1st post, 1st pork butt cook on the WSM - crossing fingers!!

rhuel · May 4, 2017

A co-worker of mine gave me a Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5" a few weeks ago and I haven't used it to smoke anything yet. I'm planning on cooking 2 ~8lb butts for Memorial Day for family/friends so I wanted to do a test run for a smaller crowd (me, my wife and kids plus another couple) tomorrow.

I started with a Swift Premium 8.75lb butt, trimmed the cap and false cap the best I could and cut in what looked to be half. I ended up with 2lbs of fat, 3lb, and 3.75 lb butt pieces.

I found some Weber Dry Smoking Rub in a local Walmart the other day ($6 for 15oz) so I figured I'd give it a try without adding anything else (other than the French's for it to stick to). If it's good, super, I'll use it as-is for Memorial Day. If it needs "a little something", I'll add to it or make my own as I've done in the past (I've been using a Bradley Electric for about 10 years).

I'm thinking approx 6-7 hours cook time (temps are to be in the 50s with rain and wind all day tomorrow) with both butts on the top rack at 200-225 degrees plus an hour or so wrapped in foil in a cooler.

What I don't know for sure is how long it will take for the cooker to come up to temp using the Minion method. After dumping the chimney, should I expect 30 minutes, 45 min, less-more?

Anyway, here are some pics pre-cook and I'll try to remember to get some during and post-cook and share tomorrow or Saturday.

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shyzabrau · May 4, 2017

Why did you trim off all of the flavor?

dirtsailor2003 · May 4, 2017

Depending on the weather, 30-45 minutes is probably about right for the 22 to get up to temp and clear out the white smoke. Could take up to an hour. If your smoking below 250° plan on more than 2 hours per pound. I don't even bother with low temp in the wsm for pork butts anymore. 285°-325°. Get the same great product in way less time.

rhuel · May 4, 2017

dirtsailor2003 said:
Depending on the weather, 30-45 minutes is probably about right for the 22 to get up to temp and clear out the white smoke. Could take up to an hour. If your smoking below 250° plan on more than 2 hours per pound. I don't even bother with low temp in the wsm for pork butts anymore. 285°-325°. Get the same great product in way less time.

Good to know.

Any guesstimate on how long to cook these two at 285-325?

Shyzabrau said:
Why did you trim off all of the flavor?

I think fat caps/fake caps on/off are personal preference. I think there's plenty of fat inside the butt for plenty of flavor.

My preference is to remove them to get rub/smoke on parts of the meat that I'm actually going to eat versus scrape off and toss post-cook. If I toss before the cook and get more flavor from the cook into the meat, I prefer that over tossing after and throwing away 40% of the rub and bark.

Again, I think it's just a preference.

dirtsailor2003 · May 4, 2017

rhuel said:
Good to know.

Any guesstimate on how long to cook these two at 285-325?

I cook to internal temperature not time. I like to take the pork butts to an IT of 205°. The higher temp cooks cuts the time almost in half. So around 1 hour per pound.

oregonbbqtime · May 4, 2017

My wife and recently did to 9+ pounders on our WSM 18.5. We started them around 5 am. and they finished around 5:30 pm cooking at 225 - 250. then after and hour of resting they were good to feed the party. They stall on ours lasted about 4 hours. We took them off when the internal temp got to around 203.

phatbac · May 4, 2017

I think fat caps/fake caps on/off are personal preference. I think there's plenty of fat inside the butt for plenty of flavor.

My preference is to remove them to get rub/smoke on parts of the meat that I'm actually going to eat versus scrape off and toss post-cook. If I toss before the cook and get more flavor from the cook into the meat, I prefer that over tossing after and throwing away 40% of the rub and bark.

Again, I think it's just a preference.

rhuel · May 4, 2017

dirtsailor2003 said:
I cook to internal temperature not time. I like to take the pork butts to an IT of 205°. The higher temp cooks cuts the time almost in half. So around 1 hour per pound.

I plan to do the same (cook to IT), just trying to math out the start time to be sure meat is cooked, wrapped, and rested by time we're ready to sit down to eat.

Thanks for the input!!

uncletork · May 4, 2017

Don't be afraid to finish it early. You can always wrap it in towels and toss it in a cooler and that thing will stay warm for quite some time. Then when you pull it add a little finishing sauce and you are ready to wow your guests.

