1st time smoke went bad.

[Kourianos]

I purchased a new smoker last week and was really excited to do my 1st my 1st Boston butt. Didn't want to make a big one so I chose a 5.17 pound Is Boston butt. It cam out dry as a bone. I want to try again but I wanted to see where I failed. Can someone give there opinion?

Here's what I did:

Rig: Masterbuilt 560
Boston butt 5.17 lb

1. Salted the butt

2. Dry rubbed with paprika, Chilli powder, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper.

3. Went in frig overnight

4. Set smoker to 225 degree and started. And basted hourly with apple vinegar, apple juice, and water equal part mix sprayed on.

5. After 2 hours I flipped it and raised heat to 250 degrees. Continuing my basting routine while monitoring my temp.

6. 2 hours pass and I hit a stall at 153 degrees. I decided to push through and wait. I stopped basting. At this point is when I got concerned. The meat stiffened up but what am I to do. Just keep going.

7. Finally get pass the stall and get it to desired temp at 165 degrees. Wrapped it 2x in aluminum foil.

8. Got to 201 degrees and let it rest in a cooler for about 30 to 45 min. Pork still feeling tough.

9. It was edible..........

Hope someone can shed some light on what I did wrong. I don't know how I angered the smoking gods :(

 

[clifish]

I am sure someone with way more experience will chime in. From what I have learned here, smoking butt or brisket to temp is incorrect. The likely answer you will get here is you should have let it ride until it is "probe tender", meaning you can put a probe all over and it goes in like warm butter with little resistance. Sometimes that could be at 205 deg all pieces of meat are different.

 

[mike243]

Welcome to the site, good answer from clifish, also the amount of fat will determine how moist it ends up, letting it rest in the wrap will help on a real lean cut if there is moisture in the wrap. I dont smoke pork loin to the pulling stage because it will dry out and no amount of soaking will return the moisture . brining is a method of getting moisture into a lean cut.

 

[tx smoker]

The likely answer you will get here is you should have let it ride until it is "probe tender", meaning you can put a probe all over and it goes in like warm butter with little resistance.

Cliff is spot on with this. Every piece of meat is different. There is no set rule for hitting an internal temp and it's done. Some butts will hit the mark Cliff noted above in the mid 190's (not very often though) and sometimes they need to go to 210 or more. That is one reason also that you always give yourself way more cook time than you think you'll need, in case the meat needs to go to the extreme before it's probe tender. They need to reach the probe tender point for the connective tissue and collagen to break down, thus making them tender. If it finishes early, it can sit on a cooler for hours and still be outstanding. Biggest recommendation: don't be daunted and don't give up. All of us have our failures. Chalk it up as a learning experience and aspire to make the next one better....and ask questions here (as you did).

Robert

 

[912smoker]

They've got ya covered . Another good indicator is if the bone slides out easily.
Keep going as Robert said !
I had several "learning experiences "
and sounds like you are taking notes of you cook and that's a definite help !

 

[Kourianos]

I am sure someone with way more experience will chime in. From what I have larned here, smoking butt or brisket to temp is incorrect. The likely answer you will get here is you should have let it ride until it is "probe tender", meaning you can put a probe all over and it goes in like warm butter with little resistance. Sometimes that could be at 205 deg all pieces of meat are different.

When I finished there was no

They've got ya covered . Another good indicator is if the bone slides out easily.
Keep going as Robert said !
I had several "learning experiences "
and sounds like you are taking notes of you cook and that's a definite help !

The butt was hard so I figured I overcooked it. Are you guys saying if I kept it on longer it may have softened up. That goes against all I have learned on the YouTube videos. I was thinking that maybe it was too small of a cut that just dried out.

