1st time smoker - pulled pork

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hailcorduroy

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 27, 2011
28
10
White House, TN
My wife bought me a smoker (Char-broil w/ offset firebox) for anniversary present and I smoked my first time yesterday.  I did a lot of reading before hand and it turned out pretty good, but could have been better.  Bought a almost 9lb Boston butt(bone in) from a local grocer that always has great meat selections.  Friday afternoon, I rubbed it with EVOO and Bad Byron's Butt Rub.  Got a bit of a late start Saturday morning as I realized I needed to burn a fire in the smoker for 2 hours to cure it before putting anything in it.  Finally got the meat in around 7:45am.  I added some hickory chunks right after putting the meat in and put way too many.  Even though they had been soaking in water for an hour, they flamed up and shot the temp up to almost 400.  Finally got things calmed down and had it chugging along at 250.  I slowly added hickory and a little bit of charcoal about every hour for about 6 hours.  Around 1pm, I started spraying with a mixture of apple juice and Jack Daniel's.  Weather was in the 40s all day and it started to drizzle a bit, so I hung some plastic above the smoker to keep the rain from cooling things down.  Around 3pm, it started raining hard and my chamber temp started dropping because the wind was blowing the rain in under the plastic.  I fired the oven up inside and transferred the meat inside.  

We had some friends that wanted to come over and play cards and I told them I was making BBQ, but it was the first time and we may end up ordering pizza.  They accepted the challenge and got there around 5pm, when the internal temp was still in the 150s.  Beer was flowing and cards were played and the pork kept rising slowly.  At 7, we were sitting at 170 and we were ready to eat the south end of a north bound donkey.  At 8, We hit 181 and I decided to go ahead and pull it out to start the hour rest.  Any longer and I think we would have been too snockered to enjoy it.  The taste was fantastic, but it was a tad on the tougher side.  Not bad, but I know another 2 hours and it would have shred itself.  

I learned for my next smoking adventure to start the night before so I know it will be done.  

I didn't get any pics of the meat for Q-View, but I did take some of the smoker in action and my attempt at a rain cover.

The thermometer is sticking out like that because I got a more accurate one and it didn't fit the hole without using the base of the original one.  Today, I cut a larger hole and the new one is now flush with the smoker in the right spot.

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The observant will notice the grill on the deck moved and patio furniture appeared.  That's what I was doing during the 6 hours between the pictures!

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Great effort despite the weather. You are right, if you took it to 200-205 IT they really are moist & tender.
 
As far as I can see it was a success due to the fact you learned some stuff and had great company throughout the evening.
 
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