Pulled Pork Progress

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Yesterday at 4pm I began my first overnight smoke on a boston butt. Didn't post any pics then so here's the setup:

and the meat:

Last meat temp in my log was 167 at 1am. Woke up this morning and meat temp was 167 at 8am. Guess that's why they call it a plateau

Dome temp was at 210, it got pretty cold (by Georgia standards) overnight. I opened it up and want to get it up to 250 in hopes to have that meat ready for the 1pm game.

Rascal · January 2009

Lookin' good there! You might want to re-insert your thermometer so that the probe touches nothing but the meat. I've learned that this will keep it from giving erroneous readings. Enjoy the food & game!

EGGLANDS BEST · January 2009

Smokus,

I'm no expert by no means on pork butts but to me if u put it on at 1600 hrs and at 0800 it's only at 167ºF then it's either:
1. cooking it to low
2. the dome thermometer it protruding into the meat
3. The fire has died

I usually do my PBs at a dome temp of 250ºF until internal temp of 195ºF - 200ºF how big is the PB you cooking? also i've never had an issue with the outside temp effecting the cookin temp of the egg this is just my 0.02

thirdeye · January 2009

That should be good eats for the game, but you didn't start with a full load of charcoal, so it might run out on you before the butt is done. Since you have good color and smoke flavor on the roast, the best fix is to go into a 250-275 degree oven if you need to for the last couple of hours.

Nature Boy · January 2009

I was thinking the same thing aboout that charcoal load thirdeye. The oven always works, but he could also add charcoal now, before the fire goes out. Won't hurt to take the butt off for a few minutes (wrapped in foilsince it's so cold) to add charcoal.

And as was said below, it does sound like it's goin a bit slow. Lookin good though, and I am sure it will end up being dynamite!!

Cheers
Chris

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I (mostly) followed these instructions from Elder Ward as posted on the Naked Whiz site:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm#fire

As for the probe - I think in the photo it looks like it's resting on the vrack, but that's from the angle. I agree with you I've had issues if it's touching anything but the meat so I make sure to avoid that.

I know a lot of folks here suggest 250 to 275 for smoking but following Elder Wards suggestion he cooks overnight around 200 (I was a bit above that) and then cranks it up to 275-300 (which I'm working on now). To my understanding, the lower and slower I can cook the pork, the more sweet and tender it will be, right?

The butt is 10 lbs.

As far as the outside temp and the egg temp - When I went to bed the dome temp was 235 and outside temp was somewhere north of 50 degrees. When I woke up the outside temp had dropped about 20 degrees and the dome temp was at 210. I don't know how it's 'supposed to work,' maybe I did something wrong but that's what I saw. I opened the bottom vent up and got it back up to 250 dome in half an hour.

Also, when I put everything on, I made sure the dome therm didn't hit the meat.

Finally - as far as a full load of charcoal, how high can I go? I put it to the top of the firebox as Elder Ward suggested - can I go higher than that?

Thanks folks!

fieroguy · January 2009

You can go almost to the top of the fire ring.

Mike
30833

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Ok - thanks - I will definately use more lump next time.

As of now, I'm able to bring the temp up, so there must be some lump still burning. I'll have to decide if I want to add more lump - as was said above I think nows the time before what I already have in there burns out.

thirdeye · January 2009

Or go into the oven while the new charcoal gets ready, then back on the pit. The butt will never know, and Smokus will never tell.....

Nature Boy · January 2009

Howdy Geoff.
Elder Ward is a fine cook, and has shared a great deal of his knowledge. However, 200 is an awfully low cooking temperature....especially when it's the dome temperature. Your grate temperature (the temp down by where your meat is) is often significantly lower....especially at the beginning of the cook when you have a big ol' cold piece of meat in there.

Nothing wrong with cooking at 200, but it's gonna take a long time. If you want to do your whole cook at 200, try putting a temperature probe down near your grate, a few inches from your meat. Then you can adjust your temps until your grate temp is 200 (your dome might be 250 or more to start).

I have settled in on 225-250 for my grate temp for butts. They are usually ready to wrap and put in the cooler after 12-14 hours.

Still, you have some good eating around the corner. Enjoy!
Chris

Sundown · January 2009

As for your load of charcoal a few thoughts;

I have used the Elder Ward method since I started Egging in 1999 and I've found that sorting and building your fire with larger chunks on the bottom and to the smaller stuff on the top works.

But, so does the "dump the lump" process work. Just upending the bag and spilling it all into the Egg hasn't failed either.

