first boston butt tomorrow: Average

jb1020

ive seen numerous post on here about how to do a butt, be i wanted to be clear on a few things. first off i have never smoked anything on the egg. its only a 4 pound butt.

question #1. you still use wet wood chuncks right?

#2. do you put the wet wood on right before you put the butt on, after the coals are hot, or when you light them?

#3. place setter legs up? do you put a pan of water on it, or just a panto catch the drippings?

#4 how high do you build up the lump pile?

#5. how long do you let your tempt stabalize before you think its ok?

any other tips or advice i would love to hear from ya. i will be doing this in a day or two, so i have time to think about it.

thanks again.

SWOkla-Jerry

#1. you still use wet wood chuncks right? no wet wood, chips or chunks

#2. do you put the wet wood on right before you put the butt on, after the coals are hot, or when you light them? no wet wood, put dry chunks on after fire has lit stablized, about 30 mins, then add wood.

#3. place setter legs up? do you put a pan of water on it, or just a panto catch the drippings? I put drip pan with a little water in it so fat drippins dont burn and give off an acrid smoke.

#4 how high do you build up the lump pile? Fill er up to fire ring.

#5. how long do you let your tempt stabalize before you think its ok?
about 30 mins to get fire goin, another 30 mins to hold temp at 250 dome.

Austin Smoker

question #1. you still use wet wood chuncks right?
- No need to soak the chunks on the egg

#2. do you put the wet wood on right before you put the butt on, after the coals are hot, or when you light them?

I would suggest you put the chunks on as you are stabliizing your temp to get through the thick grey smoke and into the nice wispy smoke that makes killer cue'

#3. place setter legs up? do you put a pan of water on it, or just a panto catch the drippings?

Yes, legs up. Place a pan on the place-setter (with something to space the pan up off the PS to keep drippings from burning) - no water needed, but some use water/apple juice combo.

#4 how high do you build up the lump pile?

Fill your egg to the fire ring and you should be fine on a 4 lb butt, you will have leftover, but it's easy to relight.

#5. how long do you let your tempt stabalize before you think its ok?

I like to stabilize, placesetter and drip pan IN PLACE, for at least 30 minutes at a solid temp before putting in the butt. The temp WILL DROP, so you need to be able to trust that you are solid with your temp.

any other tips or advice i would love to hear from ya. i will be doing this in a day or two, so i have time to think about it.

Pull it at 200, wrap it in foil, then towels and put the whole wrapped up chunk of goodness in an empty cooler for a couple hours. I also like to throw some additional rub on after I've pulled the pork - I think you'll be good!!

Good Luck!!

Celtic Wolf

#1. NO

#2. No, you put the dry stuff in from the get og.

#3. Legs up , no need for water.

#4. To the top of the fire box

#5. Till the smoke is clear or very light blue

Pulled Pork

jb1020

thanks folks, will update!

jb1020

alright, so i fired up the egg this morning about 5:30. i let it get pretty hot for about 30 minutes. then i got it to about 300. i was shooting for 250. about 6:45 i got it to 250 right on the nose, got ready for work and it was still spot on at 7:30, smoking great too.

so off to work. i call the wife and get her to check the temp at 9:30. she says its a smidge over 300. i ask her to nudge the daisy wheel a bit. she complied and left. i get home at 11, still a little smokey, and still hovering around 300 degrees.

i couldnt find batteries for my thermometer last night so i couldnt hook it up until i got back. i took the temp at about 11:30 and it had an internal temp of 197. right where i wanted it to be.

so i wrapped it up and its currently resting.

i know the rule of thumb is 2 hours per pound, but i guess since mine got that hot it cut the time in half? any suggestions on keeping the temp down?

thanks, otherwise it looks really delicious.