First Smoke, Butts, q-view, not a success :(

[iadubber]

This was my first venture with smoking. Finished product was SALTY, so much so the g/f and my son couldn't eat it. I tried a little piece when I was pulling and thought with a little finishing sauce and mixing the internal pieces with the outer bark it would lighten up. It did BARELY. The only great thing about it was the smell. Man, that was the best smelling pork I ever laid my nostrils on.

Anyways, here's the timeline.

Rubbed the butt the night before. Maybe the rub was too salty?
1/4c. Brown Sugar
1/2c. White Sugar
1/2c. Paprika
1/3c. Garlic Salt
1/3c. Kosher Salt
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Fresh Black Pepper

I then re-rubbed 40 minutes before putting it on the smoker.

Here's the WSM getting ready to roll. 3 chunks of hickory, 4 smaller chunks of Cherry. Maybe too much wood? -11*F was the current temp. 1 full chimney unlit went in first. Then wedged in a few chunks, then another full chimney on top with more chunks. I did the minion with 20 hot coals on top of that. I tell you what, I need to do a better job of catching the temp on the way up because I had to fight it to get down. Also had an empty water pan and 12" clay saucer, both foiled.

Meat is on at 11:30PM! And a good look at my windblock.

The temps spiked throughout the night. Topping off at 280*F or so. I got it down to 270*F and went to bed. Woke up and it was at 235*F top lid. I stirred the coals and put 15 unlit briquettes in the ring.

About 10am. Just coming off of the plateau.

Pulled it at 12:30PM at 198*F for a total of 13hr. cooktime.

It looks good to me. Double foiled and put in the warmed cooler. It rested until 3pm and was 149*F when I started to pull it. The top of the meat was dry, and the bottom was mushy. The bark was WAYYY salty and didn't mellow out much after pulling.

I made a NC style finishing sauce.
2c. Cider Vinegar
1 1/3c. Water
1/2c. plus 2 tbsp. Ketchup
1/4c. dark brown sugar or to taste
5 tsp. salt
4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground white pepper

Starting to pull.

Finished product with some homemade mac n cheese, cornbread muffin, and baked potato (not shown) on the side.

Like I said before. The pork was not good at all. I still ate it and the finishing sauce helped it out but it was still very salty. I used very little of the finishing sauce. Any suggestions to improve for my next butt? Less salty rub? Less smoke wood? Thanks for all the help already!

 

[bassman]

Sure looks good! 1/3 c garlic salt and 5 tsp salt? Maybe just a tad much. Keith

 

[iadubber]

and a 1/3c. kosher salt. Yeah, I'm sure the rub was the culprit. It's supposedly Chris Lilly's Six time World Championship rub.

 

[oldgrandman]

Don't pretend to an expert but, I believe your salt content was way too much. And it also looks like too much wood, that can give it a harsh almost salty (stings your lips) taste. One or 2 small pieces of wood at a time wrapped in foil with a couple holes in it is plenty, after the coals have ashed over.
And I learned this here, after about 140 the smoke is not useful anymore, right?
Looks good though!

 

[richtee]

Maybe garlic POWDER, not salt. I never use the flavored salts... for this reason- You can't control or know how much is in there.

 

[bluefrog]

the smoke is still usefull after 140 the smoke ring just does not get any stronger due to the chemical reaction. The smoke flavor will intensify but the ring wont get any wider or reder.

 

[richtee]

Most likely you are experiencing a bit of creosote on the meat with that description, also indicative of too much or improperly burned raw wood.

On Edit: I missed the 140° monster again. Smoke has an effect on flavor for however long you apply it. The "smoke ring" stops forming at that temp.
If ya like I'll direct ya to a post or 12 on this :{)

 

[pigcicles]

Looks really good. You just need to adjust the salts in the rub and you'll be putting out some excellent pork.

Don't throw out the left overs. Save it for chili and it should mellow out for ya.

 

[smok'n steve]

Nice Pictures! You wouldn't know they didn't like it by the pics:-)

I wonder if that garlic SALT in your rub was supposed to be garlic powder? The rub seemed to have a lot of sugar in it too.

Here is an all around rub my family seems to like, incuding the kids:-)

1/4 cp Brn Sugar
1/4 cp Paprika
3Tb Black Pepper
4Tb Course Salt
2 tee Garlic Powder
2 tee Onion Powder
1 tee Celery Seeds
1 tee or less(kids) Cayenne

 

[smokin for life]

Oldgrandman, The "smoke ring" stops at 140 not the smoke.The meat will take in the smoke as long as there's smoke.

 

[white cloud]

Did you use all of the rub you made on that one butt.?

 

[iadubber]

I did not use all the rub that made. I had about 80% of a full regular sandwich ziploc baggie and I used about 75% of that. I have come to the conclusion that the rub was way too much salt. I checked my recipe file and the rub did say garlic salt.

Steve, thanks for the tips, I'm going to give you rub a shot next time around.

PigCicles, I will definitely be saving the meat :). I had planned on chili already, hoping that would even it out a bit.

 

[ron50]

I think you may have hit the nail on the head here. The ratios of salt/sugar are not extreme, although I use a lot less salt in my rubs, personal preference.

If you used all this rub on one butt it is A LOT of salt.

The color of the bark looks nice, doesn't look like any creosote. More wood will make it taste more smokey, not more salty.

I'd try again with a lower salt rub and see if you like the results better!

 

[greenhead]

I did this once...had a rub that was too salty. I salvaged the meat with a Brunswick Stew recipe. I used the meat in it, and didn't add the salt that the recipe called for. After a day to mellow, it was perfect.

 

[ds7662]

It is most likely the Garlic salt!!
The rub you are referring to...Magic Dust...
It does not call for GARLIC SALT....but, rather...GRANULATED GARLIC.
These are 2 different things..

 

[iadubber]

That sucks, wherever I copied and pasted it from called for Garlic Salt. Sucks!!! Next time will be better. Maybe next weekend!! :)

 

[richtee]

That's a lesson learned and ya STILL got the best avatar I have seen!

 

[iadubber]

Thanks Richtee!! Yeah, i'll chalk it up as first time blunders. I should have known since I've been cooking for so long, but live and learn!!

 

[oldgrandman]

Yeah, not a problem for me anymore. I had that happen to me and quickly learned from the mistake.

Got ya, knew there was something about the 140 thingy. Some of the comments I read must have misunderstood on this. I understand it now.

 

[nashtrash69]

I have to agree with you Richtee and also adding those last charco Bisquet I always start them before I add them to the smoker when using that size of smoker to me it gives the meat a different taste .just my 2 cents .