Pork Butt. Room temp or from Fridge to Smoker? And is it more about internal temp than time?

[sandyut]

Don't forget the finishing sauce! Mix in after pulling the pork.

The Finishing Sauce I use is as follows:

1 Cup Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning
1 Teaspoon Course Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

 

[BigW.]

Some folks will wrap around the stall 160's or so to speed up the cook a bit. I generally do not because I like the the extra smoke and bark. If you want a hybrid approach. About 180 I would put the butt in a foil wrapped pan. When it is probe tender or in the 203-205ish range I would bring in the house an take off the top foil for 30 minutes. Then foil back on top and into the cooler. This technique allows you to save some of the juices. And alum pan can be used to shred in, saving a dish needing cleaned.

 

[J_L_Smoker]

Some folks will wrap around the stall 160's or so to speed up the cook a bit. I generally do not because I like the the extra smoke and bark. If you want a hybrid approach. About 180 I would put the butt in a foil wrapped pan. When it is probe tender or in the 203-205ish range I would bring in the house an take off the top foil for 30 minutes. Then foil back on top and into the cooler. This technique allows you to save some of the juices. And alum pan can be used to shred in, saving a dish needing cleaned.

Appreciate it, I will go full bark and smoke. Thanks again.

 

[JLeonard]

Just be warned.....If you go unwrapped at the stall your cook time with be increased. The butt will sit in the stall sometimes for quite a while. And once you get it off the smoker let it sit for 30 min to 1 hr on the counter. This will stop the cooking. Wrap tightly in foil then. Some folks will wrap in a towel or two and place in a cooler. Ive put it in the oven and let it rest there. You can rest a butt for a long time like this and it will still be piping hot hours later. Its better to finish early and rest as to have folks hanging on your shoulder hungry and asking when its gonna be ready.

Jim

 

[J_L_Smoker]

Just be warned.....If you go unwrapped at the stall your cook time with be increased. The butt will sit in the stall sometimes for quite a while. And once you get it off the smoker let it sit for 30 min to 1 hr on the counter. This will stop the cooking. Wrap tightly in foil then. Some folks will wrap in a towel or two and place in a cooler. Ive put it in the oven and let it rest there. You can rest a butt for a long time like this and it will still be piping hot hours later. Its better to finish early and rest as to have folks hanging on your shoulder hungry and asking when its gonna be ready.

Jim

Good to know. I plan to start it the night prior and hopefully consume the following evening.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Well, you have the way to do it and I'm ready for a sammie.

Warren

 

[JLeonard]

Well, you have the way to do it and I'm ready for a sammie.

Warren

I know! Got me craving some pulled pork! Cant wait to see the pics!

Jim

 

[schlotz]

Ok, let's make sure your smoked post doesn't start with 'my smoker died' in the night. Do you have a digital wireless thermometer with at least 2 probes (grate and meat internal) that has an alarm you can set to go off if the grate temp drops significantly? Does it have fresh batteries or is fully charged? Have you tested it to make sure the alarm is loud enough to wake you up? There have been way too many posts from people here on SMF that didn't prepare properly for an overnight smoke and got bit because of it.

 

[J_L_Smoker]

Ok, let's make sure your smoked post doesn't start with 'my smoker died' in the night. Do you have a digital wireless thermometer with at least 2 probes (grate and meat internal) that has an alarm you can set to go off if the grate temp drops significantly? Does it have fresh batteries or is fully charged? Have you tested it to make sure the alarm is loud enough to wake you up? There have been way too many posts from people here on SMF that didn't prepare properly for an overnight smoke and got bit because of it.

I have a new thermometer coming in today that has an alarm built within it. It does have two probes, but I will use only one which will be in the meat. The Bradley has an electronic display of temp within the smoker so that is my external reference of heat within. Preparation is key.

 

[BigW.]

Your second probe can be used to alert you if the smoker shuts off in the middle of the night for some reason. Low temp alert...time to wake up and see why smoker shut off or high temp why is my smoker on fire. Those are 2 dangers of doing an over night smoke. You can start early in the am at a bit higher temp 275 and avoid those two issues by being awake and checking in on occasion.

 

[J_L_Smoker]

True. Maybe for the first one I can adjust course and get up at 0400. In Smoker by 0430. Should be ready to consume by 1800-1900hrs.

