First timer seeking advice for smoking pork butt

brian_karp

Hello everyone,

New egghead here.  I am going to take my first crack at smoking a pork butt and ribs over the weekend.  I have a flameboss 2000 and feel like I am ready to go. 

From what I have read, it seems like I shouldn't fill the egg with as much charcoal as I would if I were trying to get it hot.  Would half way to the top be about good?  Any other advice you guys can give, or even some good baby back ribs recipes (kinda want to try a different type of rub than the one I normally do) would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to becoming a true egghead.

Best,

Brian

Brandongodfrey

More lump doesn't equal higher temps just longer possible cook time . Trick is to not let the egg get too hot to begin with . Control the climb of temp from the beginning as it is hard to bring it back down quickly if you allow it to get to high . Good luck and enjoy ! Cheers 

da87

Welcome Brian!  As the experts and veterans are sure to chime in - fill it up!  Temp control is based on airflow, not the amount of fuel in the egg. Better to have extra fuel as at least my first butt took far longer than I had planned. Catch the temp on the way up and you'll be fine!

enjoy!

bhedges1987

You can fill the lump to the top of the fire ring. That won't effect the temp. 

Fill it, light it. Let it go for 5 minutes and then turn on your flame boss to whatever temp you want. 225-325.

When your meat temp gets to around 200 your about done! 

Pull and let it rest on the counter for 30 min.

Pull / chop. Add sauce if you want and bang!

lousubcap

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun.

And surely This quote "From what I have read, it seems like I shouldn't fill the egg with as much charcoal as I would if I were trying to get it hot.  Would half way to the top be about good? "

Must have come from a bad dream...

As above, air-flow is the driver.  And someone astutely observed, the speed of your car isn't controlled by the quantity of fuel in the tank.  Same deal.  FWIW-

pgprescott

Good advice above. Fill with lump! 

Bad Byrons Butt Rub is a very popular Rub for both butts and ribs. Keep in mind the butt will take way longer than the ribs. If you want to expedite the butt cook you can wrap it once it reaches 170 IT. Good luck. Don't get overly caught up on the cook temp. Anywhere from 250 - 300 will work fine. Just make sure you use the Plare setter or other indirect means. Now, good luck 

brian_karp

Thanks for the tips, folks.  Much appreciated.  Do you all add any wood chunks to the charcoals?  Saw a video where a guy did that and didn't know if it is a good approach or not.

da87

I use apple and/or cherry on pork. 

pgprescott

da87 said:

I use apple and/or cherry on pork. 

I like hickory or pecan. Apple, cherry, peach, etc. all great options too.  The answer is yes add chunks. Whatever you favor, it's your pork. 

DaveRichardson

First, let me say Welcome to the Madness!!!

I love cooking boston butts for pulled pork; its my favorite cook and has become profitable in the past year or so.

Lump - fill it up to the top of the fire ring.  Light in one spot just rear of center; I like to make a little well in the lump and place my burning papertowel and then place some large, flat pieced of lump on top to promote it burning.  I open the bottom door 100% and the dome open for 5-7 minutes.  I then come back and close the dome with the wheel off for 5-7 minutes.  Then I toss in some chunks of apple or pecan (I am in GA, so I've got to use pecan!) and the platesetter.  Close the bottom door to about 1/8 inch and the wheel about the same.  Watch your temps and stabilize in the 250-300 range.

I cook Nekkid - no temp controller.  I will use a pit thermo to monitor the ambient temp inside the egg.  I might get a FB down the road..... I'd like it if it was able to monitor multiple cooking vessels at the same time.....  The Stoker devices did that, but those aren't in as much favor now a days!

Some folks wrap, I don't.  I like the crunchy bark.

Cook till at least 200, but if you are cooking a bone-in boston butt, try to wiggle the bone; if it comes out with no effort, you are done.  If it doesn't let go, let it run for 20-30 more minutes and try again!  Then I'll wrap in foil and towels and place in the cooler for an hour or 4, depending on how fast it went.  It'll still be piping hot even after 5-6 hours, so wear gloves!  Should pull apart with forks easily.

That's my version of pulled pork.

As far as fuel source goes, @DA87 was correct.  Check out the fire pyramid below.  You must have all 3 things to have fire.  To control the fire, limit one of it components - shut the doors or open the door to let it breathe less or more will feed or starve the fire enough to allow temperature regulation.

ChuckR

It is going to hit a stall where the temperature does not move for many, many hours. This is very normal. You are going to question if something is wrong. It is not.

DaveRichardson

ChuckR said:

It is going to hit a stall where the temperature does not move for many, many hours. This is very normal. You are going to question if something is wrong. It is not.

TRUTH!!!!!!  If you are using a wireless meat probe, you will start sweating when your temp stalls, sometimes drops a degree or two....  A butt is a butt is a butt.  They all behave differently.  Just have faith in the egg.  It will deliver the sacrificed meat wonderfully.

SemolinaPilchard

Load it up with as much lump charcoal as you want for anything that you will be cooking indirect with the plate setter (convEGGtor), or whatever device you are using for indirect cooking. Examples of when the amount of lump is a concern is  when cooking direct as for steaks or burgers. The reason being because of what distance you want between the fire and the meat.

Rte1985

For a butt I do a mustard rub with generous home aid rub. I load my egg up and I mean load it up. Try to use larger chunks to help with burn and air flow.  Always use some hickory chunks and il have either apple or peach in there also. Run egg at 225-250. Wait for good smoke. Place butt fat cap up.  Cook until I hit 200 IT.  Stall is usually around 160 give or take. I sometimes get a short second stall around 190. I don't foil wrap so stalls can last enjoy a while. A 8-10 lb butt usually takes about 15 hrs for me. Il double foil wrap and towel it in a cooler for at least half an hour up to 3-4 hours until it's chow time. Shred and enjoy! Enjoy the journey!

