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1st Smoke w/ Roast & Butt (Pic Heavy)

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WDE86
WDE86 Posts: 69
in EggHead Forum
Finally got around smoking some meat yesterday. Had a blast! 



Picked up this roast pretty cheap on Thursday evening and rubbed it down. The third picture shows it just before going on the grill. Lesson learned here: too much rub. I had no idea how much to use and although it was good, it was overbearing. I'll definitely dial it back next time. 



Here's the setup. 2.5 lb roast (mine) and a 3 lb pork butt my step-dad provided. I can't remember what he put on the butt. It was more like a marinade than a tub but it turned out well. 



Two hours in and things we're looking pretty good. Did a quick temperature check and I was sitting at 140f IT. This was also the beginning of my frustration. 

An hour later (3 hours cook time) the IT was still reading 140f. I bumped the temperature of the grill to 260f. An hour after that...



Turns out the cheap analog meat thermometer might not be the most reliable. This is also where a little experience in the future will help me. After 4 hours of consistent smoking I'm still at only 140f IT (on both pieces of meat). Somehow that seems wrong to me but I'm hoping you guys can help with what possibly went wrong. 

It was at this point we decided to wrap them and let them go another hour in case the thermometer wasn't wrong. 



Both pieces were rested about 30-45 minutes before being cut into. The butt turned out very tender. The roast tasted good but was still a bit tough and again, the rub was far too much. Won't make that mistake again. Either way, it all got eaten and no one complained. 

Overall, it was very fun and I look forward to doing many more. I think a thermapen or javelin would go a long way in improving my smokes. An ambiguous IT situation made this more stressful than I wanted this to be. 
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  • Dave in Florida
    Dave in Florida Posts: 1,157
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    Keep at it.  It only gets better. A remote temp monitor and a thermapen are my most used tools.  Check the calibration on the dome thermo, the remote and the thermapen just so you know.  Cook to IT of the meat not a certain amount of time.  
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Welcome to the Swamp.....GO GATORS!!!!
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,393
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    What you experienced is the "stall" and it happens with any slow cooked protein.  Plenty to read about that whole process and the physics involved.  
    Regarding thermos, as above, you have got to have confidence in your indications.  Thus calibrate/check them in boiling water.  I have an old-school analog thermo (oven safe) that I include when checking the BGE dome and other thermos.  Always within 5*F so I know it is available should everything else go south on me.
    Remember, this is a journey.  And always have fun.
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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  • WDE86
    WDE86 Posts: 69
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    lousubcap said:
    What you experienced is the "stall" and it happens with any slow cooked protein.  Plenty to read about that whole process and the physics involved.  
    Regarding thermos, as above, you have got to have confidence in your indications.  Thus calibrate/check them in boiling water.  I have an old-school analog thermo (oven safe) that I include when checking the BGE dome and other thermos.  Always within 5*F so I know it is available should everything else go south on me.
    Remember, this is a journey.  And always have fun.
    I'm aware of the stall just didn't think it would be so prevalent in such a small piece of meat over such a long period of time. I guess that's not that unusual though? 
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