Memorial Day Butts - My first overnight smoke

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micker

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 30, 2008
73
11
I finally decided to do my first overnight smoke tonight. I picked up two great looking 8# butts earlier in the week.  I brined them on Friday night in my usual brine of pickling salt and molasses.  I pulled them out early this morning and gave them some drying time in the fridge for the day.

Here they are right after coming out of the brine

54c75b09_out-of-the-brine.jpg


I need to get a rack to dry things on.. Instead I use an old broiler pan...

I pulled them out of the brine about 9am this morning and put the in the fridge to dry.  I let them dry until around 4pm and made up some rub.

bbaca936_making-the-rub.jpg


The rub I used is 

Hungarian Sweet Paprika

Chili Powder

Hawaiian Red Salt

Black pepper

Colemans Dry Mustard

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Brown Sugar

These are the rubbed butts getting ready for some more rest with the rub on them

83b60517_big-butts.jpg


I got the smoker started up around 930pm and by 10 the butts were getting some smoke

7d615ac3_it-has-begun.jpg


I'm spraying them with a 50/50 rum and apple spray every 30-45 minutes... 

I'll be in the chat room most of the evening.  Stop by and say hi
 
Looks like a great start!!
 
ok, so around 6am I was at it again.  This time I was taking the chicken out of the brine, rinsing and drying it and making some chicken rub.

I've been experimenting with using Grains of Paradise in my poultry rub (its really good) but as I'm making rubs I'm always caught off guard by how white the grains become after I grind them.  This time I decided to make a white rub and build it around the Grains of Paradise

0d54572a_white-rub.jpg


The White Rub is made with 

Grains of Paradise

White Pepper

Colemans Dry Mustard

Granulated Garlic

Onion Powder

Fleur de Sel (big flaky sea salt from france)

Here is the bird all dressed in its new rub

a77fb8d5_the-bird.jpg


I put it on a beer can chicken stand and for the liquid I boiled some apple juice mixed with the white rub, white vinegar and a splash of lemon juice.  Then I cut some thyme from the garden and shoved a few sprigs in the cavity before putting the can stand in.

I didnt get a picture of it on the stand, but its now in the smoker doing its best Heisman pose on the beer can stand getting some apple smoke.  I'll snap a pic of it next time I spray it.

I also forget to get a pic of the butts before I foiled them, but they hit 165 around 7am.  I'm a bit concerned though as they haven't hit 170 yet and its going on 9:30 now.

I have time to spare, no one is coming by until 2pm so I have some time...
 
that should have said rice vinegar above, not white vinegar.

Now its time to finish the coffee from 2am and get the kitchen cleaned again.  The fiance is going to be home from work in a bit and is bringing ABT supplies with her.
 
It's nice to see what your doing.  I'm just starting and my pull pork  is not pullable. Cooked at 210 for 10 hours not pullable Don't k'now what is wrong,did a rub overnite . Taste was great. I don' know if you answer. sI find the site hard to use   Thks for any help Don
 
It's nice to see what your doing.  I'm just starting and my pull pork  is not pullable. Cooked at 210 for 10 hours not pullable Don't k'now what is wrong,did a rub overnite . Taste was great. I don' know if you answer. sI find the site hard to use   Thks for any help Don
What is the internal temperature of your meat right now? need to insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the meat, 210 seems a bit low for temperature, you need to get the internal meat to 200-205 before it will pull easily.
 
Don,

You didn't cook it long enough or high enough.The last butt I cooked, I had it in for 12 hours at 230 degrees, when it stalled at 185 degrees. It took another 3 hours before it went up to 205 degrees.I removed it from the smoker and let it set for about an hour before pulling it.At that point it almost fell apart on it's own,Needless to say it was very tender, and also juicy.
 
Don,

You didn't cook it long enough or high enough.The last butt I cooked, I had it in for 12 hours at 230 degrees, when it stalled at 185 degrees. It took another 3 hours before it went up to 205 degrees.I removed it from the smoker and let it set for about an hour before pulling it.At that point it almost fell apart on it's own,Needless to say it was very tender, and also juicy.
So, if I'm reading this right, this smoke lasted a total of 15 hours?  Reason I ask is because I just finished my first attempt at pulled pork this last weekend, and mine lasted 14 hours.  The internal temp was 192 when I yanked it off the smoker.  Only because it was 11 pm and I had to work early the next morning.  It had great flavor but, it could have been a little more tender. 
 
 
if you foil at 160* to 170* internal and take it to 205*, it should pull. just keep the smoker under 250*.
 
So, if I'm reading this right, this smoke lasted a total of 15 hours?  Reason I ask is because I just finished my first attempt at pulled pork this last weekend, and mine lasted 14 hours.  The internal temp was 192 when I yanked it off the smoker.  Only because it was 11 pm and I had to work early the next morning.  It had great flavor but, it could have been a little more tender. 
 
I did two butts last night, put them in at 5:00 pm, took them out at 7:00 am, total of 14 hours, 192 is a bit early in my opinion for pulled pork, though i think that's about perfect for slicing.  it's around these temperatures that the connective tissues/collagen are breaking down, which is what makes the meat "fall apart"..next time start a little earlier maybe, make sure it hits at least 200, and you'll be pretty happy with the results, nothing like pulling that bone out clean the first time :)  good luck.
 
I messed up guys.. I don't have any finished Qview pics... We had a storm roll in, I grabbed the coolers and took them inside as the first guests arrived.  The ABT's got devoured and then we tore into the meat shortly after that and I had consumed a few drinks by then and never thought to pull out the camera.

I have to say thanks though, the timing was perfect!

The pork went on at 10PM and got foiled around 7am. I took one butt off and put it in the cooler around 11:45am and the other a little after noon.  When I pulled the first one around 2:30 it was perfect.  Everyone raved about it.

As for the bird I put it in at 9:30am.  I took it out and did the foil and cooler routine on that around 1pm.  It was perfect as well.  I got a lot of compliments on the chicken, it was as impressive as the pork.  I'm going to do another bird this weekend. I love how fast it is to cook in the smoker.

We also did a couple of stuffed smoked eggplants for a vegetarian friend who was attending, which received great reviews as well.
 
Since I don't like staying up all night to add chips to the smoker, here's the way I do it...I put the butts ( Two 8 pound butts)  into my Brinkman Verticle propane smoker, and smoke them for 6 hours or so at 230 degrees. I then remove them from the smoker, double wrap them in aluminum foil, and place them into a Rival roaster oven set at 230 degrees for an additional 13 or so hours. What I'm looking for is an internal meat temperature of over 200 degrees. I wait until near the end before I check the temperature because I use an instant read thermometer, and I don't want a lot of holes in the meat from constant checking. (Juices will run out the holes.) Once the 200 plus degree range is reached, they are removed from the roaster oven, and allowed to cool for for an hour or so before pulling....( Note...The butts could certainly be cooked in a regular oven, but I don't like to go to bed while my oven in on, so I use the roaster oven which I got cheap at a garage sale. I then set it outside the house on a 50 foot extension cord, and I sleep soundly without worry of something happening. It's also easier to maintain the heat in a small roaster oven than a large oven.)
 
Wow, was I lucky to get my butt done in only 10 hrs.? It reached 200 when I pulled it out and started shredding and it was good. I did place a piece of foil over it at around 180 or so.

Anyway I enjoyed it and it looks like you(r) will (was) good too..........

Oh yeah my butt was only 5.5 lbs, so I guess cook time would be less (sorry)

Scott
 
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