Basic Pulled Pork Smoke

nwdave · Jan 21, 2010

I want to thank all contributers to this thread. Great tutorial, another great recipe (
Pulled Pork SQWIB) Lots of suggestions to consider. Gives us noobies a better handle on this mysterious craft, the thin blue smoke.

flyfishjeep · Feb 17, 2010

I set mine anywhere between 225-240 depending on the outside temps. If I think it will have a hard time holding the temps then I will bump it up a bit.
The last two that I did I set it at 235. Everything turned out great.
Your going by finished internal temps so a 5-10 degree set temp wont hurt you.

I use half water and half apple juice to the water pan. I've never had a dry one yet, although this is really personal preference.

Good Luck and post a Qview!

realtorterry · May 25, 2010

meowey,

I noticed you were on line so i'm hoping this gets to you. Have or do you inject your butt/shoulder using your method?? If so how much & how long before??

mythmaster · May 25, 2010

This procedure is a good candidate for the wiki!

mythmaster · May 25, 2010

OK, I'm gonna put OP's top-post into the wiki (crediting him for authorship, of course). I haven't had a chance to read through the other 11 pages, though. Is there any info in there that you guys think needs to go into the wiki page? Maybe we can just leave it unlocked for a few days, and you can insert your opinions.

I'll wait a few hours or until tomorrow before I do this.

goldique · May 25, 2010

So what rub is best for this pulled pork? I saw someone mention Jeff's rub, but I didn't see the recipe. I am a total newbie to this, got my first smoker and tried baby back ribs on Sunday. They turned out pretty good, but I know I can improve.

mythmaster · May 25, 2010

Goldique said:
So what rub is best for this pulled pork? I saw someone mention Jeff's rub, but I didn't see the recipe. I am a total newbie to this, got my first smoker and tried baby back ribs on Sunday. They turned out pretty good, but I know I can improve.

You'll have to buy Jeff's rub recipe from him -- he won't give it away!

I've been meaning to try it -- everyone raves about how good it is.

In the meantime, I've been using a commercial rub on my pork butts: "Head Country" has worked very well for me.

goldique · May 25, 2010

Thanks! I just ordered it.

mythmaster · May 25, 2010

OK, I just posted the info from the top-post into the wiki. Here's the link: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/wiki/basic-pulled-pork-smoke

dlbinwv · May 27, 2010

Hi all, new to this site and smoking in general. Always loved trying it on the grill with smoker boxes, but went out last week and got a Brinkmann Split-door Electric Smoker. A little nervous about it because I haven't seen anything about it on the site, and really can't find a whole lot in general about it. It's the same looking model as the charcoal smoker, but obviously electric instead. Used to live down in NC and could never get enough Q. Will likely be trying pulled pork, ribs, and beef brisket, though I'm willing to try just about anything.

Anyway, went and cured the smoke earlier this week, and I'm trying my first pork shoulder today after giving it the rub last night (a small one - 3.5 lbs). I put it in at about 10:00 am this morning, so it's been in for 3.5 hours or so.

A few questions:

1) Smoker temp seems to max out at about 225. Should this be a concern? This is the reading from the thermometer on the front of the door. It sounds as though getting a remote thermo is a good idea from what everyone has said. But can't do that for today. I was looking at the maverick, but open to other suggestions.

2) The manual says to check the water and chips every so often. Both look good, but a question about the chips: do I remove the old ones before adding new ones. It sounds as though soaking is a preference - I did and have some more soaking now if I need them. And do I need more smoke at this point?

3) A good bark has formed, but I'm not sure when to start mopping or if it is necessary in general. I don't have one made, but I have some apple juice, and can probably come up with some something to add to it.

4) Also, is wrapping in foil a necessity as well? If it is, do I put it back in the smoker, or should I just put it in the oven?

5) Currently, just have a stick in meat thermometer. How much do I lose if I take the meat out to check the temp?

