Boston Butts

[raceyb]

Today is the day to smoke butt. Lot's of it. I purchased 30 lbs of butt roasts that were on sale at Food Lion. I went straight to the butcher and asked him to bring me 3 cryovac packs of butts. Each cryovac pack contains 2 butts and the total weight is approx 15 lbs per pack. I selected the two best looking cryovacs and had him price them with stickers and I was on my way.



When i got to the checkout, I received several remarks about my 30 lbs or pork. I heard "when will it be ready?", "Do you live nearby?" and "Are you cooking all of that for the game?". The last comment struck me as funny, as we host the annual Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs college football game here in Jacksonville. There are tailgate parties going on all week leading up to the game. RV city is nearly already full.

(click for bigger picture)


I got home and fired up the smoker and gave it time to come to 250 degrees. Meanwhile, I went inside and rinsed off the pork and proceeded to give it a good rub down with Magical Barbecue Mix, a store bought BBQ rub that I really like on pork. When the smoker hit 300 degrees, I added the meat, all 30 pounds of it. This is what it looks like currently. I have my probes for the remote Maverick ET 7300 in place and I am ready to smoke.


I'll update this later...

 

[Dutch]

RaceyB- That looks like a whole loadout of pork for your smoker! Looking forward to see how your smoke turns out.

 

[blue]

Looks like a gret start...please update!!!

 

[raceyb]

Brinkmann claims it'll hold 50lbs, too bad only 30lbs would fit. :)

 

[beer-b-q]

That is a load. Brinkmann must be using New Math...LOL

Looks Great... Keep us updated...

 

[treegje]

that looks good
13.6 kilogramme what a weight

I'm going to try that,I've never had smoked one butt
that is still on my wishlist

 

[the dude abides]

Good looking smoke you got going on there.

You never really did say why you're doing so much. Big party? Stocking up the freezer?

Can't wait to see the final picts

 

[txbigred]

Looks good RaceyB, it also looks like your going to be up late!!

Dave

 

[irishteabear]

That's a lot of butt! What wood are you using?

 

[raceyb]

I am using a blend of hickory and mesquite. We have the Florida vs Georgia game this weekend and a neighborhood get together and Halloween. I do plan on freezing a few bags for pulled pork chili and grilled tamales.

(click on picture for a bigger pic)

2.5 hours into smoke and my meat probe says 161 on biggest piece... I don't trust that. My maverick meat probe has always seemed to be off. Smoker temp at 215 with all vents wide open, getting close to time to add more fuel. I'll update with another pic with racks pulled out in a few....

The camera attempted to adjust the color in the pic because of the bluish smoke. Not the best camera, but it does the job. I usually take 2 or 3 shots and only upload the best one, but wanted to get that door shut asap after adding new fuel and wood.

 

[downstatesmoker]

Looking great so far. Can't wait to see the final "product" :)

 

[raceyb]

UPDATE:
Current meat temp is 193 according to the Maverick remote meat probe. I could have sworn a few minutes ago it was 178. I'll probe in a sec... Smoker is at 251 degrees. A little over 5 hours into the smoke, so i know the meat isn't 193, but gotta be sure. This is why I hardly ever use the meat probe.

Meat is reading 160 degrees with an analog meat thermometer. I have about 30-35 degrees to go. If my original guestimate is correct, about another 4 hours of cooking.

 

[scarbelly]

Good looking smoke you got goin there - cant wait to see the finaly product

 

[mballi3011]

Florida Vs Georgia game here in jacksonville is the reason for the smoke. Lets put it htis way for the game and the size of the game. It will be the only time that our staduim will be full thats 92,000 seat and you could add about 10,000 and it will still be a sell out. Oh yea Rv city holds over 300+ RVs. Thay have been in line since last sunday.

 

[raceyb]

Meat is now up to 166 degrees. Slowly but surely getting there. Lot's of Qview ahead!! I moved the meat probe and found a place that matches my analog thermo. Looks like it is gonna be a 12 hour smoke for 30#'s, largest piece 8.5 lbs. Running a consistant temp, in 220's.

Lots of pork to pull tonight.

 

[miamirick]

ok racey, my daughter is in town for the game with 14 other nursing college friends, what time friday can they come by for dinner before they hit the town?

 

[raceyb]

Sorry Rick, this 30#'s is all called. lol Unless they bring some trick or treaters by on Saturday night.

I just pulled the smallest piece which looked like a 7 pounder that had pegged my thermometer. It is in foil and a towel in my cooler. Next candidate is at 168 degrees. I'm just gonna keep pics until the end and post all at once...

 

[raceyb]

I just pulled the last piece, the big kahuna... it' wrapped and in cooler. Time to get some sleeppppppp

 

[raceyb]

That last sentence on the previous update was famous last words. Not only did it take much longer then expected, the last piece, the biggest, didn't come off of the smoker until 7 am. Total cook time was 18 hours on it. As far as I am concerned, that break the cardinal rule of smoking large amounts of meat. They tell you to just take the largest piece's weight and multiply by 1.5 hours to get an estimate for total cook time of entire smoker contents.



If that calculation was dead on, the total cook time at 230-250 degrees should have been around 12 hours. The actual cook time was 18 hours at 230 degrees. I monitored this smoke extremely close, never letting smoker temp drop below 210. So I would suggest that when doing a smoker full of meat, where air flow might not be as unrestricted, take the weight of the biggest piece and multiply by 2.25 hours.

The fire can only put out so much energy. The meat absorbs it as it cooks. We had 4 pieces of shoulder all competing for that energy. The water bowl was filled with sand and covered with foil. Wood used was hickory and mesquite.


I hand pulled the two smallest pieces and ended up with a roaster pan full of hand pulled pork. I then bathed it in a cup of my finishing sauce, which is made with apple cider vinegar, ketchup, tomato paste, onion powder, garlic powder, cummin, cayenne, sugar and crushed red pepper.

I still have the two largest pieces to process, but first I'm going to take a nap. Smoking and hand processing 30 lbs of pork is not an easy task. I had to babysit the last piece every 1.5 hours by alarm clock, so I never got a good nights rest.

 

[downstatesmoker]

I've had those nights. The end result is beautiful.