Been a while since I've been on here...been busy downsizing and moving. Still have a bunch of posts to read back through. After moving, I've had no room to smoke much on the Wrangler, but got a new covered patio built and am now back in business. So, I decided to try a pork butt...why, I don't know, as it's something I hardly ever smoke. What can I say, I'm just mainly a brisket and spare ribs guy. And, when it comes to pork, I'd much rather smoke ribs than a butt...and can do ribs in half the time. Anyway, had a 7 1/2 lb butt...figured it would take me around 12 hours at 235*. Got it rubbed up and put in the fridge Sunday night, to smoke on Labor Day.
So, I'm up at 4:00am on Labor Day, firing up the Wrangler.
She's right at 235* with TBS in about 45 minutes, after one
charcoal chimney toward the door side of my firebox, and one split toward the grate side. So, I throw on the butt.
It was a beautiful morning, nice and cool (for a while) and I had no problems all day keeping the Wrangler at 235* by adding another split about once an hour.
After about 6 hours in, I've got an internal temp of 172*...looking good & maintaining 235*.
I always use a piece of wood for my grate temp probe on my Maverick, as you can see below. That little clip that comes with them seems to make them show hotter than they really are.
After 8 1/2 hours, I'm at 181* internal, still maintaining 235* grate temp.
Finally, after 12 hours on the smoker at 235*, we hit 195* internal temp and pulled her off.
Let it rest for about 30 minutes, and the bone pulled right out. Very tender, easy to pull with a couple of forks. But, I think I'll just stick to brisket, ribs, ham, and turkey. These dang butts are just too much work. Work, as in sitting on the patio and 'talking' to Jim Beam all day, while listening to an iPod playing some pretty good Texas Red Dirt country music.
Hmmm...maybe it wasn't so bad after all.