Need a little advice... my first smoke. Boston butt

Its sort of up to how smoky you want the thing. I've also found on my MES that if you're using chips in the tray (as opposed to an AMNPS) that for some reason it seems to produce a stronger smoke flavor, I think cause of how hot it gets them smoking and that its just induction rather than an actual burning. Anyway, if I use the chip tray on the MES, I almost never do more than 2 refills which you usually need to do at each hour or so increment, but that's just cause I don't like way too much smokiness to Butts. (and by that I mean that I like a very noticeable smoke flavor, but not overpowering the flavor of the meat and rub) 

That being said, when I use the AMNPS, I just burn a full tube which goes for like 6-8 hours, so going along with what AL said, in those cases I do it up till the time I foil it at the stall. (I do foil on every butt, I get much better results that way personally).

Just try this one out, take some notes, and adjust in the future depending on how it turned out. Every time I have done my MES 30 with filling the chip tray more than 2-3 times the meat comes out way too smoky for my preference. The first smoke I did on my MES with chips I filled the entire cook, and didn't wrap, and the meat was just way over the top smoky.

Sorry for the overload of info, hope some of it helps/ Please take some pics, and let us know how it turned out!

 

BigFitz said:

Does it matter that it's been fat side up the whole time?

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No, it shouldn't matter all that much. Some folks suggest fat side down if your heat is below, but I've never noticed any improvement. Actually, I tried a brisket like that in my wsm one time and the 1/4 inch just above the fat cap was a little tough. So I went flat side up and never looked back. Try it the other way next time and see what you think.
Lance

BigFitz said:

Does it matter that it's been fat side up the whole time?

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No shouldn't really matter. I pretty much always put my butts fat side up, but i would recommend given the fat cap a good scoring. As far as your temp, thats not too bad. 181 after 13 hours at 225 sounds about right without wrapping. I wrap at the beginning/mid stall to help retain more moisture, and to help power through the stall a bit faster. (With wrapping, i can almost always count on a 12 hour total cook regardless of the size of the butt like clockwork, so timing works more consistent as well)

If i end up close to when i need to be done ill even just take it inside and put it in the oven at a bit warmer temp wrapped to help get there faster. 

Anyway, i refused to wrap for years because i liked a nice thick bark, but after getting advice from people on here i decided to start doing it, and from the very first cook i wrapped on i never looked back. still get a really nice bark, but its easier to bite through, but i was able to get much juicier meat. Im not saying this is the rule, but i do think they are harder to mess up if you wrap. Lots of people don't/won't wrap and get better meat than little old me (like Al for example!) , but my consistency has been much better since i started wrapping.

Like i said before, taking notes is important. Id try it both ways, see what works for you, and what way you prefer the meat.