Brined Butts Revisted (Here Piggy-Piggy Brine & Hawg Heaven Rub): Q-View (#1 sliced)

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forluvofsmoke

Smoking Guru
Original poster
OTBS Member
Aug 27, 2008
5,170
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Hi again, all!

Just a quick q-view today in case you're interested in repeatability. This is a follow-up on my first brined fresh pork butts from about 2 weeks ago, with recipes found HERE  and in the Wiki, just so you're in the loop if you came in late in the game.

I put these butts into the brine @ 11:00 pm on 04-28-11 and fired up the Smoke Vault @ 8:30 pm lastnight for another great butt smoke. Apple, cherry and pecan complimenting the brine, pork and rub as on the first round, with a full water pan @ 225*. Temps ran pretty steady and this smoke is coming through nicely, with the smaller butt being almost ready for slicing @ 179* after 14 hours (instead of 18), so, the larger butt should come through several hours earlier than the previous 25.5 hours (no-foiled) it took on the last run to finish @ 200* for pulling.

14 hours:

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14.5* hours @ 181*, and this piggy's coming out of the game to rest for slicing...fresh out of the smoke, here...I foil-tented the platter, popped into the "O" @ 170* and set it to turn off @ 30 minutes for a total resting of 1 hour:

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The bone is out...I had to work the blade in along the upper-most tip just a bit to break it free, then we were good to slice:

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Moist and tender, delicious sliced shoulder...the exterior was a bit salty compared to the first round, but the flavors throughout the interior meat had no noticable variations like the first run. The brine would seem to have penetrated all the way through this time:

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That was lunch...pulled pork for dinner in about 6 or 7 hours...big daddy piggy's still in the Vault gettin' happy.

See ya then! Thanks for lookin'!

Eric

EDIT: the big daddy peaked @ 177* @ 15 hours, and has been stalled @ 175* for the past 2.5 hours.
 
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Awesome Eric!!

I took a butt outa the freezer today.

Was gonna use to it make sausage...but I guess we need pulled pork here..

Luckily there's a few more butts in there.

  Craig
 
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Looks good from here....picked up a butt from Safeway yesterday for a PP smoke next week....$1.69 a pound. It's just the 2 of us so got a smaller 4 pounder. What was the weight on your smaller one? I'm thinking a no foil run as well at 225....close to 8 hours?
 
Awesome Eric!!

I took a butt outa the freezer today.

Was gonna use to it make sausage...but I guess we need pulled pork here..

Luckily there's a few more butts in there.

  Craig
Thanks Craig, yea, I don't want to run out of butts around here nowdays, especially since I started brining them. I walked into the house to find my wife on the phone chatting with one of her friends about today's smoke. She said it doesn't even taste like pork shoulder because it's so mild and flavorful. She has oven-roasted shoulder cuts many times, and there's just no comparison to the flavors of the brine, dry rub and smoke. Texture, of course, is far better with low & slow, but, you knew that...
 
Looks good from here....picked up a butt from Safeway yesterday for a PP smoke next week....$1.69 a pound. It's just the 2 of us so got a smaller 4 pounder. What was the weight on your smaller one? I'm thinking a no foil run as well at 225....close to 8 hours?
Thanks, I didn't have weights on these, as they're from a case purchase without individual labeling, and I broke my high-capacity scale a couple weeks back, but the small one hefted at about 7lbs. 2 hours/lb without foiling should be a pretty close estimate, though, I have had them take closer to 2.5 depending on stalls. The big one is still in, and still stalled @ 175*, so it's been there for 3.75 hours now...it happens. A long way from the 200* mark for pulling...I just told the wife we may be having left-over sliced pork butt for dinner instead of pulled pork. Hmm...chunk it up with gravy and pour over rice...maybe add some veggies like broccoli, carrots...sort of a smoked pork stir-fry of sorts...mmm-mmm-mmm.

Good smokin', brother!

Eric
 
 
OMG Eric!!!!

Awesome Looking Pork !!!!!

Who the heck is eating all this goodness you keep turning out????

Wyoming doesn't have a Pro Football team !!!

The 6 Man teams they have out there couldn't eat all you make!

Bear
 
OMG Eric!!!!

Awesome Looking Pork !!!!!

Who the heck is eating all this goodness you keep turning out????

Wyoming doesn't have a Pro Football team !!!

The 6 Man teams they have out there couldn't eat all you make!

Bear
Thanks Bear, yea, I'm on a roll stocking the freezer for my oldest daughter's graduation. We're having a 3-family (+ guests) after-grad Bbq. They don't all know yet what I have in my arsenal...probably my best pulled pork ever.

Nope, it would take a pro team to eat it all in one meal...LOL!!!
 

I just rembered, I still have some chops and LBR's in the freezer from my last days-off work, plus the pulled pork from the first run with this brine and dry rub. Hmm...22 days 'til the party...might have to do one more batch for good measure...ha-ha!

The larger butt is finally waking up now...back to 177* after crashing...let's see here, that makes it 5.75 hours that it was stalled. Not to worry...stalls make for tender eats.

Eric
 
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