New MES from QVC

[smokin chris]

I got the 30" or so black smoker with stainless door from QVC ($200) Monday. I seasoned it yesterday morning and then smoked an 8# pork butt for 8 hours with apple chips. I only used 3 small handfuls, maybe 1/2 cup or a little less, for the first 3 hours and then just let the cooker do the rest. I started at 225 for the first 4 hours then bumped it up to 275 when it looked like it would not get done in time to eat it for diner. I also covered the water pan about the same time to try getting a crispier bark.

This is the first time I have actually used a smoker to smoke and not a charcoal grill with the meat on one side and coals on the other. It turned out almost perfect. The outside pulled perfect with a fork and just the very middle needed chopped because it would not pull. I think this was because it was such a large butt and I didn't have time to keep cooking it because it was already 7pm and I was hungry. It had a really nice crispy bark and was still really juicy all throughout the inside of the butt. My wife tasted a little piece as I was starting to pull it and she said that this was definitely the best purchase we have made for cooking in a long time.

Thanks to the gentleman on here that posted the long thread on tips to do for these smokers. I sprayed Pam on the grease tray, water pan and the racks and they were super easy to clean. That really helped.

Now I get to figure out what to try next!

Chris

 

[smokinhusker]

Congrats on the new smoker and the PP but 

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[smokin chris]

I was too busy pulling and chopping to think about pics. I was starving.

 

[smokinhusker]

Just givin you a hard time! The general rule of thumb for smoking pork butts is to allow approx 2 hrs per lb and that's just a guideline. The meat will be done when it's done. For slicing the IT is about 190* and for easy pulling the IT is 205*. I did an 11 lb a few weeks ago and it took 28 hrs to reach 205*, I also did not foil it at 160* with some liquid as most do since I wanted all that delicious bark. Sounds like you are on the right track with some tweaks.

 

[deltadude]

Smokin Chris Congrats on your new MES, and welcome to the SMF/MES owners club.  Sorry your first attempt at Pork Butt wasn't quite perfect but it sounds like you worked it out.

The amount of time considered as an industry standard for smoking Pork Butt is 90 minutes per lb @ 225º, of course this is a rule of thumb each smoker or even piece of meat might be different.  You do want an internal meat probe thermometer to check temp, however there is a huge variety of opinion about which temp is considered done, from 170º to 200º.  Personally I remove the foil at 170º and take the temp up to 195-200º to develop the bark.  I actually like to take a little higher, I prefer less fat on the inside, you will have to experiment with each butt to come up with how you like to do it.

One way to get good tips besides this forum, is check around the different states BBQ associations.  You will find several with great FAQ on how to smoke the different cuts of meat.