BikerBob

Mine went on five minutes ago. If the wind would quit blowing so hard the whole back yard would smell like apple smoke. It's half of a seven plus pound butt so I'm guessing about seven hours. I'll watch for about 250 cooking temp until sometime after six tonight and then check internal temp. Pull around 200, probably foil until rest of supper is ready and eat.
It will be good.

Ladeback69

Welcome to the Eggdiction. For any long cook you want to fill the egg like others have said to the top of the fire ring and add your wood of choice.  I like apple and pecan or hickory sometimes for pork.  Basically and fruit wood or but wood will work.  Mix the chunks in with lump.  Light your egg, let it get going for 5-10 minutes.  I then put the plate setter in.  Now the fat on the pork butt is going to drill all over.  I would either wrap the plate setter in HD foil or have a drip pan on top of it with an air gap between the pan and PS.  I close the lid with vents wide open till the egg gets 190 then I start closing the vents to about an 1/8" on top and bottom.  I use a SmokeWare cap instead of a daisy wheel now.  I have not used a pit controller so I can not give you advice there.  I would think you would want it on at this point and set to what temp you want.  My guess the top vent would be closed about 1/2 way?  I take it it also has a nest probe to let you know the internal temp.  This is important and lets you know when to start checking for doneness.  

After you have it set up, let it stabilize to the temp you want.  This will give you time to prep the butt.  I like using yellow mustard as a binder for the rub and gives it a good crust.  You won't taste the musturd when it's ​done.  I am from KC so I like a rub that is sweet with a little heat.  Use what you like on pork.  When done rubbing I put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes for it to get good an wet.  It seems to help with getting a good bark.

Now I like to put the meat fat side down so incase it sticks you lose only the fat layer not meat.  The STALL; this can come on as early as 140 to 160 and can last for hours if you are at 225 or lower I have found.  That's why I like cooking between 250-275 for pork butts.  Helps get through the stall better and doesn't affect the smoke flavor IMO.  When your temp on the meat says 195 or higher start checking the bone and see if will move.  It sometimes​will be done at this point, over 200 is better to me.

As for the ribs, how many slabs are you doing?  Can you fit 2 slabs next to the pork butt?  I have a homemade raised grid and would put it on when you want to start the ribs.  You can cook them straight through, but at 225 they are going to take at least 4.5 to 5 hour's to cook.  I like doing 2.1.1, but it is more work.  I would put the ribs on after the pork butt has come out of the stall then put them on.  You could also double wrap the pork butt in foil when it is at 170 to 180 and transfer to the oven to finish while you cook the ribs.

When are you wanting to eat?  Better to start early to make sure it is done in time.  If it is not cooking fast enough you could take to heat up to 275 or 300 when it gets to 180, but you will have to cool the egg down to do ribs unless you want to do them turbo method.

Good luck and if you have questions during the cook just get back on here and ask questions.

Rte1985

I second the foiling your platesetter.  I use oval stone from cgs in place of a platesetter and it makes cleaning up so much easier.  I do fat side up because I like to think of that wonderfull fat juices working their way down through the meat!  I havn't had any sticking to my ss grate.  But thats the beauty of the egg.  You can experiment and find out what works best for you!  Lots of great knowledge on here!

johnnyp

You've gotten some great advice above. 

Welcome and post the finished pics!

jtcBoynton

Rte1985 said:

....  I do fat side up because I like to think of that wonderfull fat juices working their way down through the meat!  ...

Its a nice thought, except that it does not happen.  It just flows over the surface. 

Action_Hank

Make sure you pick up plenty of beer

WeberWho

brian_karp said:

Thanks for the tips, folks.  Much appreciated.  Do you all add any wood chunks to the charcoals?  Saw a video where a guy did that and didn't know if it is a good approach or not.

When burying the wood chunks in the lump make sure you don't burry them too deep into the lump. The fire might not even touch the bottom half of the lump during your smoke. Keep the chunks towards the top but still buried in lump

Rte1985

jtcBoynton said:

Rte1985 said:

....  I do fat side up because I like to think of that wonderfull fat juices working their way down through the meat!  ...

Its a nice thought, except that it does not happen.  It just flows over the surface. 

My arteries thank you for that info!  I got an extra butt in the freezer.  I'll try a fat side down for the first time. All though I still like the idea even if it isn't true! (always taste good no matter what!)

brian_karp

brian_karp

Just posted pictures.  I was able to smoke an 8.6+lb pork butt and 4 racks of baby-back ribs in the XL.  I did not use a rib rack, just everything on the grill in the XL egg.  I started the pork at a little after 5am at 250.  Around 11am, I reduced the temperature to 225 and put the ribs on.  I took the ribs off around 530pm and raised the temperature back up to 250 for the pork.

I did not think the fan on the flame boss was very helpful for keeping the temperature right.  Towards the end of the cook, it was good for keeping the temperature around 225 and for raising the temperature after I took the ribs off.  It did well holding the temperature between 225-245, but not so well at 250.  There were a couple of times during the cook that the egg got up to 285.  I wasn't that upset since the pork butt can handle this.

The food turned out incredible.  I really tasted the smoke flavor in the BGE much better than in my old vertical propane smoker.  The food came out better too.  It was almost tough to eat the ribs because the meat kept falling off the bone.  Good problem to have.

Thank you for all the tips.  I can tell I am going to love my BGE.