First attemp at smokeing a Butt
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got the meat in the fridge. Going to take it out after supper and do the injections and the rub. I'll let it set overnite. I have a doctors appointment in the morning. When I get home I plan on firing up the grill. I'll take a few pics along the way.
Getting thing started. 9:30 am 
Temps at 11am
Temps at 11am
I do pork butts at 225F for 12-14 hours. Rub them with a seasoning that has some sugar in it to help with the bark and inject them. I used to monitor the internal temps but my smoker holds so steady that as long as I buy butts that roughly the same size the cooking time doesn't vary much. I spot check the meat temp after 12 hours with an instant read in at least 3 places. Takes the same amount of time to make 10lbs of pulled pork as it does 60lbs, big hit for the holidays.
Mine plateau around 160-170 which happens about 4-6 hours into the smoke, the temp will start climbing again after 2-3 hours but very slowly. 80% of the finished temp is hit in the first 40% of the cook, it takes 60% of the cooking time to cover the last 20% to get it up to 195F. Also found that the meat quits taking smoke once it hits around 140F, you can foil wrap after that and it'll keep more moisture in the meat at the expense of the bark.
Mine plateau around 160-170 which happens about 4-6 hours into the smoke, the temp will start climbing again after 2-3 hours but very slowly. 80% of the finished temp is hit in the first 40% of the cook, it takes 60% of the cooking time to cover the last 20% to get it up to 195F. Also found that the meat quits taking smoke once it hits around 140F, you can foil wrap after that and it'll keep more moisture in the meat at the expense of the bark.
Well, I kind of forgot the picture taking. ( I went to sleep watching tv) I kept the temp at about 246 for 5 hrs. Butt just didn't want to make bark. I turned the butt over and increased heat to 280, internal temp hit 160 and then just set there. After a couple more hrs, temps around 180f I wrapped the butt in foil and left until meat temp hit 205. Took off grill and wrapped in towel and put in cooler for one hour. Meat tasted great, but no bark. Still didn't get the pull apart I was looking for, altho it was almost there. Not sure what to try next. For one thing, I think these 2-3lb butts might not cook the same as a bigger piece of meat The first butt cooked at 275 made bark, altho It didn't stay on the grill quite as long as the second butt. 9.5 hr total cook time. I guess it will be round 3 next week. Going to watch a few more video's between now and then. I have to say the meat tasted great, if I could just figure out the pull apart thingy, I would be happy.
Pull apart meat happens when the connective tissue breaks down, that happens around 180-200F at the center of the meat (check in several spots and keep cooking till everything is at least that hot). I would verify your thermometer reads correctly (get a pot of water boiling and check it's temp, it should read appropriately depending on your elevation. 212 at sea level, 203 at 5000ft). The temp stall is completely normal and can last a long time, don't turn up the heat just ride it out. The meat will get there you just need to adjust your expectations on how long it's going to take. To get a good bark you need to have something on the surface of the meat to turn into bark, a very heavy rub with enough salt and sugar in it to allow a a good bark to form is a must. The salt and sugar pull moisture (and proteins) out of the meat which combined with the seasoning, rendered fat and smoke is what forms the bark. Time is the other important factor in the bark, more time equals more bark. I don't generally start to see bark until 6-8 hours in @ 225F with a 7lb piece of meat.
Here's some info on the stall
https://www.smokedbbqsource.com/the-bbq-stall-explained-how-to-beat-it/
Here's some info on the stall
https://www.smokedbbqsource.com/the-bbq-stall-explained-how-to-beat-it/
cuinrearview
Red saw lover
I cook to 195 internal. It takes anywhere from 12 to 16 hours to get a full ~10lb bone in butt to that temp at 225. Every piece of meat is a little different. At 195 the blade bone pulls out of the meat clean. But, out of the 2-6 butts I'll do in the same cooker, under the same conditions, to almost the same temp, some are so loose I can barely get them off of the grate to wrap to rest, some are a little more firm. They all pull apart easily with the claws though.
I have checked my thermometer in boiling water. Water boils here at 209.5f, my thermometer reads 210f on all four probes. Close enough I would think. One thing about the bark, I have been cooking the butts on a large metal platter with a raised grate. I do this to try and keep the drippings off the inside of the grill. I have instructions from the wife to put foil inside the platter so it isn't as hard to cleanup. I am considering just laying the foil on top of the unlit burners under the meat and not using the platter. I don't know if that will have any effect, but it might let a little more direct heat reach the meat. I am just theroizing that the platter is keeping the juices so close to the meat its preventing the bark from forming like it should. Acting like a heat shield of sorts. The meat surface never seems to braze and get stiff. I have about 20lbs of butts in the freezer I want to smoke in the near future. I plan another small one to try and work out the kinks before messing up $70 worth of pork.
