1st time Butts (PP)....need ready for lunch Monday....help!

Here is what I do.  24 hours before I'm  going to smoke the butt.  I rub the butt with French's mustard and apply the rub, coating the entire rub.  I wrap with plactic wrap and put in the frig.  About an hour before I am going to start smoking I take the butt out of the frig and sit on the counter.  I haven't injected a butt but others have.  I give the butt another coat of rub just before putting in the smoker.  I smoke at 225 degrees.  When the butt reaches an IT of 100 I mist with a mixture of 1 cup apple juice and 1/3 cup Captain Morgans spiced rum.  I mist every hour until the IT is at 160 degress.  I then foil and add a 1/4 cup of the AJCM mixture and seal tightly.  When the IT is at 195 degrees I start checking for tenderness.  I use a tooth pick.  When it goes in without resisstance I pull it.  General from 195 to 205.  I rewrap with foil, then a towel and put into a cooler for at least one hour.  It will stay hot for several hours in the cooler.  When you take the butt out of the smoker cut a small hole in a conner and drain into a dish.  I degrease this and add back to the pork when pulling.  I would guess this will take between 10 to 12 hour to smoke.  But IT is what you should be looking at for not time.  If you want dark bark don't foil.  Since you have two you may only want to foil one.  Hope this helps.  John

Hi WooPig,

Here's how I roll:

1. When do I do the injection and how long do I wait after that to do rub?

I inject and then let the meat rest in the fridge up to 24 hrs.

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]A good source for [/font]additional[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]  information:[/font]

http://www.howtobbqright.com/pulledbbqmeat.html

2. When do I apply rub? (using Jeff's)

I usually let the rub sit on for a few hours.

3. When do I start smoking these things to have them ready to eat at noon Monday? (being done a little early is better than running late....but not too early)

"General rule" is 1 - 1.5 hours of cook time per pound, but there are other variables involved, e.g. cooker temp., outside temp. wind conditions, etc. - I recommend a good digital thermometer to check the internal temp.

4. How long do I apply smoke? (have hickory and apple available)

Hickory and apple is a good combination. Your smoke flavor needs to be  heavier in the early stages of the cook. General rule is after internal temp. is 160, then you can finish off with more heat and less smoke. Too much smoke in the late stages isn't optimal.

Also:
5. Do I need to foil them at some point during the smoke?

Personally, I only foil after I pulled the butts off, but I have read a lot of folks foil after 160 internal temp. as to avoid too much smoke in the late stages which makes sense, but I like bark and the foil will moisten the bark.

6. Do I need to use pans at any point?

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]For a butt, I would not use a pan.[/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The cool thing about smoking is that everybody has their own methods and they think that is the best. With that said, the answers I have provided is just what I do. There's no hard and fast rules, for the most part,  so be creative and have fun. [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]J[/font]

I've cooked many butts on the MES30, although I've never injected, it won't change the method.

If you want it done for noon, all I can do is tell you how I would handle it and then you decide from there.

There are so many variables that will affect the time needed to cook butts including the meat itself.

 Set the digital control at 225 and let the temp come up while you prep the butts.

Coat the butts with yellow mustard to help to rub stick, then a good coating of rub just before placing in the smoker at 225. I never put the rub on early, although some do. It's just a matter of of personal preference.

I would start smoking the butts by 8PM the night before and keep smoke on them until about 2AM and misting them each hour with apple juice. Go to bed at 2AM and leave the smoker at 225 until morning. When you wake up, check the internal temp and start misting again until the internal temp reaches 200. Then double wrap with foil and towels and place in a cooler until you are ready to pull the meat for dinner.

Enjoy and good smoking!

OK... for those butts your probably looking at approx. 8-10 hrs., but I say approx., becuase you go by internal temp. not time! As you stated you want to finish early not late, so here is what I would do.

• 24 hrs. before smoke wrap butts in several layers of plastic wrap, then inject through the wrap (less mess this way). If you are not injecting skip this step.
• 12-8 hrs. before smoke unwrap the butts, coat with a thin layer of plain ol' yellow mustard and apply rub, put in fridge and let it hang out.
• Now for start time of actual smoke I would turn on your smoker at midnight, you have a MES so no worries about temp flucuations, and get it up to temp. (225°-250°) and ready to go.
• Put the butts on and let the smoker come back up to temp, it's now probably about 1:00 AM. Once it is steady, set your alarm for about 5:30 AM and get some shut eye.
• 5:30 AM... start a pot of coffee.... and pad out and check the internal temp on both butts. probably gonna be between 155° and 165° internal temp. If they are under 165° let them keep going, if they are 165° or over foil them and close the door.
• Wait for the interal temp to get to 190°, pull the butts out of the smoker, drain the juices from the foil, and close the foil back up tightly.
• Then take a dry ice chest, fold a towel and place it on the bottom, put the two butts in, then fill all the rest of the space with more towels, put on the lid.... and DON"T OPEN IT!
• The butts will hold for 6+ hrs. and still be to hot to handle with bare hands.
• Now back to the juices you drained off, put them in the freezer for 30-40 min. till the fat can be lifted off.
• At the party, pull the pork with a couple of forks, reheat the juices and mix them into the pulled pork.
• Serve... and enjoy all the compliments!