Finishing Sauce recipes:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/49892/finishing-sauce-for-pulled-pork

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/122319/jjs-finishing-sauce-awesome

rhuel · May 5, 2017

UncleTork said:
Don't be afraid to finish it early. You can always wrap it in towels and toss it in a cooler and that thing will stay warm for quite some time. Then when you pull it add a little finishing sauce and you are ready to wow your guests.

Finishing Sauce recipes:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/49892/finishing-sauce-for-pulled-pork

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/122319/jjs-finishing-sauce-awesome

That's the plan. I'm going for high heat and get this thing up to 205F sooner rather than later.

I just put the meat on the top grate after grate temp was hovering around 320F. After adding hot water and meat, the grate temp is around 275F and climbing. Once it hits 290F I'm planning to close the bottom vents a bit.

Luckily, I work from home and can babysit all day.

Thanks for the Finishing sauce links!!

sauced · May 5, 2017

Should be good....I also like to cook in that 300-330 range, cooks quicker and it seems my smoker likes to run at that temp.

SmokinAl · May 5, 2017

I like to do my butts in the 270-280 degree range.

They get done quicker with little to no stall!

Al

rhuel · May 5, 2017

At 165F, moved to a foil pan, mixed some spices with apple juice, apple cider vinegar, & brown sugar, poured over top, foiled over top of the pan and IT at 176F. Looking and smelling great!!

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rhuel
May 5, 2017

rhuel · May 5, 2017

Hit 205F about 10 minutes ago (~3.5hrs cook time), so I transferred the foil pan to a cooler and stuffed with towels.

I think I overdid the coals...grate temp is still holding at 275 and tons of healthy looking briquettes left.

My wife just ran to the store for a couple chickens!! Gonna spice 'em up and toss on the grate!!

Pretty sure we'll be freezing some meat at day's end.

rhuel · May 5, 2017

That was probably the best tasting thing I've ever cooked (and I consider myself a pretty good cook)!!!

I was a little concerned with leaving the butts in the cooler for so long, but they stayed steaming hot after 4 hours and the meat fell apart.

The chicken was delicious, too, but we were so stuffed from the pork, we only sampled a few bites. I'm thinking lunch and dinner tomorrow are going to be great!

I added a few handfuls of briquettes while the chicken was cooking to get the temp back up a bit, but otherwise the WSM held a very consistent temp the whole day; I am SO happy with it.

The butts before taking to the cooler:

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rhuel
May 5, 2017

The 2 chickens, spatchcocked (new word for the day) and halved:

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rhuel
May 5, 2017

b-one · May 5, 2017

I like to cut all the outer fat off my butts as well,bark is the best part!Thumbs Up

mike5051 · May 5, 2017

That food looks amazing!

Mike

uncletork · May 5, 2017

It is always a great feeling when you cook something and you surprise yourself. Nice Work!

indaswamp · May 5, 2017

rhuel said:
dirtsailor2003 said:

Depending on the weather, 30-45 minutes is probably about right for the 22 to get up to temp and clear out the white smoke. Could take up to an hour. If your smoking below 250° plan on more than 2 hours per pound. I don't even bother with low temp in the wsm for pork butts anymore. 285°-325°. Get the same great product in way less time.

Click to expand...

Good to know.

Any guesstimate on how long to cook these two at 285-325?

Shyzabrau said:

Why did you trim off all of the flavor?

Click to expand...

I think fat caps/fake caps on/off are personal preference. I think there's plenty of fat inside the butt for plenty of flavor.

My preference is to remove them to get rub/smoke on parts of the meat that I'm actually going to eat versus scrape off and toss post-cook. If I toss before the cook and get more flavor from the cook into the meat, I prefer that over tossing after and throwing away 40% of the rub and bark.

Again, I think it's just a preference.

I never toss the fat cap, I save it for making sausages. Both Venison and wild hog need additional fat-even when mixing 60/40 or 50/50 with pork butt. I have 7 fat caps at about 2# each in the freezer right now. Currently game planning sometime next week to process 3 deer and 6 wild hogs into sausage. All those fat caps will be going into the grind.

indaswamp · May 5, 2017

SmokinAl said:
I like to do my butts in the 270-280 degree range.

They get done quicker with little to no stall!

Al

I like the way you think Al. That is the temp. I like to smoke pork butts as well.

1st post, 1st pork butt cook on the WSM - crossing fingers!!

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