A long smoke on my day off

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thegreatmc

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Apr 27, 2015
152
22
Alaska
I'm working nights with Wednesday as my only real day off and I have buddies in town so I decided I'd cook a butt for everyone enjoy, plus some extras to be named later.

Rubbed my butt at 2:30pm. I was to tired to mix up my own rub and had a commercial one I picked up at my local grocery store so I used that.

It's now 11:30pm and I'm going out to light the coals in my Mini. I'd take pictures but it's too dark and my porch light went out on me.
 
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6 KBB briquettes lit and dumped at 12:05pm. Filled the charcoal basket as full as I could with KBB and chunks of apple wood cut from local trees.

P.S. It is a 7lb "Pork Shoulder". Pretty sure it's a Boston Butt and not a picnic roast.
 
12:54 Smoker Temp at 215*, throw on the roast fat cap up and adjust the vents to both are 1/4 open.

1:02 ST back up and at 241*. I really want this to run below 250* today so that way I can have time to not worry about it. We will see if that happens. In the 2 minutes it took to type this it's only gone up 1* so I might be alright.

1:17 Fear was for nothing. Temps dropped to 214* opened the vents both to half.
 
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5:20 Quick panic. I feel asleep and woke up to a smoker temp of 280* and climbing fast. I open the lid and the fat is rendering out of the shoulder and as soon as it hits the terracotta saucer diffuser it starts to burn, accounting for the extra heat. I forgot to wrap the saucer in foil and at this time it's to hot to do so I poured water extremely slowly as to not crack the saucer until it was full. That has evened things out now and we are back to 221*. I also inserted a meat probe and internal temp is 149*.

5:50 I should have looked when I was playing earlier but it was time for a new batch of briquettes and while I was at it I dumped the ashes.
 
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Sounds like it's under control now, but not to worry.

Anything between 225-300 is OK.

A temporary spike like that won't hurt the final product.

Al
 
The only issue is even though it's my day off from my primary job I have to go to the local junior college and teach a course from 8-10am. I want this thing to be rock solid before I leave for more then 2 hours. I also hope I get one heck of a stall because I have an hour and a half before I have to leave and my IT is 155. Might have to get my dad to come babysit the smoker for a bit.
 
Sounds like your busy down in Wyoming! That butt is going to be awesome.

Post some pics of the final product.
Busy is an understatement. 2 jobs plus college for myself is going to kill me. At least I'll die with good food, though. The heavier then TBS is due to the fresh briquettes. It'll clear in a minute I promise.
 
7:15 Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans go on. I have to leave for 2+ hours and they hopefully will help keep temps low. IT 159*
 
10:25 Got home and realized how big of an idiot I was for leaving the terracotta saucer in with a pot of beans on my bottom rack. My ST was 185*. It worked great for this instance because I needed to leave for 3 hours and I didn't have any runaways while gone but next time I'll be smarter and remove the pot before I insert the beans.
 
12:00 Pulled the beans off.

Temps shot up instantly so I had to shut the vents down to about 1/4 open on both. ST is holding solid at 243* now and IT is 166* and climbing.

I want to take this time to throw a huge shout out to Dutch. These beans are crazy good. I'm looking for a cast iron Dutch oven that will fit perfect in my mini.
 
Hang in there man!

Sounds like a really hectic day.

Al

In my life, today's a relaxing day. I was done with work by 10am and now I'm drinking a beer watching my IT climb one number at a time. Might even get done and wrapped in the cooler in time for a nap. [emoji]128513[/emoji][emoji]128513[/emoji][emoji]128513[/emoji]
 
In my life, today's a relaxing day. I was done with work by 10am and now I'm drinking a beer watching my IT climb one number at a time. Might even get done and wrapped in the cooler in time for a nap. [emoji]128513[/emoji][emoji]128513[/emoji][emoji]128513[/emoji]
Well that sounds like a great end to your day!

I'm having a beer now too!

beercheer.gif


Al
 
3:28 Hit a late stall. I've never had a butt stall at 180*+ but it hit 180* at 1:36 and it's at 185* now. ST has been consistently 230*. I didn't foil. Still have 3 hours until anybody even shows and then we will probably play with my old truck for awhile so I'm letting it ride. Time to go pick some sweet corn. Can't get much fresher.
 
5:00pm Pulled off the smoker. IT of 197* which I know is lower then normal but it was falling apart done. It's wrapped in foil in a cooler right now. Some sausage went and life is good.
 
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