First pork butt, in progress, with q-view.....update: it's done

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flyinion

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jul 9, 2012
117
12
Sacramento, CA
So I started my first pork butt ever this morning, and 2nd smoke on my 18.5" WSM.  It's 4.8lbs but I got it on a little later than I wanted to (about 11am) to be done hopefully by 7-7:30 tonight.  It's sitting around 167 right now and has been smoking at about 235-250 with 4 small pecan chunks and about 1/2 a ring of Kingsford competition (leftover first bag) and the rest is Royal Oak lump.  I'm definitely NOT using the briquettes again.  They clog up the coals with ash way too easy I've figured out.  Anyway here's the pics so far, I'll update more as it goes along.

edit:  Added pic of some sausages that went on 2 hours or so ago.

Oiled & ready for rub


Rubbed and waiting for the smoker.  I rubbed with Jeff's rub recipe.  For some reason my rub turned out darker than his shows up in pics.


About 2 1/2 hours in.  I pulled the whole thing off the charcoal section to see if I had wood chunks left because I wasn't seeing or smelling smoke anymore.  I added a few more chunks, then swapped out the lime in the photo for the air probe to a potato after a quick run to the store.


About 4 hours in I couldn't resist a peek to see how it was doing (and to get a pic for this thread lol)


That's it for now.  More in a bit.  I'm debating whether to foil it or not.  I wanted to get some good bark, but my late start may mean I have to cave and foil it to get it done.

Update 1:

Added some Evergood English Bangers on about 2 hours ago and just pulled them.  Since these are fully cooked already, I will probably only do them for about an hour next time.  3 of 4 were split open.  They have a nice little smoke ring though and I thought the bit I tried was pretty good.

 
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Lookin good! It will probably a couple more hours pretty easily. Try not to peek!
Yep trying not to.  I'm about to run downstairs and check the temps and then toss some English Bangers sausages on and a pecan chunk to get some smoke started again (want to see how the bangers are when smoked), but that will be the last time it's opened until it's done then unless I decide to foil it.
 
Well, it's getting closer, 179 IT and the smoker is running in the mid 240's.  I keep trying to get it up to or over 250 but it's not wanting to cooperate.  I had 263 once but it dropped back down.  I'm pretty sure it's the Kingford stuff clogging things up.  I got a good look in there as the sun is lower in the sky and I moved my patio umbrella I was shading the smoker with so I got a good bit of light in there and it looked like a nice layer of KF briquette & ash on the bottom of the grate.  I've been shaking the ring & poking the coals with the tongs once in a while to try and knock the ash off.  Anyway I think it's looking good to hopefully be done by 8pm.  I think it hit a second stall around 173 but it moved 5 degrees in the last 20 minutes.  I lifted the lid quickly just enough to peek and make sure the rub wasn't burning.  It's very dark but the outside has some give so it's not crispy barky dried out if that makes sense.
 
Hmmm, apparently I managed to pull an "oops".  I checked the temps again and it was back down near 230.  Couldn't figure out what was going on especially since I just tossed some fresh lump on about 20 minutes ago.  So I lift the other side of the lid where the air probe is to see if something is weird.  Yeah, something was weird.  LOL somehow the sausage I'd placed near it had moved/expanded/whatever and the probe was resting on top of it.  Separated them and the temp shot up to about 274.  Oh well, could have been worse and couldn't have been like that more than about 30 minutes I think. On the plus side, IT is now at 187.
 
Hang in there! You are getting close!

I don't worry about small temp spikes like that that don't last long, I really don't think they affect the cooking process.

It was good you thought something was going on and you found it and fixed it, that's what it's all about.
 
It's interesting to read your posts because I went thru the same things about 2 weeks ago. I did an 8# bone in butt in my MES. Didn't have any trouble holding the temp and the AMNPS kept smokin' for almost 12 hours, but it took 18 hours to get it above 200° IT. It stalled for hours. I finally bumped the temp from 225° to 250° and the IT started moving. It still took a couple hours to get from the 170's to 202.

Hang in there. Don't open it if you don't absolutely have to. That was the hardest thing for me to do but I got through all 18 hours without opening the door once. Easier to do on an electric, I know; but a lot of heat escapes every time you pull that lid.

Don't forget to show us the final product.

:110:
 
Ok, it finally got done and here are the pics.  They would have been up earlier but, well,  we were kind of busy eating
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.  So total time was roughly 9 1/2 hours, so just under 2 hours per pound.  It took it nearly an hour to go from 197 to 200 (which is when I pulled it off the smoker).  I was kind of surprised by that.  It was like another stall.  The meat turned out pretty moist, though I may try foil next time to see how that turns out.  There was very very little fat/etc. left when I went to pull the meat apart.  You can see the depth of the smoke ring in the 2nd picture of it after I pulled the meat.   The first is right off the smoker, then I tented some foil over it and let it rest for probably 15-20 minutes while I shut down the smoker and cleaned up the water pan and some other stuff.


 
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Congratulations on the cook, the pork looks really good.

Just a little hint, that butt was done at 197°, those final 3 degrees didn't mean much in the overall scheme of things
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Congratulations on the cook, the pork looks really good.

Just a little hint, that butt was done at 197°, those final 3 degrees didn't mean much in the overall scheme of things
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Yeah I was going off Jeff's time/temp chart that says 200 for pulled.  I just now read the pork butt sticky though that says 195-205, oops.  I guess I was worried if I pulled it "early" it wouldn't be tender enough to shred but I think it probably would have and probably been slightly juicier too.  Still, it was pretty crazy that it took an hour (a good solid one) for those last 3 degrees so something was going on for sure.
 
I think you did well and gained some insight to the mysteries of Pork Butt!

I try to get the Fattiest Butts to Smoke, which is not usually a problem since most folks buy the Lean ones up first. It is easy to remove excess fat while you are pulling but the only easy fix to a Dry Lean Butt is a bunch of Sauce...JJ
 
Looks good.

For me I usually will kick the fire up a bit to push through the stall. This way it is not sitting at a 5 degree difference in 1hr. But that is me.
 
Great pics and great commentary all along. Hope you enjoyed it...looks great Thumbs Up

Us rookies are so funny...sometimes we are so literal...waiting and waiting and then pulling it off the second it hits exactly 200!
 
I did some pp yesterday and got if off the smoker at about 190. It pulled very easily and was very moist. 100 times better than my first attempt.
 
Great job!
Did you wrap it up and put it in a cooler after you took it off? I found out (the hard way) that this makes a tremendous difference in how well the pork retains moisture.
Unfortunately no, I pulled it off at like 8:30pm, pulled it, and we had a late dinner.  I definitely need to get it on earlier next time and also as noted pull it off at a slightly lower temp maybe if it seems to be done.  I did let it sit under foil for about 20 minutes while I cleaned up the smoker and stuff before I actually pulled it though.
 
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