Dual pork butts with HEAVY smoke

turick · Nov 21, 2014

So I smoked a chuck roast last week and lit my AMNPS from both ends with hickory. When that burnt out, I filled another row and lit that too... it was the yummiest roast I've made yet. I honestly feel like I'm constantly lacking the smoke flavor I really desire in most of my pork and beef smokes. So for these butts, I'm doing it again! Lighting from both ends, and might even put some more smoke on it when that burns out. I just got them trimmed up and rubbed... Sitting in the fridge for a few hours and I'll put them on at 225 sometime this afternoon.

rubbed.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

Has anybody used this A1 rub before? I used the black peppercorn rub last time on some beef and it was really good. The smell and taste of the herbs and spices in this bold original one are REALLY good. Can't wait to see how it tastes on the pork:

rub.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the fat caps and other trimmed fat. I was thinking about putting them in some trays under the butts with some apple juice to make au jus, but instead I threw it in a ziplock baggie and tomorrow I'll take the bones and the fat and make some stock. I make a lot of chicken stock for soups, but I've never made pork stock before.

fat.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

More pictures to come!

themule69 · Nov 21, 2014

It should be good! I freeze my fat for adding to venison or sausage.

Happy smoken.

David

turick · Nov 21, 2014

So this is a bit off topic, but I always remember my mom using chicken skin and fat to make stock. I've been using entire uncooked chickens to make my stocks. I figured the fat was an important part of the process, but from everything I'm reading, you really want to avoid the fat :) Meat and bones are what you're really after (primarily bones). Looks like I'll have to find another use for the fat. I'd love to join the sausage makers guild one day, but maybe I'll just revert to making some au jus for now.

red dog · Nov 21, 2014

Put the fat in a pan and smoke it with the butts. Chop up and freeze to add to beans or greens for flavor.

turick · Nov 21, 2014

Red Dog said:
Put the fat in a pan and smoke it with the butts. Chop up and freeze to add to beans or greens for flavor.

MMmm... that actually sounds like a great idea. Any thoughts on how long to leave it in? I'm guessing given the cold temps outside I'll have my butts in the MES for at least 20 hours, but I'm assuming I shouldn't leave the fat in that long...

turick · Nov 21, 2014

Well apparently my phone doesn't take very good pictures of smoke. Not as much shows up in these photos as there actually is. Anyway, got the AMNPS loaded and fired up, and the butts in the smoker at 225. After the AMNPS burns out tonight, I'll probably fill it back up and just light one end. Expecting these to finish sometime tomorrow.

pellets.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

qview.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

smoke1.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

smoke2.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

oldschoolbbq · Nov 21, 2014

Turic , hello . I'm going to sit here and watch . . .

Be sure to let us see the Smoke... you said heavy and I'm curious as to what you mean by heavy...

have fun and . . .

turick · Nov 21, 2014

Ha... well... those are the pictures of the smoke! :)

In all honesty, the camera on my phone really isn't picking up a lot of the smoke. In the pictures above, I could literally see about twice as much smoke with my eyes as you can see in the pictures. Another thing hard to capture is that the smoke seems to be coming out of the AMNPS very rapidly, almost like the smoke pressure is higher, if that makes any sense. I have a 3 car garage with 1 2-car garage door and 1 1-car garage door. I usually only open the 1 car garage door to smoke. I just went out and I felt like the entire garage was on fire. I had to open the 2-car door as well because the entire garage was filled with smoke. That never happens. So I guess I'm just out of luck when it comes to pictures.

Typically, I just load up a couple of rows on the AMNPS and may or may not go beyond that once it's burnt out. On this smoke, I've lit the AMNPS from both ends. As soon as that's burnt out, I'm adding even more smoke. So I'll probably be applying about 3x the amount of smoke that I normally do when smoking a pork butt.

