First Pork Shoulder Picnic

[Chris Engelhardt]

Any critique is graciously accepted!

So I smoked my first pork shoulder picnic (on sale so wouldn't mind if I lost it) in the Masterbuilt Electric Smoker. It weighed about 11.5 pounds. Temperatures were up and down around 225 the entire time. I used apple chips for the first 4 hrs. I put it in at 11 pm last night and pulled it out at 530 pm tonight (temp 196). Wrapped in foil and then a towel. Placed in a dry cooler for 1 hour to rest. Now to me it came out pretty awesome. Maybe it could be more awesome, I don't know. 18.5 hours I was shocked at. I thought it would be less but it all worked out for dinner.

Any critique is accepted.

Thanks

 

[kruizer]

\WHAT WAS THE INTERNAL TEMP WHEN YOU TOOK IT OUT OF YOUR SMOKER?

 

[Chris Engelhardt]

196 degrees

 

[jcam222]

Did it pull easily? Finish temp on a butt can be between between 190 and 205. Somewhere there it will be probe tender, like sliding into hot butter. If you want quicker cooks on butt crank that smoker up to 275F , results will be every bit as good. Also you can wrap when the meat hits 160ish to push theough the stall. Try this method sometime for a day time smoke.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Did you have a different thermometer in smoker or were you going by mes therm? Mine is off by about 25 degrees so I always use a digital one. My mes also has 25 degree temp swings, so might be why it took so long

Ryan

 

[raymo76]

Based on what you posted it’s seems like you’re really happy with it. I didn’t see any negatives in your post so I’m not sure how it could be better.

I wrap with foil after a few hours with my smoker at 225 or 250 when the color and heat is where I want. If I really want to get it done quick I ramp the heat up to 300 when it’s wrapped till I hit the tenderness I want or 205 internal temperature. After that I let them (usually cook them in pairs) sit for an hour then pull. My second one I pull it if I need to but it’s primarily for left overs so it sits a long time till I pull it and it’s still hot and super tender.

 

[Chris Engelhardt]

Did you have a different thermometer in smoker or were you going by mes therm? Mine is off by about 25 degrees so I always use a digital one. My mes also has 25 degree temp swings, so might be why it took so long

Ryan

I purchased the ink bird 4 prong 4x thermometer. Mine is off aswell. I dont use the thermometer that is in unit

 

[fivetricks]

I set my masterbuilt to 275 no matter what I put in it (save for sausage, fish, etc) No effect on final product and it speeds the process along..

But smoking meat is a patient man's game. 18 and a half hours does seem a bit long, but if you're running a little too cool, 2 hours per pound is well within the window of expectations, so you beat that.