First pork butt with new smoker. Partial q view

[dunginhawk]

Figured i would post some results from my first ever pork butt smoke with my new MES.

I just picked it up from bass pro on friday.  The digital one, with the remote (PRICELESS).  

I will say, that having it digital, with a built in probe and timer setting etc is unreal.  I couldnt be happier with that purchase.

On to the pork.

PIcked up a 3.5 lber from my local butcher , rubbed it down (with a pre packaged rub from BPS called butt rub) and tossed it in the fridge.

In the morning i fired up the mes and started the smoke.  I used jack daniels oak chips and apple, mixed.

The one picture below was just before i pulled it out to foil it.

At 165 i foiled it, sprayed some AJ Captain juice in there as well (i followed the sticky pretty much to the letter).

at 204 i pulled it out, and put it in towel, in a cooler for an hour.

Pulled it out, pulled the bone out, and tossed it in the kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook. this worked to perfection.

added a but more seasoning and my served it up.  Wife and Bro were in heaven.  Ive been picking at it ever since.

I know pork butt is easy to do and hard to screw up, but I couldnt imagine it being any more perfect than this.

My only complaint may be the smokieness of it.  It wasnt particularly strong. But again, apple and oak arent.

So would you guys maybe recommend a couple hours of hickory at the start then work in with apple?

Thanks in advance. and thank you all for all your great posts. I feel fortunate this forum exists.

I need to get my brisket down next.

Good evening gents.

 

[adiochiro3]

Congrats on the good eats!  Would have loved to see the money shot as well!  Better still, a seat at your table!!

I use relatively mild woods for my smokes and there is always plenty of smoke flavor on the meat.  What were your smoker temps during the cook?  If they were high, the proteins on the outside of the meat would have tightened and formed a smoke "barrier" earlier than optimal, leading to less smoky penetration.  This would also shorten the cook time -- decreasing smoke exposure.  Optimal temp is 250*.

Cheers!  It only gets better as you hone your craft!

 

[dunginhawk]

I wouldnt say there wasnt any smoky flavor, just maybe lighter than I had expected.  Maybe i have a high tolerance for smoke.

My temps were 223 constant for the entire time.  it took about 1-2 hours longer than expected, but nothing out of the ordinary from what ive heard.

I raised the temp to about 245 after I foiled it.

You smoke your pork butt at 250? i always thought that was considered to be a bit high (until the foil stage).

thanks for your comment. next time ill have the pics throughout.

 

[adiochiro3]

Yeah, between 225-250*.  Have you double checked your thermometer's accuracy?

 

[SmokinAl]

I wouldnt say there wasnt any smoky flavor, just maybe lighter than I had expected.  Maybe i have a high tolerance for smoke.

My temps were 223 constant for the entire time.  it took about 1-2 hours longer than expected, but nothing out of the ordinary from what ive heard.

I raised the temp to about 245 after I foiled it.

You smoke your pork butt at 250? i always thought that was considered to be a bit high (until the foil stage).

thanks for your comment. next time ill have the pics throughout.

You will find that you will taste the smoke flavor much more the next day, due to the fact that smelling smoke all day long waiting for the meat to be done somewhat desensitizes you to the smoke flavor.

I think we all have our own temps that we smoke at. I keep my smoker around 210-215 & I always put the meat in the smoker cold, when I first light the fire with cold water in the pan. That way the meat will get cold smoked for about 45 minutes while the smoker comes up to temp., IMHO this will increase the smoke penetration. If you have the new 1200 watt model you should have no trouble getting it up to temp with cold meat & cold water. Also, if you don't have one already get a good temp probe because the factory ones are not reliable.

 

[tjohnson]

If your smoker has a coating on the inside, you're getting smoke.

Your pork butt may not smell or taste very smokey on the day you smoke it.  I think you get kinda immune to the taste and smell, because you're around it all day.  The next day, I can always taste the smoke flavor a lot better.

Also, if you can smell smoke, it's there.  Smoke that is produced at high temps seems to be less dense and raises with the heat.  It's called "Ninja Smoke" because it's so hard to see.  The same smoke during cold smoking will look denser.

I like to use hickory for pork shoulder.  It's tough to penetrate very far into the meat with smoke flavor, so a stronger smoke seems to work better after it's all pulled & mixed up.

Looks Great!

Todd

 

[tim1nei]

I have a Bradley original and have thought about the A-Maze-N to defray some woodchip costs.  My question is that on the website it recomends temps up to 180 degrees but most of my smoking is done at 215 to 240?  Will this still work?

 

[dunginhawk]

How would you guys accurately test your thermometers? ive heard a pan of water inside the unit. I have to think its pretty accurate though because I did a cold smoke first, and it took quite some time to get the smoker up and meat to rise, so that probably added an hour. With that hour extra, it was close to being on schedule.

I will test the temps again, and i have another remote therm i can test with it as well.

Thanks again for all the thoughts.

 

[realtorterry]

man it must be butt season. Good job