Doin Da Butts!!

[cwshiles]

Hey Smokers!

I have not written up my last couple smokes. I did a few turkey Breasts for Thanksgiving  and they turned out really well.  The family said that it was their new favorite over the fried turkey that we do also.  I did some more Spares last week and they all turned out pretty good aside from one half rack that was closer to the element and got way overdone.  I am struggling with the spares for some reason.  I am setting my temps to 225-250 and they are just not finishing in the times that are working for others.   This is making me think that the Auber PID or CyberQ is definitely in my future. 

Alas, one to the next!

Tonight I am throwing on a couple 8 lb Boston Butts from SAMs Club. I am doing a different rubs on each one to get a little variety. I will be cooking them roughly 1.5 to 2 hours per lb with Plowboys Yardbird rub on one and a little concoction I made up last time from combining different recipes on the other.

I have washed em, massaged em and rubbed em down.  I put them into the fridge for 5 hours to chill and get all flavorey.

I plan to put them in the #3 around 8 pm and let em go all night.  I'll probably run the Maverick and the iGrill since I don't trust the Maverick yet, but its range reaches my bedroom and the iGrill is spotty.

Nothing to do now but wait and drink delicious adult beverages.

Where is my beer assistant???

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[es1025]

asst reporting for duty.  I am jealous, we had some snow last night in NJ and now falling ice.  Not great conditions for smoking.

 

[DivotMaker]

Nice shirt, Charlie!  Good lookin' butts, there!  Post the recipe for your homemade rub if it turns out like you want it to.  Last time I did a Boston butt overnight, it cooked way faster than I thought it would.  It was weird...9 lb butt went in at 11 pm, and at 8 am it was at temp!  I had to hold it at 140 for a few hours!  Not that pulled pork is bad for breakfast, we just had it planned for lunch.  Two at once shouldn't cook that fast!

[Jerz]

I have both the Maverick and iGrill too and not sjre that I trust mine either...  Since the last update and since upgradin my phone and tablet I have no issues reaching the bedroom and love the graph feature and the ability to export the temperature readings...  it really allows you to actually SEE the temp fluctuations at the meat and adjust accordingly.   I had beed cooking at too low a temperature because my knob wasn't adjusted properly to the dial...  all's good now though so I'm  holding back on the pid.   Cheers....  mmmmmmm bacon.

[cwshiles]

Ok, I am a getting a tad bit frustrated. The butts went in last night at 9 pm at 225.  It is now 2:10 pm the next day and I am still not at temp.  I am sitting at 170.   I just turned up the heat  to 250 because I would love to eat this today. I figured 2 hours per lb would be plenty with the stall, but jeez.  I wanted to take this up to 200, but at this rate it may have to finish in the oven.

Every cook I have done at this point has not finished on time. The ribs all have taken at least 8 hours. The turkey took 2 hours more than expected and had to be finished on the grill.

I want to love this smoker, but I feel like I will never have consistent results.  Is a digital controller a requirement? 

[Jerz]

I just took out my 8lb brisket... so I put it in at 9:30PM and just took it out at 3:15 at 203* internal temperature...  It certainly seems to take a while.

[benjammn]

Ok, I am a getting a tad bit frustrated. The butts went in last night at 9 pm at 225.  It is now 2:10 pm the next day and I am still not at temp.  I am sitting at 170.   I just turned up the heat  to 250 because I would love to eat this today. I figured 2 hours per lb would be plenty with the stall, but jeez.  I wanted to take this up to 200, but at this rate it may have to finish in the oven.

Every cook I have done at this point has not finished on time. The ribs all have taken at least 8 hours. The turkey took 2 hours more than expected and had to be finished on the grill.

I want to love this smoker, but I feel like I will never have consistent results.  Is a digital controller a requirement?

I think that if you haven't yet, make sure to check that the thermostat is set correctly. Maybe you need an adjustment to the knob. The PID is not required and a lot of guys get by just fine without one. A lot of us techy guys want to see it operate more precisely. 

[cwshiles]

I am a techey guy.   

If I could finish a cook, I was going to force myself to be ok without the digital control, but i just don't think its gonna work for me.

I have checked my smoker during all my cooks and the temp in the smoker is about where it should be, but I guess with the swings, its just not able to keep the temp.  Who knows.  Maybe I just need to cook everything at 250.

Also, being a techey....  I don't think moving the knob around is teh proper fix either.  My attention to detail would cause me to have nightmares about looking at the smoker when its off and seeing it read 200 or whatever the setting may be.

I see that alot of people are having success with the Auber.  Has anyone tried a better thermostat?  One that holds temps tighter? 

All in all, even though the 2 8lb butts took 21 hours to complete, they turned out fantastic.  The wife thought it was the best cook i have done yet.  They have been Vac'd and Stac'd and ready to be frozen.


Happy Monday   

-Charlie

[DivotMaker]

Looks good, Charlie!  I'm sure we'll get this temp thing figured out!  Although, 18 pounds of meat in 21 hours is less than 1 1/2 hours per pound.  Could be the reason it took so long.

[cwshiles]

That may be where my confusion is coming into play.  They were 2 8lb boston butts, so I had read it was 1 1/2 - 2 hours per lb for each cut of meat.

[rickne]

Looks good, Charlie!  I'm sure we'll get this temp thing figured out!  Although, 18 pounds of meat in 21 hours is less than 1 1/2 hours per pound.  Could be the reason it took so long.

But when calculating cook times, you generally use the weight of individual cuts...  not combined total weight of all cuts of meat in the cooker. 

[DivotMaker]

In my experience, in the #1, if I cut a brisket in half (say, 2 7 lb halves), they cook like one 7 lb cut.  I'm just grasping at straws here, trying to think of any variables that could cause such an incredibly long cook time.  There has to be something we're missing...

[cwshiles]

Well, I am new to this, so its a learning process for me.  I would say, If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  BUT.....  The pork was fantastic!  So, I just need to give myself a little more time cushion. 

When I get my digital controller, I will probably start the cook off early and use the hold feature.  I can see how that would be a very convenient feature. 

As a side note, I have a friend of mine who lives up in Boston.  Great guy.  He has been cooking with a Masterbuilt Propane Smoker and after talking with him about my cook he said that he does not usually leave his pork butts in that long and get them up that temp (195-205).  When I told him how fantastic mine turned out he realized that that has been an issue with most of his meat.  Since I left it in a long time, all the fat rendered into this amazing buttery fat deliciousness that can't even be described with words.  My wife and I were sampling A LOT when I was pulling it with the bear paws. 

So boys and girls, the lesson I learned this week was to make sure I leave the meat in the smoker long enough for the fat to render down.  The wait was worth it.