Second attempt at Boston Butt

mmason3 · Mar 3, 2017

Last weekend I smoked my first Boston Butt. It was a little 3.5-pound boneless cut that I got from Whole Foods. I plan on picking up an 8-pound bone-in butt this evening after I get off work. The plan is to get up around 6:00 AM tomorrow morning and get the butt coated in a rub and start the smoker. I want to have the butt on the smoker by 7:00 AM and let it cook at around 270* F for 10 hours. I used a pan of apple cider vinegar last weekend to keep some moisture in the cook chamber but I think I want to try plain apple cider or just water instead of the vinegar this time. Pointers and suggestions are greatly appreciated! I will upload pictures during the process tomorrow

tropics · Mar 3, 2017

What kind of smoker are you using

Richie

mmason3 · Mar 3, 2017

I have a Char Griller Smokin Champ. I made some tuning plates to evenly spread the heat and smoke under the meat but that's about it for mods. I put two thermometers on the cover to get accurate temp reads at the cook level

schlotz · Mar 3, 2017

It's less about the time (Butts can't tell time

) and more about the finished IT (200-205°), and following that up with a 2 hour rest. Do you have a good therm you can place in the butt to watch its IT? BTW: make sure it's not up against the bone. Many ways to get a butt done especially since they are a pretty forgiving cut. While I usually smoke butts at lower temps (225-240°), there's no doubt you can make it happen at 270°. Water in the pan is fine.

Bearcarver · Mar 3, 2017

Here's a complete Step by Step of a 7 Pound Boston Pork Butt:

Pulled Boston Pork Butt
Hope that helps,

Bear

mmason3 · Mar 3, 2017

schlotz said:
It's less about the time (Butts can't tell time

) and more about the finished IT (200-205°), and following that up with a 2 hour rest. Do you have a good therm you can place in the butt to watch its IT? BTW: make sure it's not up against the bone. Many ways to get a butt done especially since they are a pretty forgiving cut. While I usually smoke butts at lower temps (225-240°), there's no doubt you can make it happen at 270°. Water in the pan is fine.

I didn't think about the rest at the end of the cook, I guess I'm waking up a little earlier now

I don't have a therm that I can leave in yet. I looked on Amazon but didn't feel like paying $100 for a decent leave in probe, I'll look locally and see what I find. Thanks for the tips!

mmason3 · Mar 3, 2017

Bearcarver said:
Here's a complete Step by Step of a 7 Pound Boston Pork Butt:

Pulled Boston Pork Butt
Hope that helps,

Bear

Awesome write-up Bearcarver! I can't wait to try some of those steps tomorrow

dirtsailor2003 · Mar 3, 2017

mmason3 said:
I didn't think about the rest at the end of the cook, I guess I'm waking up a little earlier now :icon_eek: I don't have a therm that I can leave in yet. I looked on Amazon but didn't feel like paying $100 for a decent leave in probe, I'll look locally and see what I find. Thanks for the tips!

No need for a leave in therm. A good instant read therm will be ample. Finding one locally may be hard. A great cheap accurate instant read therm is the Javelin by Lavatools. Can be purchased for around $25 on Amazon.

No matter what therm you end up with make sure you test it for accuracy. You should test your pit therms also.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...is-212-f-an-accurate-measure-of-boiling-water

As for times a general rule of thumb is 2-2 1/2 hours per pound when running the pit at 225-250. Yes add time for the rest afterwards. I usually add 45min. To 1 hour.

mmason3 · Mar 3, 2017

dirtsailor2003 said:
No need for a leave in therm. A good instant read therm will be ample. Finding one locally may be hard. A great cheap accurate instant read therm is the Javelin by Lavatools. Can be purchased for around $25 on Amazon.

No matter what therm you end up with make sure you test it for accuracy. You should test your pit therms also.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...is-212-f-an-accurate-measure-of-boiling-water

As for times a general rule of thumb is 2-2 1/2 hours per pound when running the pit at 225-250. Yes add time for the rest afterwards. I usually add 45min. To 1 hour.

Well if the case of not needing a leave in holds true, I'll stick with my instant read. I boiled my pit therms when I got them from Amazon and my instant therm is accurate as well. I am so glad I turned to the forum for help. Great group of people here and lots of sage advice!

Bearcarver · Mar 3, 2017

mmason3 said:
Well if the case of not needing a leave in holds true, I'll stick with my instant read. I boiled my pit therms when I got them from Amazon and my instant therm is accurate as well. I am so glad I turned to the forum for help. Great group of people here and lots of sage advice!

