Successful 1st pork butt...but definitely room for improvement

[skeeter013]

Last week I received my first smoker, an MES40. After doing the initial burn-in I decided my first smoke would be a pork butt. I was very impressed with the MES during the smoke. In the end, the pulled pork was very good but I definitely have room for improvement. I smoked an 8lb pork shoulder and it took around 14 hours. I thought this was a little on the long side. However, it was a very cold day with temperatures in the single digits when I was smoking. I had my MES set at 225F and it was definitely dipping to lower temperatures during the smoke due to the outside temp. I'm glad I read about the "plateau" on the forum because I probably would have thought the smoker was broken during this phase. Since it was taking longer than expected, I decided to crank up the temperature to 275F during the end of the smoke. I also didn't let the butt rest long enough after it was done cooking. I only let it rest for 30 minutes because it was late and I had a bunch of hungry kids. Overall, it was a fun first cook and everyone enjoyed the pulled pork. Here are a few pictures:

8lb pork butt going on the smoker at 5:45AM

MES smoking away with Apple wood chips in the snow

Finally done at 8:00PM (200F IT)

Final product. Very tasty but I didn't get the nice pink smoke ring.

 

[uncle eddie]

Looks pretty good to me! Like!

 

[yortchko]

Last week I received my first smoker, an MES40. After doing the initial burn-in I decided my first smoke would be a pork butt. I was very impressed with the MES during the smoke. In the end, the pulled pork was very good but I definitely have room for improvement. I smoked an 8lb pork shoulder and it took around 14 hours. I thought this was a little on the long side. However, it was a very cold day with temperatures in the single digits when I was smoking. I had my MES set at 225F and it was definitely dipping to lower temperatures during the smoke due to the outside temp. I'm glad I read about the "plateau" on the forum because I probably would have thought the smoker was broken during this phase. Since it was taking longer than expected, I decided to crank up the temperature to 275F during the end of the smoke. I also didn't let the butt rest long enough after it was done cooking. I only let it rest for 30 minutes because it was late and I had a bunch of hungry kids. Overall, it was a fun first cook and everyone enjoyed the pulled pork. Here are a few pictures:

8lb pork butt going on the smoker at 5:45AM
View attachment 352549

MES smoking away with Apple wood chips in the snow
View attachment 352552
Sweet RIG!!
Finally done at 8:00PM (200F IT)
View attachment 352554

Final product. Very tasty but I didn't get the nice pink smoke ring.
View attachment 352556

 

[LuckyDutch]

Looking good to me !!!!

 

[gmc2003]

Skeeter, nice looking pulled pork you got there. Don't be afraid to crank that MES up to 250 - 260. The shoulder can easily handle it and you'll knock off a few hours of cooking time. The smoke-ring is a just a novelty. It doesn't add any flavor, and I'm pretty sure you won't get one with an electric smoker.

Point for sure.

Chris