Thanks again, I look forward to checking back and trying all sorts of other stuff. Driving the wife crazy, but I'm sure she'll be fine once she gets to taste everything!

Dave in WV

dick foster · May 31, 2010

225 is where I cook at but most of the el cheapo smokers you get at any of the big box stores are going to be lacking in material so they will almost all come up on the short end as far as thermal efficiency goes.

I have an offset and cook and cook with lump charcoal and wood so it was worthwhile for me to add some sheet metal to it to build up some thermal mass. It was really running my tail off as it came and all it seemed to do was use up a lot of fuel to burn the paint off.

Since I worked it over by adding some material and some other mods it cooks a lot more efficiently and easily holds temps now. It doesn't use half the fuel it did and is a lot easier to cook with too requiring only occasional tending. It no longer burns the paint off, not even the fire box. My guess is that if you add something to bring up the thermal mass and or insulate it, it will reach higer temps or hold 225 easier. If it gets cold out, it sounds like you might come up lacking the way it is now.

Yes, by all means get yourself a remote meat thermometer so you don't have to open it to check the meat temp. As they say, if you're lookin, you ain't cookin. You're trying to get an internal temp of around 200 or so before it's ready to pull.

upsman · May 31, 2010

well hello everyone! smoked my first Butt ever Sunday the day before memorial day after searching recipes and came up with a simple recipe using yellow mustard to coat the 8lb Butt then adding a rub of light brown sugar, blk pepper, salt, and garlic powder. wrapped it in a plastic bag over night Saturday night and pulled it out of the fridge at 7 am on Sunday morning. preheated Ideal temp (get this) my invention of turning a brinkmann charcoal smoker into a propane smoker by using my turkey fryer burner and sliding the smoker directly over the top of the burner and it works very awesome! put the butt on with the drip pan in with water in it and added chips to the chip pan directly under the burner (3/4 hickory 1/4 mesquite mixed together in the water pot) about every 30 minutes for the first 4 hours and let it go for two hours and the last hour added one more load of chips smoking it the final hour. took the butt off of the smoker using oven mits to grab it and it was falling apart in my hands almost. had an aluminum roaster pan lined with foil ready for the butt to wrap and rest for 1 hour which i did and when i went to pull the pork right in the roaster pan there was nearly no fat left and it pulled so easy and was so moist and juicy and there was one area of the butt that was red in color but still cooked through. wondering why just this one little area was red and the rest was BBQ color like BBQ should look. the bone just slid out clean and smooth. invited friends in the neighborhood and they absolutely loved it! Glad to be in this forum and check out the picture of my converted charcoal smoker to propane smoker. thank you all for your comments and tips.

dick foster · Jun 1, 2010

That doesn't seem like enough time for an 8 lb butt to me. I count only 8 hours.

What temp did you cook at and what temp was the meat when you pulled it out of the smoker?

I just did a small 6+ pounder in 12 hours at 225F and I probably could have let it go another hour or two. The meat thermometer was reading about 194 when I took it out. The smoker was never opened once. I also had it in the cooler for an hour (thats about the minimum) before I pulled it.

flash · Jun 1, 2010

Not sure about that Dick. I had a 5 lber take me around 9 1/2 hours and a 8 1/2 lber take me around 7 1/2. Really depends on the butt.

upsman · Jun 1, 2010

well i think what the deal was but not sure on the time smoking the butt to me is what i noticed when i took it out of the fridge after marinating it over night. when i first started the rince and rub the butt was completely dry and then added the rub and covered it in the plastic bag it was dry and covered with the rub when i pulled it out of the fridge the next morning the bag was filled with at least a cup to a cup and a half of juices that the butt released from the rub. I smoked the butt in the 225 to to 250 range and checked that regularly to make sure it didn't go over 250 and didn't do an internal temp check just went on looks and feeling and moving the butt from time to time around to different spots on the smoker rack because the juices at times were missing the drip pan and sizzling on the edges and didn't want that drip smoke to get into the meat. but back to the thought maybe the loss of the 1 to 1 and a half cups of moisture i had from the overnight marinade could have been the reason it was falling clean from the bone in just 7 hrs and saw Alton Brown do a brine soak his butt and it did take lots of hours to smoke. ???????? maybe the turning i did too ????? has anyone experienced the red color of their BBQ just in certain areas of the Butt???

dick foster · Jun 2, 2010

This I know or exaclty how much connective tissue is in it I guess.