I went to the store today to buy another butt. I was looking at the bigger 10lb size and noticed something odd. The biggest butt in the case was also the cheapest. $1.79 lb. 11lb butt. The rest of the butts where $2.79 lb. I don't know what the difference was, but suspect a mistake in pricing. Butt prices where $3.98 just 2 weeks ago. To heck with the small butts, I decided to buy the big one. Anyways, looks like I will be putting the butt on to cook next Friday evening to cook all night and hopefully it will be ready for Sat evening supper. I noticed today cooking hamburgers that my grill wasn't heating evenly. I had just lit the outside burners and put the burgers in the middle of the grill. the burgers where not cooking evenly, the ones in the middle just barely getting warm. I kind of noticed that on the first and second butts I cooked as I had to turn the meat around to face the side the burner was on to get both sides hots. The grill is big enough to put this big butt in the middle, so I think if I can keep the temp low enough I will light the two outermost burners and place wood chips on both sides. This should even out the heat around the meat. I also plan on leaving the drip pan I had been using out completely so heat can more easily get to the bottom of the meat. I will cover the three middle burners with foil to catch the dripping. I plan on hooking up a 30lb gas bottle to make sure I don't run out of gas while cooking. I have ran the 20lb bottle for over 15hrs, plus it wasn't a full bottle when I started. It still has some gas, but I will save it for hamburgers and refill when its empty. How much cooking time does anyone get out of a 20lb gas bottle?
I know I'm a yank but smoke all the time. I actually have built several smokers. None of my meats will I ever use BBQ sauce if it needs that your missing something in the rub . My smokers are all reverse smoke stickburners . My latest one . Got tired of loading smokers onto a trailer so I built one on a trailer
My basic rub cayenne red and black pepper torabino sugar and coffee grinds. Some paprika and Italian seasoning very little salt as the pork is injected with a marinade of apple juice, apple cider vinegar and salt .
Now onto the wood mix of apple and cherry for pork and poultry . At first because after a few hours the meat doesn't take on the smoke. I switch to a more neutral wood like oak or ash. The smoker holds almost any temp I want but my go to is 250 at the rack . NOT a probe stuck in the lid . That could be 300 but that heat passes the meat.
Now on to the actual cooking . Butts can take anywhere from 10 to 18 hours. Dont ask me why but that's just how it is. I use all Thermoworks temp probes. One in the meat and a air temp on the grate
I never wrap just spritz with a small pressure sprayer . Spritz is just apple cider vinegar and apple juice. Spritz only after the bark is set.
My basic rub cayenne red and black pepper torabino sugar and coffee grinds. Some paprika and Italian seasoning very little salt as the pork is injected with a marinade of apple juice, apple cider vinegar and salt .
Now onto the wood mix of apple and cherry for pork and poultry . At first because after a few hours the meat doesn't take on the smoke. I switch to a more neutral wood like oak or ash. The smoker holds almost any temp I want but my go to is 250 at the rack . NOT a probe stuck in the lid . That could be 300 but that heat passes the meat.
Now on to the actual cooking . Butts can take anywhere from 10 to 18 hours. Dont ask me why but that's just how it is. I use all Thermoworks temp probes. One in the meat and a air temp on the grate
I never wrap just spritz with a small pressure sprayer . Spritz is just apple cider vinegar and apple juice. Spritz only after the bark is set.
Also remember you dont want billows of white smoke coming out of the smoker. Best to have a slight blue to almost clear specially at the beginning. We all know what happens when thick smoke hits something cold , creosote! And you dont want to eat that . Another thing is I always pan the pork you dont want all that beautiful juice just getting burnt up. I use the juice after it separated from the fat as an addition to the pulled pork and as a dipping sauce
Now why did you have to post up all those pictures of cooking meat. You got me wanting to go fire up the grill right now
. There is certainly a learning curve to smoking meat. I plan on using cherry and pecan for my next smoke. I wanted to stick to apple, but I couldn't find any chips. I feel I wont be able to control the amount of smoke as well with the gas grill as you can with your homemade smoker. The gap between the lid and the bottom is to great. I am considering building a small dedicated smoker once I get the rest of the cooking figured out. My grand daughters boyfriend told me the other day he had one of those oval shaped oil barrels I could have. Bigger than I need, and I might just keep looking. Those oval barrels make great smokers, I had a coworker that used one and the company would pay him to do all the company picnics. Dang he was good at it. He lived in Lexington NC and that's the type of bbq he cooked.