I can't recall ever having a fire go out though. When I first came aboard a few of the "really old timers" Char~Woody, TimM, Cat and JJ all said to "fill to the top of the fire box then fill some more".

BTW, C~W lives in the Primo forum, TimM is on OBX and isn't coming back any too soon to the mainland, Cat is still in Manhattan Egging and working and JJ's at the big EggFest in the sky. Learned a lot from them and miss them too.

jeffinsgf · January 2009

Geoff,

At this point, I would blend all the advice you've received this morning. Pre-heat your oven to 250. When it gets there, move your butt into the oven. Add more lump and let the fire stabilize for at least 15 minutes with the new lump on top before putting the meat back on. Watch the smoke. Heavy white smoke that smells bad is not something you want on your butt right now. If you're going to ramp, now is the time to do it. I'd go to 275 at least. When the smoke is thin and the temp is stable at 275 (or just a little north of there) put your butt back in the Egg.

For future reference, a load of lump "to the top of the firebox" means you can't see the transition from the firebox to the fire ring anymore. Take a look at your picture again. You're at least an inch or two too low. Given the taper of the sides and the diameter at the top of the firebox, that's a lot of fuel.

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Thanks everyone!

I really appreciate all of the help and I learn so much from you folks.

Firetruck · January 2009

You have a lot of info to go through but given the time, I'd wrap that sucker put it in a 300 deg oven with a pan on the rack under it until you reach 195. You will still need time to rest the butt before serving. I don't think it's worth jacking with egg temps and lump since you have so much time and effort invested. Just get the product right, then evaluate the cook you did and learn from it. IMHO
Butts are very forgiving, sometimes the guests are not.

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Good idea.

You're right, it's a ton of info. I'm still confused how the meat that at it's top point is higher than the bottom of the dome therm could be cooking at a lower temp than the dome reading...

Everyone was right about the charcoal too - if I'd used another inch or two I would've been fine. There was still a bit left in the egg but not enough to get the temp over 240.

I've put it in the oven at 300. You're right - the important thing is having it ready, and it got plenty of smoke early in the cook. Has a GREAT looking crust on it, and looks like the fat rendered very well. Meat's at about 170 right now.

My final concern is that early in the cook the smoke smelled a bit acrid or bitter to me. I hope the meat didn't pick this up - we'll see...

Beli · January 2009

Geof

Can't wait to see the results....what wood are you using to smoke????

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Me too

I like hickory for pulled pork, but have to admit I haven't tried anything else (yet).

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Just wanted to thank everyone again for all of the advice and report in that in my opinion the butt turned out really well:

I don't have a picture of it pulled because I did that at my friend's house where we were watching the game. I can say that the meat had a nice smokey flavor, I wouldn't mind it a little smokier, and the fat rendered out of it beautifully. It was tender but not at all greasy. There were lots of compliments on it so I hope the folks enjoyed it.

You all were right, if not for the oven at 300 I wouldn't have made it. Next time I'll keep the dome temp closer to 230 and allow more time - I did like having the temp low though because the results were so good. I'll have to keep experimenting until I get to exactly the way I want to do it.

The other thing I have yet to figure out is the wood chunks. No matter how I arrange them, it seems they all want to burn within the first hour or two of the cook and then that nice hickory smoke is gone. I don't want to got nuts with the smoke, but I'd like to have it smoking for 5 to 6 hours of the cook. Maybe next time I will bury about 2 chunks in each layer of the charcoal and see how that works.

Thanks again folks, your help is so valuable!!!

thirdeye · January 2009

That sort of looks like that roast told you when it was ready.... :laugh: Anyways, nice save & hope the game went in your favor because it didn't for me. :evil:

As far as chip & split arrangement, I favor the wagon wheel method. This shot shows a grilling fire, but for a lo-n-slo, I would have added another layer of lump along with some more splits and fired 'er up. As the fire spreads, it wanders through the chips and excites the splits....

For some reason the splits work a lot better for me than the chunks. Maybe it's because I like splitting them up???

Smokus Maximus · January 2009

Beautiful, huh? It only read 197 internally but I was out of time so I just pulled it. Fell off the bone, so easy to pull too. I'm really glad you all suggested the oven. I'm so stubborn I would've tried to finish it in the egg and missed the whole game.

I might try that wood method then - drives me nuts to get smoke for only an hour or two.

No, we were rooting for the Giants so that part didn't go too well. Thanks to the pork though we managed to enjoy ourselves

Pulled Pork Progress

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