Second Butt

Spaceman

Completely fired up to do my second butt. First was not a fil, but could have been better. Overnight temperature drop and never got the internal temp to here it needed to be. The outside was very tasty. I spared my guests and their gastrointestinal tract from certain food poisoning with respect to the inner portions) Anyway on to Round 2. 10 pound bone in butt. Thick fat cap and I decided to trim it in order to get more bark. Homemade rub consisted of the brown sugar, white sugar, black and white pepper, cayenne, ground thyme, old bay seasoning, cumin, garlic and onion powder, kosher salt. First picture is post rub which occurred this morning. Into the fridge. Using pecan wood. Soaked it for a couple of hours. Layered the wood with the lump. Threw a couple of dry chunks on top. (Picture 2). Plan is to smoke at 250. Setting the Maverick T-732 between 235 and 265. I figure that's a good range. My set up is legs up. I'm using a deep water pan filled with water, Apple juice and vinegar. The water pan sits on 4 balls of aluminimum foil so that it does not sit directly on the place setter. Grate is sitting on the water pan. Butt went on at 530. (Picture 3). I'm figuring and hoping for a 15 hour cook/smoke. Wrap and rest. Tailgate starts at about 12 noon on Saturday. i am enjoying the Banquet beer as I type. I will update as events unfold. First post, so if I mess up the pics-- I'll repost. Most of all thank you to all the contributors to this site. You guys are a true inspiration and extremely generous in sharing your knowledge and technique. Cheers

Dobie

Welcome, where are you at? Post follow up pics please.

Spaceman

 Dobie,  I live just outside of Boston.  As such, I am a Yankee (actually a Red Sox).  

As a Northeasterner, I wasn't born with bbq DNA or pedigree.  Loved bbq and smoked meats, but never had a clue as to how to make bbq or smoke.  The egg certainly helps to make up for my lacking natural talent. 

 I married a Carolinian.  I am separated from her family by a common language; however, we enjoy drinking, shooting and bbq.  I can't seem to keep up with them drinking, which seems to give them pleasure.  I certainly can't shoot straight, which gives them more pleasure and they feel sorry for me.  However, my bbq/smoking talent is quickly catching up; which also gives them pleasure and hopefully small measure of respect for a Yankee dressed in Red Sox.

Dobie

Youre my kinda yank, shooting, drinking and BBQ you will fit in fine here.

Spaceman

Thanks Dobie. Three hour mark. I've been chasing the temp a bit. High 260's and made adjustment and settled in at high 230's. Opened egg for first time at 830 to insert meat temp probe. Since that time temp has settled in mid 240's and meat temp is 126. I'll update in a couple of hours. I'll update with photo in separate post For sauce made a Piedmont sauce. Might also make a mustard sauce in the morning. I don't plan on mopping or spritzing; I'm just going to let it ride. My wife is going to make slaw in the morning. To be served on Wonder hamburger buns unless any one has another suggestion.

Spaceman

830 photo. For what it's worth dome temp running just under 290-300. Not sure dome thermo is calibrated. Digital probe is calibrated.

Dobie

Sounds like a good plan :-c

Mattman3969

An exciting cook for sure. A suggestion would be to keep an eye on your water pan. If it goes dry you will get a spike in temp and will speed up the cook. I personally only use a drip pan with no liquid as the ceramics contain the moisture and negate the need for added moisture on most cooks. But since you have a liquid pan in an established egg just make sure it doesn't run dry. Not trying to be a know it all but only trying to help you keep your temp stabil.

Spaceman

Mattman. Thanks for the heads up! Did not know that. I'll keep an eye out.

theyolksonyou

+1 one the dry pan. I'm certainly no expert as I've only been egging a couple of weeks, but my first butt was dry pan to 200ish IT and it was so moist when I pulled it I thought it was undercooked. Guest didn't touch the BBQ sauce just went with straight meat.

stemc33

Welcome. Great first post. Looking forward to your results. Just curious, are those dry pine needles underneath the egg? Your brave if they are.

Spaceman

1130. Grate temp 250 holding steady. Dome is 280. Meat is 160. There is liquid in drip pan as you can see in the picture. Definitely less water/cider/vinegar. Definitely more fat. Do I need to add water? Overall feeling pretty good at this point Stemc, the needles rained down in the past week. I really didn't notice until you mentioned it. Time to bust out the rake.

shtgunal3

Looking good bro. No need to add water in my opinion.

Spaceman

820am. Played a little ping pong with the temp last night between 245 and 265. I would tweak wheel and vent and 45-90 minutes later the Maverick would alarm and I would get weak. Not sure why this happened as it seemed more stable earlier on. Seemed to settle at 239 very early this morning. Definitely hit the stall this morning. Internal temp is 180 and has not moved much in last several hours. Plenty of time to work with. Feeling good ( a little tired).

Dobie

Looking like a proper meteorite should. I sleep great with my CyberQ in control.

Spaceman

My meteorite is stuck at 180 IT. Going to bump grate temp to 275. If no jump in IT. Will foil in an hour. Any thoughts regarding this strategy?

Mattman3969

Unless you are in a hurry to get it done I would just bump the temp and skip the foil. It will be good either way but I like bark with a lil crunch and you loose that when you foil unless you foil for a while and then take the foil off and continue cooking to help reset the bark. Sounds like a bunch of unneeded work IMO.

Spaceman

There is going to be no need to foil. I've got 196IT throughout. Probing like butter. This is awesome.

Spaceman

Finished product "Keep it secret, keep it safe". Gandolph

BillyLove

egggggggcellent

Spaceman

Two more pictures to finish the story Many thanks to this community of "eggsperts" for all the support. Special shout out to Dobie, Mattman, yolksonyou, shtgunal, stemc and Billylove -- Thanks for chiming in!

Mattman3969

Judging from the pan everyone hated it, huh?? Looked really good.