Depends on what you're smoking with, and how good the recovery is, and if you foil during the last stage.

If you don't use a "leave in" Therm, you'll have to open the door to check it until you got it to the right zone, and if you foil it, that gets kinda hard to find the center through the foil. That means the door will be open even longer. Then you have to get it back up to temp.

I use my Digital wireless Maverick ET-732 all the time, except on Ribs. And then sometimes double check with the Instant Therm.

You'll be OK temporarily, but I'd get something like a Maverick as soon as you can. Makes things so much easier.

Bear

mmason3 · Mar 3, 2017

So after work I stopped by a local Lowes Foods, similar to Publix, and picked up some pork butt. Unfortunately I only found 3lb and 4lb cuts. It isn't a big deal I suppose since it can decrease the overall cook time. I have them seasoned and wrapped in the fridge now getting ready for tomorrow

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SmokinAl · Mar 4, 2017

Looks like a good start!

Al

Bearcarver · Mar 4, 2017

Doing two smaller ones is fine.

Your total time should only be slightly longer than what the bigger one (Thicker) would take to smoke by itself.

Bear

rbnice1 · Mar 4, 2017

Here is what I use and have found it quite handy. Better then the maverick.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Weber-iGrill-2-LED-Display-Thermometer-7203/300498565

you can get the mini for 49 bucks but the bigger 1 allows 4 different temp probes.

jokensmoken · Mar 4, 2017

For a LONG TIME, I used the elcheapo digitals that can usually be found for less than $20. Drawbacks are you'll replace them about once a season, they're not wireless and the probes don't handle washing well (you can't submerge them in soapy water to clean). Other than that every one I've used was accurate and would last several smokes on a set of batteries.
My opinion is an elcheapo would be better than not having one at all.
For years I used two...One for the meat, one for grate/internal smoke chamber temp.
Happy smoking.
Walt.

masonsjax · Mar 4, 2017

I've been using the Thermoworks dot for a while now. It's accurate, super easy to use, has an alarm, and is under $30. Even cheaper if you get on their mailing list and jump on a sale. I got mine for $24.

mmason3 · Mar 5, 2017

The smoke went really well yesterday. I put the meat in at 8:00AM and took it off around 2:30 or 3:00. I wrapped the pork butt and pork loin at 170 IT and then threw it in the oven, oven was off, and let it settle for about 2 hours. I had never smoked pork loin before but I can guarantee this won't be my last time smoking it. The bark on all three pieces turned out really well. The meat was juicy and fell apart while I was pulling it. I sliced the loin into small medallions and pulled the butt. I smoked some chicken for other guests and that was okay, a little on the dry side but had a ton of smoke flavor. Throughout the night the guests told me the pork was the best BBQ they're ever had. I am very pleased with the results and incredibly appreciative of all the help and suggestions I received on this thread. Now for why you gents are really here, the pictures...

Pulled Pork

IMG_4821.JPG

mmason3
Mar 5, 2017

Pork Loin

IMG_4820.JPG

mmason3
Mar 5, 2017

Chicken

IMG_4819.JPG

mmason3
Mar 5, 2017

jokensmoken · Mar 5, 2017

If you're doing loins you owe it to yourself to make some Canadian bacon...It's incredibly easy and far better than anything you'll ever buy at the store...

IMG_20161222_192021256.jpg

jokensmoken
Mar 5, 2017

This was my last batch...Two loins cured then halved...
There are TONS of great cure recipes and most are similar...I like to cut the sugar in any recipe for Canadian bacon in half and replace it with an equivalent amount of 100% pure maple syrup...YUMMY.

jokensmoken · Mar 5, 2017

AND...Great looking meat...Looks like everything came out perfect.

mmason3 · Mar 5, 2017

jokensmoken said:
If you're doing loins you owe it to yourself to make some Canadian bacon...It's incredibly easy and far better than anything you'll ever buy at the store...

IMG_20161222_192021256.jpg

jokensmoken

Mar 5, 2017

This was my last batch...Two loins cured then halved...
There are TONS of great cure recipes and most are similar...I like to cut the sugar in any recipe for Canadian bacon in half and replace it with an equivalent amount of 100% pure maple syrup...YUMMY.

jokensmoken said:
AND...Great looking meat...Looks like everything came out perfect.

Thank you! Everything did come out great! I have so much to try and I can't wait to try it. The Canadian bacon you posted looks amazing, definitely going to try that

Second attempt at Boston Butt

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