Hope that makes sense and sorry the pictures don't do a very good job.

themule69 · Nov 21, 2014

Your off to a good start. I bet the entire neighborhood is watching. I live in the country and the neighbors know when I fire up the smoker.
happy smoken.

David

turick · Nov 21, 2014

About 5 1/2 hours in and the AMNPS went out. I just filled the whole thing back up but only lit one end. Hopefully it keeps the smoke rolling all through the night. Sterilized the probe and the meat is only at 130 so I'm not too worried about it finishing too soon!

6 hours in.jpg

turick
Nov 21, 2014

foamheart · Nov 21, 2014

Sterilzed with Capt. Morgans I hope! You did sample to sure that the Capt's was still strong enough to disinfect?

turick · Nov 21, 2014

I wish!!! No such excitement for me tonight!

ibbones · Nov 22, 2014

I grabbed two Butts at the store last night. It's time to fire up the smoker hopefully tonight and we will have goodies to eat this week while the Turkey stuff is getting prepared.

How long did yours take? I did two 8-10 pounders a while back and it took a little over twenty hours and then had to let it rest. Long day.

turick · Nov 22, 2014

Well I put them on yesterday (Friday) around 4:30PM I think... Right now it's 10:30 AM on Saturday morning and the IT of the one I stuck the probe in is 155. I honestly have no idea how some people smoke at 225 and finish a butt in 9 hours. Mine always take between 16-20 hours and I usually end up kicking the temp on the smoker up to 275 and/or foiling just to get it to finish.

My real experiment this time is trying to get them really smokey, so I want to leave it at 225 while I put a lot of smoke on them, otherwise I would probably just crank the temp up to 275. I did a full AMNPS tray lit from both ends for the first 5 hours. Then I filled an entire tray last night and lit it from one end. This morning around 8 it went out and I filled it up again. I honestly thought I'd be further along by now. These might take me 24+ hours.

turick · Nov 22, 2014

I don't have another thermometer to really measure the ambient temp. I just set an old school meat thermometer in the smoker. It only goes up to 200, but just setting it in the smoker, it quickly maxed out, so the temp must be higher than 200.

For some unknown reason, the circuit blew in my garage. By the time I caught it the IT of the meat had dropped down to 147. Not sure what it is, but my butts always take a very very long time. 18 hours in and still have quite a ways to go... good thing I don't have company coming over or anybody expecting it right away :)

At least they're looking good!

still cooking - 18 hours in.jpg

turick
Nov 22, 2014

aceoky · Nov 22, 2014

Finished pictures? was it enough smoke for you folks?

turick · Nov 22, 2014

At 5PM, the IT of the hottest butt was still around 170... that's over 24 hours in, so I decided to bump the MES up to 275. It's almost 7PM now and the IT is 201. The bottom one with the needle thermometer still shows under 190. So I'll pull the one that hits 205 on the digital thermometer, foil it and wrap it for a rest, then see what the digital thermometer says about the other one. I'll probably let them rest for a good couple of hours before I pull.... I'll post pictures in a few minutes before I foil.

turick · Nov 22, 2014

All done! Total time was around 27 hours! I snuck a small piece of bark for my wife and I before foiling. The flavor was amazing. Unfortunately, the first ingredient in that A1 rub is "Spice", so even though some of the flavors are familiar, I can't put my finger on what is actually in it. It is, however, hands down the best rub I've ever purchased or made. The tiny piece of meat that came off with the bark was very very juice and tender. Definitely happy with the smoke flavor. I always get paranoid and I was worried I would ruin $50+ of pork, but I had to keep reminding myself how every time I get done with a butt, I always wish it were smokier.

It's in the cooler now for a couple of hours before it gets pulled... more pictures to come...

done1.jpg

turick
Nov 22, 2014

done2.jpg

turick
Nov 22, 2014

aceoky · Nov 22, 2014

YES!!!!!!!

2fast4u · Nov 22, 2014

27 hours to cook a butt wow didn't know it takes that long.

Dual pork butts with HEAVY smoke

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