. The last 2 times they have been reading the same as each other +or- 3 degrees. I was at 250 inside and 230 outside so I turned her down just a bit and will check again when I foil the riblets in another hour.

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

After doing some quick reding on this site about thermometers, I found some advice about cleaning the thermometer's door probe, something I havent done, so I went out and wiped it off. Probably a good thing because it was pretty covered with black soot! Will see if it makes a difference and reads a closer temp to the inside thermometer like it used to.

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

A little over 3 hours in and at 130 internal temp.

Cleaning probe on door did not help much, I am at 195 on door temp, and 230 for temp inside according to thermometer. I can see I will have to invest in a better thermometer, possibly a dual probe one like the Maverick ET 73. As for now I am going off the inside temp shown on the thermometer. I never did a calibration check when I got it from wally mart thinking since it is new it must be accurate, maybe I should have.... Anyway these suckers are not gonna get done if I keep opening the dang door!! It does recover pretty quick back to temp though at least!

daveomak · Mar 19, 2012

Deuce, morning and welcome..... Great looking butts and no it don't look too fat.... I used to have a beer at that hour of the day when doing Q.... Then I got married.... That's a story for another day.....

One suggestion... when putting chunks in the chip pan, I have found 1 chunk provides more than enough smoke.... too much smoke tastes bitter.... also, depending on the temp of your pan, you could end up with a fire in the smoker.... It takes 2 pieces of wood to have a fire....

OK, I'm ready for the money shots....

..... Dave

alelover · Mar 19, 2012

Only in that dress.

alelover · Mar 19, 2012

Actually you have very nice butts.

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

alelover said:
Only in that dress.

LOL!!

DaveOmak said:
Deuce, morning and welcome..... Great looking butts and no it don't look too fat.... I used to have a beer at that hour of the day when doing Q.... Then I got married.... That's a story for another day.....

One suggestion... when putting chunks in the chip pan, I have found 1 chunk provides more than enough smoke.... too much smoke tastes bitter.... also, depending on the temp of your pan, you could end up with a fire in the smoker.... It takes 2 pieces of wood to have a fire....

OK, I'm ready for the money shots....

..... Dave

Great tip, thank you. I figured more wood chunks would be better than fewer since I would not have to open door as much. I will use less now since it recovers in temp so quick anyway.

The wind picked up now so I had to make an improvides wind screen but it seems to be working.

Internal temp is now at 147 after 5 1/2 hours.

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

And we have hit the stall...still at 150 after 8.5 hrs. Actually the timing of the stall worked out perfect for me, I had a 2:30 appointment to get new rims and tires on my truck. I was a bit nervous leaving them all alone for over an hour, but no troubles at all.

The New Rims and Tires

(a little dirty due to rain and puddles on way home)

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

Just hit the 12 hour mark. Temp is now 160 in one and 163 in the other. Im going to put one in a covered foil pan once it hits 165 and run the other one through uncovered till it hits 200ish.

1beezer · Mar 19, 2012

Looks delicious.

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

Just hit the 14 hour point, internal temp is now 185. The temp seems to be climbing a bit faster now. Definatley a good thermometer in my future for accurate internal temp for smoker, now the door thermometer reads higher than thermometer inside, the exact opposite as this morning. Will be calibrating, or checking accuracy in boiling water after this is all done to see how close they really are. Pics to follow at some point when they are done.

deuce · Mar 19, 2012

Hit 200 at 930 and pulled them off 15 hours after putting them on. I let them rest for 30-40 minutes only as I am tired and headed to bed! These 2 butts had a little more fat inside that I scraped off than the last one I did, but still not bad at all. Taste was amazing! I did not use a finishing sauce, but I think I will try it next time. I did not notice a difference in moisture between one in foil pan and one left out and uncovered. Both got done at same time also. I think next time I will leave uncovered. Here is the final pic and i'm going to bed! I did not take pic prior to pulling since they fell apart when taking off smoker.

Thanks for all the advice! I will continue to improve at this and maybe someday can also give advice!

Good Nite!

rtbbq2 · Mar 19, 2012

Looks great and glad you started early....

Does my butt look fat??

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