first pork butt in a long time

Egg-on-Medford

8.5 lb butt for 10 people (7 men). the butcher removed a "gland" from the shoulder that he said left in would give a bad taste--anyone heard of this?

decided to make my own rub after looking at a few examples on the www. glad I did. the bark was spicy, but mixed in tasted great.

put it on at 11:15 pm; had temp at about 250 before adding hickory/apple wood chips that I had soaked and the plate setter/grill and drip pan with water/cider. temp dropped initially, but came back up and was pretty good at 240-250.

over night, temp went down to 220, then got it back up to 250.

I know at some point I replenished the drip pan water/cider. was this necessary or a mistake??

then around noon temp dropped to 220, then below 200 despite opening the vents. at that point, I brought it in and put it in the oven wrapped in foil and sprayed with water/cider/cider vinegar. put oven temp at 240.

I left the egg on with the top and bottom vents open more and eventually the temp came back up to 250 but it took a long time--not sure why this happened 

also, the meat temp was around 175 at 8 am and stayed there until around 3 pm
then the temp gradually went up to 195 where I had the probe in, but other places I checked with my thermopen read 180's.

therefore, I cranked the temp up to 270 for around 30 minutes and got another part up to 190.

turned off the oven and left the butt in it for about an hour (rather than transfer to warm cooler).

pulled it out and it pulled with NO effort. everyone loved it. 

pics:

brown sugar about 5/8 cup and 2 T Kosher salt, too
about 2 T each onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, black pepper
about 1 T cayenne













at 0800 thought everything was going great



finally done after a few hours in the oven at 240 (270 last 30 minutes)





love the initial smoke




I had mine with a Skull Splitter

bgebrent

Looks like you nailed it!  I see no need for any fluid in your drip pan. Leads to temp fluctuations and no added benefit. Others with more experience will chime in. Egg keeps it moist with no help. Looks delicious!

Egg-on-Medford

bgebrent said:

Looks like you nailed it!  I see no need for any fluid in your drip pan. Leads to temp fluctuations and no added benefit. Others with more experience will chime in. Egg keeps it moist with no help. Looks delicious!

will be interested in comments; I thought it was good, even necessary, to have liquid in the drip pan. I heated it, btw, before it went in the egg

bgebrent

The egg keeps in the moisture.  You need a drip pan to keep your plate setter pristine.  What tends to happen is liquid in drip pan evaporates while you're enjoying a cold beverage and then the temp shoots up. No need for the liquid. Keep temp in 225 range and the fat in the butt keeps it moist. If you're worried about additional moisture then brine the butt. Alton Brown recipe is my favorite.

nsauser

I have yet to do long smokes with my egg, do you ever need to replenish the charcoal? How much charcoal do you put in to start with, up to the line? Hold temp at 225 and the charcoal will just slowly fuel the burn?

What about wood, just one application? I recently smoked a whole chicken for almost 3 hours and there was no smoke the last 45 min or so. I don't think it really mattered though as it turned out just fine!

stemc33

Pictures look great @Egg-on-Medford. Some use water, others don't. I think the majority run without water. I've done both, but haven't used water for a while. I do however elevate my drip pan slightly from the PS to keep the drippings from scorching. Also, when I'm doing a long slow cook with temps under 300° I usually only light in one or two places. Once again, pictures look great. 

stemc33

nsauser said:

I have yet to do long smokes with my egg, do you ever need to replenish the charcoal? How much charcoal do you put in to start with, up to the line? Hold temp at 225 and the charcoal will just slowly fuel the burn?

What about wood, just one application? I recently smoked a whole chicken for almost 3 hours and there was no smoke the last 45 min or so. I don't think it really mattered though as it turned out just fine!

Welcome at @nsauser. Sounds like you have lots of good questions about doing your first long slow cook. You might get more detailed answers and feedback by starting a new thread. As far as the amount of lump, fill all the way up to the top of the fire ring for long cooks. Some people get between 15-20 hours burn time. Once again, welcome. Lots of good information and helpful people here. 

ChihuahuaTN

I tend to average 1-2 pork shoulders a month (9-10lbs ). I always fill the drip pan with old beer or something I feel it adds to the flavor of the pork and I and get better results. I also don't foil my butts/picnic I love the deep bark finish. 

Here is how I do mine... I hope it helps
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1180081/pulled-pork-by-chihuahuatn#latest

Mike