 

[schlotz]

If you go overnight, use both probes. The grate probe is crucial to ensure the protein isn't ruined due to a smoker malfunction by providing an alarm right at your night stand.

 

[912smoker]

If you new unit has 2 probes PLEASE use the 2nd probe to monitor grate temps as advised above. Did it once, never again!
Even on a long daytime cook.

Keith

 

[jcam222]

Everyone has you covered. Just remember when smoking time is a loose guess. What matters is finish temps

 

[J_L_Smoker]

Might as well use the second probe since it is available. Would I just place it next to the pork butt on the same tray?

 

[912smoker]

Yes sir close proximity. If you don't have a grate clip just insert it thru a small potato.
Or a golf ball size ball of tinfoil!

Keith

 

[civilsmoker]

Her is how I do mine and I get a full nights sleep.....It works very consistently!

Asian Style Pulled Pork

Yesterday my wife wanted me to do a pulled pork with an Asian flair. So, I 45 deg scored it and dusted it with my Asian rub... Next was setting up a braising liquid, I just winged the amounts, the can of coke, about 1/3 cup soy, 2C broth, 2 Tbsp hosin & oyster, and 1 Tbsp veg base.... This...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I change out the "braising liquid" to the flavor profile I want to have in the pork. Apple cider vinegar, chicken stock with some Cajun seasoning makes a flavor as well. IE this becomes my finishing sauce.

 

[sandyut]

I you use the the hot and fast method, overnight cooks are nearly eliminated, which is a safer play for many reasons.

 

[J_L_Smoker]

Haha, Understood. I plan on getting started at 0400 hrs.

 

[J_L_Smoker]

As per the conversation above. Pork Butt, Complete. I began by taking some notes along the way to help guide me into the next smoke. First off, I got the new Thermo Pro twin temp probes. Amazing technology. I wanted to see the accuracy within the probes compared to the smoker temp that was set when smoking so I performed a "test" smoke with two small chickens to gain a reference. What I had learned is that I wanted the smoker to get to lets say 270F, but after some time, it had a hard time passing up 260F, however, the Thermo Pro temp probe claimed that the ambient temp was 226-228F. That is a large difference.

With that knowledge, I set the probes to inform me when the internal temp hits 165F. And it did. The birds came out amazing with a juicy center, skin was still a bit loose and rubbery but that is probably due to lack of high heat within the smoker. Since I knew my smoker was not going to get high in heat, I did the bold move and did the pork butt overnight.

Pork Butt Details: 1/13/24, Removed the butt from the fridge and let it rest for several hours. Did a small recoat of seasoning. I turned on the smoker and made the set point 270F (it would never get that high). Near 2000hrs placed the butt on the smoker and let it get to work. I took four sets of temperatures just to see the increase and differences for future reference and even plotted it in a chart. When you see the graph there are four different temp plots

1) Ambient probe temp (ceramic end of thermometer)
2) Internal meat temp
3) Smoker temp (what the digital output was showing)
4) Desired smoker temp (what I set the smoker to get to)

As you will see on the graph, even when setting the smoker to get to 270 F, it never did, in fact, the highest it achieved according to the ambient sensor on the probe was 239 F. But what was consistent and nice is that I set the smoker to 270 F and the internal smoker temp was very consistent reading 260-267 F throughout the smoke which was reassuring from the Bradley. Once the internal temp hit 204 F I removed it. All in all the smoke was great and the butt turned out amazing (See photos) for being first one. Total smoke time from time in, to time out was 10.5 hours. I let it rest for 1 hour then wrapped it in foil, followed by a towel, and placed it in the soft cooler for 1.5 hours.

Lessons learned:
(1) Do as much prepping as possible OUTSIDE. This includes seasoning the meat and that jazz.
(2) Use hot water when changing out the water pan to keep the internal temp stable and not dropping it
(3) Move the smoker closer to cell phone range. The smoker app on the phone that came with the probes would frequently disconnect to the phone, but as soon as I came back outside it would reconnect immediately. Still the range was from the device to phone was impressive.
(4) Take all the advice from the pros in the forum. It will lead you to a successful smoke. So thank you all again.

Long post, but hopefully the pics will suffice.