2nd attempt- pulled pork w/ q-view

[supersmoke16]

Alright guys today marks my 2nd ever smoke and 2nd attempt at making pulled pork, the first one was unfortunately unsuccessful but Im feeling a bit more confident with this one, so Ive decided to post my progress throughout the day. I was so focused on doing everything this morning I forgot to get a picture before I put it in, but you all know what pork looks like anyways! Its about 7 pounds and I prepared it with mustard and rub last night, ive got the smoker going at around 220 degrees with briquettes and hickory chunks. I plan to check on it in about 3 hours at which point I shall snap a progress photo ;)

When I first put in the wood chunks, at this point there is only a very light bit of smoke visible, but Im guessing thats fine.

 

[bob1961]

yeah you want that TBS (thin blue smoke) you don't want the thick yellowish smoke....how/when did you foil the first try at what temp....my 1st pulled pork went smooth as could be....i smoked it till it got to 165 then i foiled it and brought the temp up to 205, then wrapped it in a towel and in a cooler for 1.5 hours to finish breaking down the meat fibers to pull it easier....my avatar pic is my pulled pork after it was done....without knowing what ya did with the first one we can't give ya tips what you might have done wrong, keep the pic's comin

 .........bob

....

 

[supersmoke16]

well I was using a very cheap bullet style smoker that was impossible to even get up to 200 degrees with, I think it was all about temperature that time. Plus I have done allot more research since then and actually prepared the meat the night before and took it out over an hour before cook time so as to let it reach room temperature, and Ive got a charcoal chimney now so theres no messing around with nasty fuels, plus the pork Ive got this time has allot more fat than the first one. All in all i think im just more prepared this time. And thats interesting, my plan this time is to wrap it in foil when it reaches about 140 and let it continue cooking, then remove it when it hits 190 and let it reach about 200 then pull. Oh yah and btw my first time I didnt even know to foil it after.

 

[lucky13]

Sounds like you have a few adjustments figured out on this one.  One other thing to think about is the foiling.  If you want to foil so that the bark is not as firm and dark i might wait a little longer than 140 maybe 165-180.  The longer you can hammer the smoke to it the more flavor it will be able to absorb.  Just my opinion.  I personally don't foil until i pull it offf the smoker to rest.

 

[realtorterry]

Sounds like your off to a great start!! Don't forget to probe that thing! Did you inject the PP? There's nothing like PP when you get it right. Are you gonna spritz it too!!

Man Im excited for you! I'll be following your progress all day!!

 

[old poi dog]

It looks like you've done your homework since the last time.  Sounds like you've got the plan.  Keep us posted.  I'll be sneaking peeks from work today.....

 

[scarbelly]

Looks like you have got it going in the right direction

 

[bob1961]

i have the same bullet smoker as you have....have you looked at the mod's for it like the heat plates and charcol basket....i did those mod's and the thing works like a champ now then before the mod's....i used 1/8" plate steel for my heat plates and they hold the heat good....once i did that and blocked the heat from entering the cooking chamber through the big hole from the SFB i'm able to hold temps from 200 to 300 degrees when i need and at what temp with just adjusting the air intake....read up on those mod's and go for them, you'll see a big difference

 ..........bob

....

 

[supersmoke16]

Okayyy so some setbacks...

it started raining so I had to move the smoker under cover, the temp dropped considerably, ive got it back up with another chimneys worth now.

And I know you guys are going to be so disappointed with me and probably throw in a good face palm, but when i was trying to learn how to smoke pork I was told to leave the "fatty cap" on, so even though my instincts told me better i decided to not trim anything. Now that I take a look it just didnt look like any smoked pork ive seen before, well I knew better from the beginning, trim the damn skin off! Haha well I end up rushing inside with the pork, slicing the skin off, and throwing it back in. This beyond noobish mistake is probably going to have some undesirable consequences :/ Im guessing the taste may be affected as well as loss of a proper bark.

I was going to upload a 3 hour photo but its nothing anyone would want to see, if ive got something semi desirable in a few hours I'll get one though.

 

[realtorterry]

The cap should'nt have made that much of a difference? Is it just me or do you have the smoke stack closed?? If so open it! 

Lets see the pic anyway

 

[supersmoke16]

well its got the fatty cap or whatever it is now which is good so it can melt on the pork but I know it shouldn't have had all that skin that I left on it haha. And the stack is now open, see this is why I need to be here, I got allot to learn!

