Memorial Day '18 Pulled Pork

[brentos260]

I hope you all are experiencing great weather similar to how it's been in NE Indiana for the weekend - Sunny & hot, perfect Holiday Weekend weather! I smoke a bone-in butt for pulled pork every Memorial Day and this year's looks amazing so I thought I would share. I coated with mustard and applied rub around noon yesterday and into the fridge it went. I took it out and added more rub last night around 8 while the smoker was finishing it's climb to the 260 degree range. I wanted to try the hot and fast method from SmokinAl but I knew it would be finished too soon. That's ok because it gives me a reason to do another one soon! Onto the smoker at 8:20PM last night it went. Exactly 12 hours later it came off at 8:20A this morning. My Maverick only went off once last night due to the WSM being 1 degree above my upper temp threshold so I closed the one open vent just a little and went back to sleep until it went off this morning at the 10 degrees-til-finish alarm.

This was my second cook with Royal Oak briquettes and I've been VERY impressed after some recent strings of strange events with KBB. I had almost sworn of KBB until I went to Home Depot yesterday and they had two packs of 18.6 lbs bags of briquettes for $9.98.

Here's some pictures I took along the way. Have a safe and Happy Memorial Day weekend. Many thanks to those who have served and those who are currently serving this great
Nation!

One last picture before sleeping in the smoke.

I did spritz on the hour for the first five hours but didn't take any pictures. Here's one of the finished product before pulling it, wrapping it, and placing into a cooler to rest.

 

[SmokinGame]

Job well done!!

 

[brentos260]

I forgot a couple photos, here is one of my Minion Method setup. I never had to add a single briq once i added the inital 12 lit briqs to this set up. That's about 80/20 mixture of Hickory and Apple wood.

Also, on a side note i added a 22” Weber kettle to the arsenal yesterday, here’s a picture of the first cook on it.

 

[yazamitaz]

Looking good Brentos. Why do you put the slits in the fat cap? Does that help render it down? I like to keep mine whole and pull it off as my butt rests and I make pork rinds out of it.

GO BLUE?!!!!!

 

[brentos260]

Looking good Brentos. Why do you put the slits in the fat cap? Does that help render it down? I like to keep mine whole and pull it off as my butt rests and I make pork rinds out of it.

GO BLUE?!!!!!

I've noticed some folks on here that will place cuts in the fat cap. I never have until now and did it only to see if I notice a difference in taste. I suppose the thinking may be that more smoke can penetrate the top side of the meat this way.

And yes, Go Blue!

 

[noboundaries]

Those "string of strange events with KBB" happened to me, too. I tried RO Ridge and haven't looked back. I've only got about 5 lbs of KBB left to use exclusively in my Kettle. When it's gone, I'll be a Ridge guy everywhere.

One thing I like to do with butts in my WSM is keep the fat cap intact and place it on the grate side toward the heat to act as a heat buffer. I get a nice even bark across the top that way. Try it and see which you like best.

A great big "Like" for your post B260!

 

[brentos260]

Those "string of strange events with KBB" happened to me, too. I tried RO Ridge and haven't looked back. I've only got about 5 lbs of KBB left to use exclusively in my Kettle. When it's gone, I'll be a Ridge guy everywhere.

One thing I like to do with butts in my WSM is keep the fat cap intact and place it on the grate side toward the heat to act as a heat buffer. I get a nice even bark across the top that way. Try it and see which you like best.

A great big "Like" for your post B260!

Thanks for the like! I think I remember reading on here a few months back that someone stated Kingsford changed their recipe (for lack of a better term) they use when producing KBB. I didn't think much of it until using the last two bags I had on long smokes. I've been running it exclusively in my WSM for about 4 years now with no issues until these last two bags. I've used the exact same set-up everytime but with the last couple smokes the charcoal would just stop burning...

I am on the same page - the KBB will be exclusively for Kettle use only. RO will be the official fuel of my WSM moving forward.

 

[brentos260]

For the record, the folks who hosted the party picked the utensils lol I recommended tongs but lost the battle.

Pulled pics

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks delicious!
Al

 

[brentos260]

Looks delicious!
Al

Thank you!

 

[Smoke23]

Everything looks great!
Congratulations on the new kettle.