My first pork butt!

[paulekelly1]

I use a Cookshack SM-3500, a great electric smoker that used to belong to my uncle for years (keep it in the family, heh...) often for brisket, chicken, and wings. I found a bone-in butt for $2.5/lb and decided to give it a try!

Rub! I use 12 bones chicken rub base, believe it or not.

1/2 cup paprika, pepper, salt, and garlic
1/4 cup English mustard, onion powder
1 tbsp cumin, chili (I use 2)
8 tsp chili
4 tsp brown sugar

Put it on at 250°, ended up taking about 21 hours (yes, I'm aware I may have a heat sink/gap issue with the chamber) and was super jiggly still when I pulled it:

I let it sit for an hour and it fell apart in my hands (the bone was tiny, too!)

The inner portions are melt-in your mouth and there's a lot of great bark, but some of it is a little tough. Would love some feedback and tips for next time!

Purist here, no slathering in sauce please!

 

[WaterRat]

Congrats, looks good! Which parts were tough? You said the inside was melt-in your mouth so - a bit crusty outside portions? It happens, you could trying moping more or wrap the butt sooner (or wrap it if you didn't wrap at all). Some people like it that way. Which way? Yes.
Not slathering in sauce, but did you try a finishing sauce? I like chef jimmyj #5 https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/need-a-good-vinegar-sauce.297470/#post-2083591 I tried both versions and like them both with a slight preference to the Lexington style.

 

[uncle eddie]

It looks pretty good to me!
Did you wrap it and rest it? - Many times the rest will soften some of the tougher pieces.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Looks really good. 21 hours is a long time. Have you checked your temp inside smoker with another thermometer?

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Looks good from here. Did you check the IT of the butt when you pulled it? Could be a tad overdone.

 

[912smoker]

^^^^^^ this. Or was just the bark chewy?
Sure looks good from Ga !

 

[paulekelly1]

Wow, thanks to everybody for the positive feedback and suggestions!

Congrats, looks good! Which parts were tough? You said the inside was melt-in your mouth so - a bit crusty outside portions? It happens, you could trying moping more or wrap the butt sooner (or wrap it if you didn't wrap at all). Some people like it that way. Which way? Yes.
Not slathering in sauce, but did you try a finishing sauce? I like chef jimmyj #5 https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/need-a-good-vinegar-sauce.297470/#post-2083591 I tried both versions and like them both with a slight preference to the Lexington style.

Thanks!I actually decided not to foil it because I'm a sucker for bark and I'd read that foiling will moisten it. I did add a few tbsp of apple juice to the foil packet when I started and let it sit, if only because I was a little worried about the moisture when I pulled and reset the probe (was a few degrees higher than I wanted. I saw this vinegar finishing sauce on here earlier and tagged it for future use. Good to know it's recommended

It looks pretty good to me!
Did you wrap it and rest it? - Many times the rest will soften some of the tougher pieces.

Yeah, I wrapped and let sit for an hour. But I did add some some juice (spur of the moment decision) to the packet upon wrapping. Didn't know that it could toughen, so you know why that is?

Looks really good. 21 hours is a long time. Have you checked your temp inside smoker with another thermometer?

I'm going to do a test before my next smoke, things routinely take 50% again as much time as they should by rule of thumb.

Looks good from here. Did you check the IT of the butt when you pulled it? Could be a tad overdone.

Yeah, I didn't have the probe set properly because I pulled it at 191° to finish in the oven but when I re-seated it, it read 207°. So a tad overdone.

 

[maplenut]

Looks good. Nice looking bark.

Like yours my butts also take about 20 hrs. Some a little less some a little longer.
I do not wrap my butts at anytime while in the smoker.
When it hits the target temp I pull it and wrap right away in foil and place in a cooler. I use one of those igloo playmate coolers, they fit perfect in there.
I will let it rest in there for a few hours before pulling the pork butt.

I have found that letting it rest in the cooler wrapped in foil softens the bark.

We have never had any dry pulled pork or tough pulled pork doing it this way.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I'm going to do a test before my next smoke, things routinely take 50% again as much time as they should by rule of thumb.

I always use thermometer during the cook that I sure is correct. Just adding things to the smoker changes air flows and can really mess up the temp reading. My MES40 runs perfect with nothing in it but can be really far off during a cook. If you buy one make sure it also has low alarm in case your smoker shuts down.