2nd Butt- Big improvement!

YankeeQ

Here are some pics of my second butt! I used the same store bought rub as my last butt (click here to see last butt) with a little more brown sugar this time around. I also injected it with a mixture of cola (Coke) and dry rub, which made for a better flavor (IMO) than apple juice. As you can see, the color looks a lot better than the first butt, and like I said, the flavor was a lot better. Not to sweet and the pork flavor wasn't masked by the rub or cola injection.

I also did a 12LB packer Brisket alongside the 8LB shoulder (both fit perfectly on a LBGE) but it came out but dry. I think it was due to the temp shooting up to 350* when I opened the dome to check on the pork. That plus the water pan went dry a few times during the cooking process (18hrs)
I used the BIG BAD BEEF RUB recipe from Amazingribs.com, which complimented the meat well. It had a strong black pepper flavor on the bark with a little heat coming through. A bit of a warning- It may be to spicy for some folks, but that can be fixed by tweaking the recipe.
I ended up slicing the flat and soaking the slices in a mixture of beef stock & Stubs (sort of a mopping sauce) to give it a little moisture.

It was a good cook and I'm pretty proud of myself (and my Egg). This weekend we'll be attending the DC BBQ event, so hopefully I pickup a few pointers from the pros and a few bottles of rub from Dizzy Pig

GATABITES

looks good. I did my first but on sunday. It came out ok. I heard about the cola injection, i will try it on my next butt. My brothers owns a bbq restaurant in florida. One of his pitmasters uses orange soda for his butts. 

TexanOfTheNorth

@YankeeQ, the butt looks fantastic.

Sorry you were less successful on your packer. What IT did you get to on the packer? My guess is that the dryness came more from over cooking it than your drip pan. Also, I'm not sure that a temporary increase in temperature from opening the dome (mine usually goes down when I open it) would have been much of a problem.

WC1

Looks good.

YankeeQ

Thanks for the compliments guys..

TexanOfTheNorth
I decided not to foil my brisket unlike the masses, in hopes of getting a nice bark. After 17hrs, the temp was hovering around 174. One of my mistakes was not probing around with my maverick to get an overall average temp. Anyways, I think you're right- It probably was overcooked because the flat was very crumbly when sliced at 3/8". I ended up slicing into 1/2" pieces to keep it together.

My next attempt will be with another beef stock injected packer and the same Texas style rub. I'm not planning on foiling or using the Guru because my goal is to teach myself the hard way of doing things :-D