Smoking can be done on a grill . It just takes more than doing it on a dedicated smoker. Look up ugly drum smokers they work very well. My next addition to my smoker will be a swing away charcoal kettle. This way I can do burgers and dogs at the same station
As much as this is a learning experience, one has to make a few observations as to what is taking place on the grill. A few things I notice is the smoke does escape around the lid, and not just a little bit. I have to keep adding chips to keep enough smoke to actually smoke the meat. Not knowing this when I started, there isn't much one can do about the smoke escaping when you have meat on the hot grill. Another thing I noticed was the meat was getting hotter on the side away from the lit burner. That didn't make a lot of sense to me, I would of thought the meat would get hotter the closer it was to the heat source. I can only suspect that trying to use a pan to control drippings, created a chimney effect, pulling heat under the pan and out the lid on the side opposite the flame. I am using two probes on each end of the meat, and another probe hanging directly above the meat. I believe the temp readings to be somewhat accurate, and can understand the difference between meat temps and cooker temps, but since heat rises, I don't think the temp probe hanging inside the smoker is representative of the heat at meat level on the grill. Probably not a big deal once a person learns just what temp the grill needs to read. I have tried 275f and 245f for the second butt and the 275f temp seemed to create more bark than the lower temp, and the lower temps stayed on the grill a few hours longer than the meat at the higher temp.
For this next attempt, a few changes I intend to make. For one thing, I am going to try and stuff something around the lid to control smoke and heat loss. Not sure how I will accomplish this, what ever I use cant burn or melt. Aluminum foil??? A second change is removing the drip pan and just laying the butt on the grill grate. A third thing is I plan on lighting two burners instead of just one. Youtube shows many folks smoking on a gas grill and everybody seems to just light one burner and for some reason they seem to think they have to light the one on the left and place the meat on the right on the grate. My grill has five burners and is large enough I can light each side and place the meat in the middle. Will it make a difference, well I do believe it will heat more evenly. My biggest fear is I wont be able to control the heat or get the heat low enough to smoke and not burn. I will have to babysit this attempt pretty closely and may have to shut off the second burner if it starts to scorch the meat.
For this next attempt, a few changes I intend to make. For one thing, I am going to try and stuff something around the lid to control smoke and heat loss. Not sure how I will accomplish this, what ever I use cant burn or melt. Aluminum foil??? A second change is removing the drip pan and just laying the butt on the grill grate. A third thing is I plan on lighting two burners instead of just one. Youtube shows many folks smoking on a gas grill and everybody seems to just light one burner and for some reason they seem to think they have to light the one on the left and place the meat on the right on the grate. My grill has five burners and is large enough I can light each side and place the meat in the middle. Will it make a difference, well I do believe it will heat more evenly. My biggest fear is I wont be able to control the heat or get the heat low enough to smoke and not burn. I will have to babysit this attempt pretty closely and may have to shut off the second burner if it starts to scorch the meat.
Smoke needs to escape . Look at mine I have a 4 ft chimney but the smoke goes over the meat because it's a reverse smoker. But foil would work to seal some up but I wouldn't seal it completely, my smoker leaks around the door I thought about adding some woodstove gasket to it but never got around to it. The smoke adds the flavor but not the ring that is caused by the nitrogen dioxide given off by burning the wood. This turns into nitric oxide when it reacts with the meat. I use this air probe from thermoworks it clips onto the grate
This is the basic idea of a reverse smoker the meat has more contact with the smoke
This is the basic idea of a reverse smoker the meat has more contact with the smoke
CentaurG2
Addicted to ArboristSite
To answer your first question, I get about 1 month out of a propane bottle. I run an old weber genesis. It uses three burners that run parallel to the front of the grill. The bulk of my cooking on the grill is heat all burners full tilt till hot, shut the middle burner off and turn the front and rear burner down to whatever and place the food in the middle.