But those sur sound like some short times to me. An 8.5 pound butt done in 7 and half hours isn't even on the low side of an hour and a half per pound rule of thumb.

What temp? I do pretty much eveything at 225 with an occasional spike up to 230 or so but I do try to keep it low and slow.

sqwib · Jun 3, 2010

DLBinWV said:
Hi all, new to this site and smoking in general. Always loved trying it on the grill with smoker boxes, but went out last week and got a Brinkmann Split-door Electric Smoker. A little nervous about it because I haven't seen anything about it on the site, and really can't find a whole lot in general about it. It's the same looking model as the charcoal smoker, but obviously electric instead. Used to live down in NC and could never get enough Q. Will likely be trying pulled pork, ribs, and beef brisket, though I'm willing to try just about anything.

Anyway, went and cured the smoke earlier this week, and I'm trying my first pork shoulder today after giving it the rub last night (a small one - 3.5 lbs). I put it in at about 10:00 am this morning, so it's been in for 3.5 hours or so.

A few questions:

1) Smoker temp seems to max out at about 225. Should this be a concern? This is the reading from the thermometer on the front of the door. It sounds as though getting a remote thermo is a good idea from what everyone has said. But can't do that for today. I was looking at the maverick, but open to other suggestions.

I would go with these, you can usualy get them for $15.00 each.

2) The manual says to check the water and chips every so often. Both look good, but a question about the chips: do I remove the old ones before adding new ones. It sounds as though soaking is a preference - I did and have some more soaking now if I need them. And do I need more smoke at this point?

I do not soak and would dump the old chips, some will use their wood up till its ash and thats ok but I usualy use chunks and pull them out when they look like so

3) A good bark has formed, but I'm not sure when to start mopping or if it is necessary in general. I don't have one made, but I have some apple juice, and can probably come up with some something to add to it.

Mop = more bark. More sugar in the mop = more bark, Start mopping after several hours.

4) Also, is wrapping in foil a necessity as well? If it is, do I put it back in the smoker, or should I just put it in the oven?

Optional all the way around, if you need to close your eyes a few hour, you can finish in the oven, I do not wrap or oven

5) Currently, just have a stick in meat thermometer. How much do I lose if I take the meat out to check the temp?

Do you mean juices... if so don't worry about it.

You shouldn't take the meat out to check temps

Thanks again, I look forward to checking back and trying all sorts of other stuff. Driving the wife crazy, but I'm sure she'll be fine once she gets to taste everything!

Dave in WV

Dave, let us know how you did

flash · Jun 3, 2010

Dick Foster said:
This I know or exaclty how much connective tissue is in it I guess.

But those sur sound like some short times to me. An 8.5 pound butt done in 7 and half hours isn't even on the low side of an hour and a half per pound rule of thumb.

What temp? I do pretty much eveything at 225 with an occasional spike up to 230 or so but I do try to keep it low and slow.

I usually am at 250º with some occasional spikes also. On occasion I will raise the temps to 275º once it is foiled. Can't remember if I did it with this butt though. I have found it does not hurt the butt at all. Personally there are alot of meats that don't follow that 1 1/2 per lb rule, atleast in MHO anyway.

deannc · Jun 27, 2010

Low and Slow = amazingly moist and melt in your mouth tasty. Great thread!

slidejob · Jun 28, 2010

Almost exactly the way I do it. Nice to see I fumbled my way to a "common" technique.

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