 

[schlotz]

They pretty much have you covered. A couple of more things to be aware of. The standard adage, 'if you're looking ya ain't cooking'. Keep that door shut, a tremendous amount of heat escapes each time you open it and the smoker has to recover thus prolonging the smoke. Butts have more than enough fat so it's really not necessary to spritz, however it's a personal choice. Butts are a very forgiving meat and can be successfully smoked at a wide range of temperatures. We tend to smoke ours around 245-255º. Have you verified your grate temp with a calibrated thermometer. Note: hood thermometers are notorious for being inaccurate, not saying yours is but it should be checked against a reliable grate therm. I use one from Thermoworks but there are others just as good. As mentioned, you probe for tenderness, time is only a guideline to know when to start probing. If the butt was bone-in, a good indicator of being done is it should easily pull out clean, no meat attached. Lastly, every piece of meat can be different and on occasion you can run into a less cooperative piece ie you did everything correctly and the meat just wasn't up to par. I do highly recommend keeping a smoke journal of every smoke with details that you can refer back to before starting a new smoke. If you have a recipe app that allows notes, this is a good repository for all of them. (I see 912smoker beat me to a couple of these ) For ref, see the butt link below in the sig.

 

[Kourianos]

When I finished there was no

The butt was hard so I figured I overcooked it. Are you guys saying if I kept it on longer it may have softened up. That goes against all I have learned on the YouTube videos. I was thinking that maybe it was too small of a cut that just dried out.

Or that I should have stopped cooking way earlier and not wait til it got to temp

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

A lot of good information from everyone above.
Have you double checked the accuracy of the thermometer probes?

 

[Kourianos]

Thanks guys. I'll try calibrating and try again. Thanks

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Looks like your covered, great advice…. good luck on your next go at it!

 

[Colin1230]

With the advice above I'm sure your next butt will turn out much better. And by the way, welcome to SMF, glad you joined us. When you have a minute, stop by the 'Roll Call' forum and introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself. That way we can give you a proper welcome. Oh, and we love pics, lots of pics.

 

[boykjo]

You can also try another method smoking a butt for a moist and tender result . Smoke the butt open/unwrapped until the meat IT reaches 160 degrees, Place the butt into a foil pan and cover with foil. Stick a calibrated probe through the foil and into the butt. When the temp gets to 205 open the foil and the bone should wiggle and pull out. Shred the pork and mix in with the juices that have rendered from the butt. The juices that rendered from the butt will keep the butt moist through out the cook.
Like said, Check those therms.

Boykjo

 

[OldSmoke]

If you haven’t already, getting a Thermapen is the best kitchen, smoking and BBQ investment you can make. Don’t trust a knockoff. You will be surprised how often you will use a thermometer that you can trust while smoking and around the kitchen. A cheap unit that is off by ten degrees is a big deal with the prices of meat these days.

Thermapen® ONE

Specializing in cool, unique and professional temperature tools. Super-Fast thermocouples, thermistors, infrared thermometers, data logging and more.

www.thermoworks.com

 

[indaswamp]

Did that smaller butt have a nice fat cap or was it trimmed off? The fat cap will help keep the meat moist.

And I agree-cook to probe tender. INT is just a guide on briskets and butts.

 

[normanaj]

One thing that I would add is when a smoke goes bad you can always salvage the meat and make a great chili/stew/soup.

 

[Kourianos]

Did that smaller butt have a nice fat cap or was it trimmed off? The fat cap will help keep the meat moist.

And I agree-cook to probe tender. INT is just a guide on briskets and butts.

It had a small patch

 

[Kourianos]

If you haven’t already, getting a Thermapen is the best kitchen, smoking and BBQ investment you can make. Don’t trust a knockoff. You will be surprised how often you will use a thermometer that you can trust while smoking and around the kitchen. A cheap unit that is off by ten degrees is a big deal with the prices of meat these days.

Thermapen® ONE

Specializing in cool, unique and professional temperature tools. Super-Fast thermocouples, thermistors, infrared thermometers, data logging and more.

www.thermoworks.com

Nice thermometer but unfortunately I can't justify a $250 thermometer at this time

 

[Kourianos]

Figured I'd give some photos

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Sorry I didn’t read through all the posts. But was it bone in or boneless