Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[Auburn]

You must have a huge family

205 for a cooking temp seems a bit lower than what most go with, is there a reason behind this?

I misread the temp the recipe called for.  Just bumped to 225.  Internal is currently at 178 after 13.5 hours.  bark looking good, smells really good.

 

[Auburn]

Just pulled off the BBQ after 18.5 hours  Internal temp of 198  Letting rest for 1.5 hours

Great bark, smells so good

Temp log, the grill only varied by 3 degrees a couple of times.  Pretty much rock solid 205 until I raised to 225 the last few hours.

By far the longest cook for me.  I am impressed with how well the RecTec maintained temp, used about 10 lbs of Hickory pellets total for a 18.5 hour cook.  More photos once the rest is done.

 

[Fred W]

That isn’t bad on the pellet usage at all.  Pretty economical really.  My longest pork butts (2 big ones) went about 16 hours on the UDS with the BBQ Guru holding it at 235F throughout.  Used a whole big bag of charcoal plus a bunch of wood chunks.  Yours look to have heavier bark than mine did.  I’m sure they will be great

 

[Knifemaker]

Ah. 205 seemed odd to me. They look good and you succeeded in getting me thinking about big butts  .....  I may do a butt (or two) soon on my UDS with my homemade “guru”,  instead of butterflying it for the reverse like I did last time. 

  I always assumed all temperature controllers were PID on smokers. How much of swing do you get Fred? 

 

[Auburn]

Really good, here's the start of breaking them down.  Just fell apart in your hands.  Great smoke ring, really nice bark.  Flavorful.  

 

[Fred W]

  I always assumed all temperature controllers were PID on smokers. How much of swing do you get Fred? 

It almost always overshoots the setpoint after changing it, then settles back to +/- 10F.  Which is a lot better than the oven in our kitchen range.  I’m not really sure how important holding a steady temp is for cooking, though it would certainly make predicting completion more accurate.
 

I stuck my Thermoworks Smoke thermometer probe in our Samsung oven to check its accuracy and was surprised to see it fluctuate by 25 degrees or more through its cycles of heat on/off at nominal cooking temps.  It seems to bake just fine though.

Those pork shoulders came out great.

 

[biknflyfisher]

As if Calif air is not bad enough, I decided to smoke a nearly 6lb pork shoulder (Boston Butt) this morning on my OK Joe.  Started at 7:00am so should be done +-6:00pm, but as we are supposed to be 102 degrees here in Kingsburg that will speed things along.  I like to get to 210 degrees and then pull and let it rest. At that point the bone literally falls out of the meat and it almost shreds itself.

Using oak wood with some alder mixed in for something “special”.  I mixed up a rub I found on the internet that I have used on smoked ribs, so we’ll see what it’s like on the shoulder.

Going to be a good day.......

Brian

 

[08FJR4ME]

Smoked a pork butt myself this weekend also. To date it was the best one I have done. Fell apart with a fork. 

Dave

 

[Fred W]

I’m due to fire up the Drum Smoker here too.  We used up the last of our freezer stash for pulled pork taco Tuesday when the kids came to visit.  
 

I generally try to get at least two or three butts cooked at the same time, considering how much fuel it takes to do the long overnight cook.

I’ve been cooking quite a bit with the pellet burner.  It’s been so hot this summer it’s hard to sit out feeding a wood fire.  Last night I smoked a beer can chicken on the pellet grille.  Used one of those nifty can holder racks they sell online.  Came out real good

 

[Bounce]

I use one of those occasionally too. Usually use apple cider in the can.

 

[Fred W]

I still get free Harpoon IPA, so…

 

[biknflyfisher]

The report from my smoked pork shoulder was that it was plenty good, but I’ve done better.  I did this one with the fat side down, and in my OK Joe the heat seems to drop down from the upper area to the “top” of the meat on the grates.  I have done fat side up as well which seems to insulate the meat being smoked from the heat that “drops” on top of it (kind of like a fat blanket as such).

Next time I’ll try fat side up and note the results.

I keep a journal of each time I cook noting all kinds of characteristics of the smoking process so I can go back and review what produced better results than other attempts.

The pork was good, and will make great nachos, quesadillas, sandwiches, etc. 

Brian the biknflyfisher 

 

[Knifemaker]

Fat up, fat side down? The question of the ages..

In the offset...fat side up. Definitely.  But I’ll flip it if I go to spritz it. (You don’t need to spritz the fat side.) 

In the UDS? Fat side down. But still use a water pan for do no other reason than to keep the dripping fat off your coals. 

Dripping fat on coals is kinda fine for your Webber for short cooks, but going 12-14 hours in a drum for a pork butt it just seems to quench the heat.

   Honestly I think trimming the fat cap off a butt more severely is the way to go if you plan on crutching it for the stall. Most have enough internal fat to keep the meat juicy. 

JMHO  

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I’m due to fire up the Drum Smoker here too.  We used up the last of our freezer stash for pulled pork taco Tuesday when the kids came to visit.  
 

I generally try to get at least two or three butts cooked at the same time, considering how much fuel it takes to do the long overnight cook.

I’ve been cooking quite a bit with the pellet burner.  It’s been so hot this summer it’s hard to sit out feeding a wood fire.  Last night I smoked a beer can chicken on the pellet grille.  Used one of those nifty can holder racks they sell online.  Came out real good

That is a thing of beauty!  What temp/time do you run for chicken?

 

[Fred W]

I started it out on the “Smoke” setting on my Pit Boss grille, which is a 180 degree set-point, for a little over an hour, then bumped it up to 250F for about an hour and a half.  Cranked it up to 300F for the last half hour or so to reach 165 internal throughout.  
 

The breast was still nice and moist, which is always the challenge with whole chickens.  I think the beer can helped that.  Funny that less than half of the beer had boiled off.    Next time I’ll drink more of the beer before sticking it in there.

 

[08FJR4ME]

So, my go to sauce is sweet baby rays. Since I love a good North Carolina sauce but didn't have any I tried to improvise. Well I think I came pretty close. I took some SBR and put it in a dish. I then added Braggs apple cider vinegar about 4/1 ratio. Then added Cayenne pepper to taste. 

BAM! pretty close. Problem solved.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

Love that idea, Dave.  It’s near impossible to find Carolina pork sauce.  And it is oh, so good!

 

[Blind Squirrel]

So, my go to sauce is sweet baby rays. Since I love a good North Carolina sauce but didn't have any I tried to improvise. Well I think I came pretty close. I took some SBR and put it in a dish. I then added Braggs apple cider vinegar about 4/1 ratio. Then added Cayenne pepper to taste. 

BAM! pretty close. Problem solved.

Dave

4 parts cider to 1 part SBR?

 

[08FJR4ME]

NO, NO, NO!    3 parts SBR and 1 part Braggs apple cider.

Adjust as needed, Dave

 

[Knifemaker]

They sell this locally, it’s pretty good:

https://lilliesq.com/products/carolina?variant=39484229255338&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlIm884Ph8gIVmWxvBB1G6QC6EAQYAiABEgJU5_D_BwE

  I do make my own, but instead of using SBR’s BBQ sauce, I use ketchup and brown sugar. 

  There’s quite a few recipes online, I prefer the north western sauces to the southern/eastern ones.