As you can see the skin was left on, That is now trimmed off.  Only good thing I have to say is that I found out my temp guage works, it just starts at 200, and it said im running 225 at the moment.

 

[benswholehogbbq]

Hey brother, if that Bar B Chef that's pictured is your smoker, it's far from an el cheapo. That's a damn good smoker, and better than anything you can buy at a hardware store these days ( the Bar B Chefs were sold by Barbeques Galore, and have been discontinued as far as I can tell ). In the case of that one, it's a shame it wasn't taken care of. But the outward appearance is not really important ( you can fix it up ). I've been using the same one for over 10 years, and it'll hold its own with any smoker out there, just make a couple of mods ( it CAN be incredibly easy and cheap ) -

 First, raise the charcoal grate in the firebox ( originally, I just used two bricks to do this ). Then, I bought some 4 inch screws and put one in each corner of the grate.

Secondly, you're better off to get the bottom of the smokestack as close to the grate as you can ( a big ol' Fosters beer can and a hose clamp will work )

And thirdly, put a baffle between the firebox and the main chamber. You CAN use the bottoms of TWO foil pans, cut 'em to size, and use self-tapping screws to screw 'em in.

You CAN do these same mods in a less Rube Goldberg way, but in a pinch, and on a tight budget, they WILL work.

And you'll have a great smoker.

Good luck. You have a better smoker than you think.............

 

[supersmoke16]

well my really crappy smoker is my char-broil bullet style h20 smoker, this one, well I wasnt honestly sure about this one until you said something haha. Im a pizza delivery driver and i saw it in someones driveway on the way back to the shop so I pulled up and asked if I could buy it from him, he said you can have it, when I asked how much he said no just take it. I'll look into some of those mods, I know getting the stack to the grate would definitely help. The grate in the firebox is level with the bottom of the hole in between the firebox and main chamber. I told myself I wouldn't get too complicated with all this but I can tell I want to keep going lol.

 

[bob1961]

yeah what he said get those mod's done....as you can see my smoker is the same as yours is....look at my thread and what i did to mine....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/94357/my-char-broil-bullet-smoker#post_507806

the only thing i did different from the pictures is i moved the plates in the cooking chamber closer to each other now....the slanted one up againest the fire box opening is held in place with the first plate....then i have only a 1" opening between the other two each....i can fill up my charcol basket twice during a long smoke and the ashes never reach the bottom of it....i can basicly leave my smoker alone for 5 hours at a time, if i wanted to

 but we all know how hard that is to do

 .............bob

....

 

[realtorterry]

How that shoulder going?

 

[benswholehogbbq]

Well, now that I see the inside of the chamber, I'm guessing that none of the grates were with the smoker when you got it ? The original grates in the Bar B Chef are cast iron, and the chamber has 4 of 'em. The two you have on the bottom, and two on the top ( the smokestack comes down to about 3 inches above the top grates ), which is where the smoking should be done.

In any case, the mods are easy, and effective. Trust me, you can get competition-worthy 'Q with that unit. Get some top grates.

Oh, and Bar B Chefs love attention, and uh,...............PECAN WOOD.

Good luck. 

 

[supersmoke16]

Whoooeyy you guys have all been a big help already, what a great forum! And its not too bad realtorterry, I'll upload a 6 hour photo at 2:30, granted it wont look like what it should because of the skin mishap, which is disappointing, but its all apart of my learning process i guess. And maybe im confusing you guys by calling that other smoker bullet styled, I checkout out yours and its not an offset like that, its vertical. And btw I just took a look, seems that I would have a new braunfels smoker on my hands, apparently discontinued but a very popular model.

 

[realtorterry]

Doesn't matter so much the look as the taste my friend. I didn't see a probe in that hunk o meat either? If you don't have one you need to get one ASAP. Are you spritzing too?

There is a great tutorial on smoked pork from an old cat that use to hang out here named  Meowy. It's in the wiki, under b for basic pulled pork. You should read it for sure.

 

[supersmoke16]

I will definitely check it out, and before I knew my gauge was working I was using a meat thermometer through a hole in the smoker, now that its working im going to stick it into the meat, Im working on getting an electric one though so i dont have to open the lid. Ive planned on spritzing every 3 hours. And yes your right taste is what its all about! (but having a beautiful smoker pork photo to share wouldn't be so bad either!)

 

[cwalk]

its all part of the learning process. fun part is you  get to smoke meat, be outside, drink a couple, and eat while you learn. stay on here and you'll be fine