No need to seal off the grill. If I am using the grill for smoking, I put a #8 cast iron pan full of boiling water underneath the grill grate in the middle of the grill on the flavorizer bars. Food is placed above the pan, middle burner is off and heat is controlled with front burner and/or rear burners. The pan of water acts as a heat sump, keeps the food moist and temps around 250F. Smoke is from chip/foil packets on the front burner or the smoke tube. Temp probe?? Just get a thermapen. Best $100 you will ever spend. You will thank me later.
https://www.surlatable.com/pro-3662...=e&gclid=CIW4zL_WneoCFQfNswodXSsGTw&gclsrc=ds
Getting ready for my next attempt. And I might of found my problem with the meat not pulling apart. I place my probes all right next to each other in the grill..
and then fired up the burners. I monitored the temps as the grill was heating up.
The black probe is new and had not been used before. The gray probe is what I have been using to check temps inside the grill. The red and blue probes are what I have been pokeing in the meat. as much as thirteen degrees difference between the red and blue probes. This leads me to suspect that the met temp wasnt actually as hot as I thought. Done, but not pull apart done. I have checked all 4 probes in a pot of boiling water and they all registered 210f. Not sure how I am going to figure out which probe is correct or close to the correct temp.
The grill thermometer is reading this.
and this, as I adjust the knobs.
This is a low as I can turn down the burners. Only way to reduce heat any further is to turn off one burner and this is the current temps after not messing with anything for a while.
The temps differencial between the probes seems to have closed up the heat spread, but the blue probe is still a lot lower than the other three.
Anyways, it is what it is. I have another electronic thermometer, but I cant seem to get it to turn on. I'll have to make do with what I got for now and try to adjust on the fly before taking off the grill.
and then fired up the burners. I monitored the temps as the grill was heating up.
The black probe is new and had not been used before. The gray probe is what I have been using to check temps inside the grill. The red and blue probes are what I have been pokeing in the meat. as much as thirteen degrees difference between the red and blue probes. This leads me to suspect that the met temp wasnt actually as hot as I thought. Done, but not pull apart done. I have checked all 4 probes in a pot of boiling water and they all registered 210f. Not sure how I am going to figure out which probe is correct or close to the correct temp.
The grill thermometer is reading this.
This is a low as I can turn down the burners. Only way to reduce heat any further is to turn off one burner and this is the current temps after not messing with anything for a while.
The temps differencial between the probes seems to have closed up the heat spread, but the blue probe is still a lot lower than the other three.
Anyways, it is what it is. I have another electronic thermometer, but I cant seem to get it to turn on. I'll have to make do with what I got for now and try to adjust on the fly before taking off the grill.
decided to recheck the thermometer in ice water since the probes seem to be reading different.
All 4 probes read 32f in ice water and 210 in boiling water, so now what?
All 4 probes read 32f in ice water and 210 in boiling water, so now what?
CentaurG2
Addicted to ArboristSite
I don’t get the point of the probes. Just use the thermometer on the grill. I looked up your grill online and it is similar to my old weber. Try putting a pan of boiling water on top of the “tents” over the burners. Leave the 3 middle burners off and control the heat with the 2 side burners. You can then cook the butt as long as you like. It will not dry out as it is constantly bathed in steam from the pan. Just check it every so often and refill the pan with boiling water. Any pan will do.
Chicken wings tonight on the Big Green Egg. Busha Browne jerk seasoning, lime and some dark rum. I use a vortex fire ring to direct the heat from the lump charcoal. Handy thing. It limits the amount of carcoal you need to use and can create a “jet burner” for searing steaks/burger and you can then move the food to the “cool zone” and cook around the outside edge. Wings you flip it upside down and just cook them around the edges.
https://vortexbbq.com/
I am using the probes to check the internal temps of the meat. Right now, I am just trying to figure out if the probes are giving a accurate reading. That is the reason all 4 probes are in the grill. I would assume that all probes placed right next to each other would give the same reading, but they don't. They do read the same in boiling or ice water and seem to be dead nutts on. While cooking, I use one probe inside the grill to check grill temp, and one probe to check meat temp. The thermometer in the lid doesn't match the probes by a big margin. I don't need precision accuracy, but if I can figure out what the lid thermometer needs to read, then it would make my chances of having repeat results more likely. Probes are reading correctly in boiling water and in ice water, but seem erratic when inside the grill. 1 or 2 degrees is close enough, but 10 or 15 degrees bumfuzzles me. Right now, my meat tastes great, it just isn't the pull apart BBQ I am looking for and I am suspecting I am not getting temps the required temperature for the pull apart. My cooking times also seem to be a lot longer than others cooking similar size portions, which shouldn't be if everybody is cooking to the same temp. I don't know what I am doing, but I am eating well trying to figure it out.
