You never forget your first piece of pork butt

[WaterRat]

Looking good!

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

View attachment 373356 Hit 165, took a look at my coals and decided to start the snake over and transfer the hot coals to continue. Added some more wood. I probably don’t need nearly this much but I don’t want to have to build it again. Sprayed with apple juice and water combo.

Still looks awesome so far. I'm sure that this is going to be a delicious success. One other tip that I have seen from some YouTube videos is simply to rotate or twist your grill grate to move it away from the newly heating coals. If you have the flip up grate you should be able to just add onto the end of the snake and rotate the grate as needed to keep the meat aligned with the cooler zone. That really looks great.

George

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Have you reached the magic point of bliss yet? Looking forward to seeing your end results.

George

 

[WhiskerBiscuit]

Have you reached the magic point of bliss yet? Looking forward to seeing your end results.

George

What’s that? Hovering at 196. Had to add more fuel

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

That's right about the temp range where they get tender on me. Have you tried doing a probe test for tenderness yet? Not just for the internal temp?

George

 

[WhiskerBiscuit]

Aww crap. I didn’t read up on what to do with the juices from the roast and the pan drippings. Mix em together and use a fat separator?

 

[WhiskerBiscuit]

Too much bark?

 

[WhiskerBiscuit]

Ugh. Broke off a piece and it is practically inedible. Guess I’ll peel it off and chop it up and mix in a little with the PP and see if that works. Can’t see using the whole thing. 8.3 lbs (with fat cap) to 4.25 lbs (fat cap removed pre smoking)

 

[tallbm]

Ugh. Broke off a piece and it is practically inedible. Guess I’ll peel it off and chop it up and mix in a little with the PP and see if that works. Can’t see using the whole thing. 8.3 lbs (with fat cap) to 4.25 lbs (fat cap removed pre smoking)

???
I'm a little confused here.

So was the whole cook a bust?

Did you remove the fat cap and then cook the butt?

Is it tender and shredable/pullable?

 

[WhiskerBiscuit]

The bark and some of the meat below is disappointing, but the rest is fine. I’m going to reincorporate the defatted drippings tomorrow.

 

[richorn]

I’ve read that the smoke mostly needs to be done in the first hour or so, and everything after that doesn’t make a difference.

I think you might be referring to the smoke RING! There is a lot of research that says the smoke only adds to the ring up to a certain temperature, and that's it. But that is just the ring, and that is just cosmetic. As long as there is smoke, you are adding smoke flavor. I "think" I remember that temperature to be 140*

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

View attachment 373365 Too much bark?

You didn’t like the bark? That looks perfect to me. I like to leave the cap on my butts for just that much more flavor and moisture. Sorry to hear that you were so disappointed. Don’t give up on your kettle. You can do it.

George