1st butt questions

[swthorpe]

Sounds good, Eric.  I would not want to be at work all afternoon worrying about the butt in the smoker, so having your wife remove it "IF IF IF" it reaches your IT before you get home is a good move!  Allow the extra time...I think you will be happy you did.   Look forward to hearing of your results.  Cheers

[DivotMaker]

Sorry for the late reply, Eric, but I see the guys have pretty well covered it!  Here's my brined butt method:

Brined Boston Butt for Pulled Pork

It's still my "go to" every time, but I no longer smoke to 200.  I've found that anywhere in the 190's is juicy and tender.  Once the meat gets through the stall, the tenderizing is pretty much done.  I never go past 195 now, and have great results.

[aspenextreme03]

And the butt is now brining. Put it in at 8:30 pm and will take it out at 7 am tomorrow morning. Will rinse it off and pat dry and then put the rub in there for 24 hours.

[aspenextreme03]

Rinsed off the butt this morning and patted it dry.  Put the mustard and the rub on and wrapped it up and put it back in the fridge for 24 hours.

[swthorpe]

It won't be long now... 

[aspenextreme03]

For sure.  I will post pictures when the cook is all done as it is tough to post due to the size limit on the forum.  I tried to take an iphone picture and upload there but it was over the limit as well. 

[NDKoze]

I always start put my butts in the smoker around midnight. Smoking at 225 will get done about perfect and let me rest for 2+ hours. I used to rest for an hour, but one time ended up having to let it rest for 3 hours and the results were amazing. Now, I start early so I can give a good 2-3 hour rest. The butt is still too hot to pull by hand after 3 hours.

If your wife is home and the butt gets to 190 early in the afternoon, she can turn the temp down to 140 and hold the butt in the smoker until you get home around 5:00. If you are going to put the butt in warming mode, the residual heat will most likely take the butt pretty darn close to the mid 190s which is where you want to end up at. Then double-foil wrap around 5:00 or whenever you get home from work and place in the cooler with the towels on top.

These are my suggestions anyhow. I have used this method many many times and always eat on time.

[swthorpe]

For sure.  I will post pictures when the cook is all done as it is tough to post due to the size limit on the forum.  I tried to take an iphone picture and upload there but it was over the limit as well.

This forum post helps with taking pics and uploading...

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1272.0

[aspenextreme03]

That is a pretty good idea and I think I said that before.  I ended up getting a 7.5 lb butt so assuming 2 hours per lb that would be just around 15 hours.  That would put me around 3 pm in the afternoon.

So you are saying at 3 if it hits 190-200 I can have her just turn it down to 140 and then when I get home at 5:30 I can foil it for the rest and then eat at 7 pm?

I am thinking this would work pretty well.

I always start put my butts in the smoker around midnight. Smoking at 225 will get done about perfect and let me rest for 2+ hours. I used to rest for an hour, but one time ended up having to let it rest for 3 hours and the results were amazing. Now, I start early so I can give a good 2-3 hour rest. The butt is still too hot to pull by hand after 3 hours.

If your wife is home and the butt gets to 190 early in the afternoon, she can turn the temp down to 140 and hold the butt in the smoker until you get home around 5:00. If you are going to put the butt in warming mode, the residual heat will most likely take the butt pretty darn close to the mid 190s which is where you want to end up at. Then double-foil wrap around 5:00 or whenever you get home from work and place in the cooler with the towels on top.

These are my suggestions anyhow. I have used this method many many times and always eat on time.

[NDKoze]

That is a pretty good idea and I think I said that before.  I ended up getting a 7.5 lb butt so assuming 2 hours per lb that would be just around 15 hours.  That would put me around 3 pm in the afternoon.

So you are saying at 3 if it hits 190-200 I can have her just turn it down to 140 and then when I get home at 5:30 I can foil it for the rest and then eat at 7 pm?

I am thinking this would work pretty well.

I always start put my butts in the smoker around midnight. Smoking at 225 will get done about perfect and let me rest for 2+ hours. I used to rest for an hour, but one time ended up having to let it rest for 3 hours and the results were amazing. Now, I start early so I can give a good 2-3 hour rest. The butt is still too hot to pull by hand after 3 hours.

If your wife is home and the butt gets to 190 early in the afternoon, she can turn the temp down to 140 and hold the butt in the smoker until you get home around 5:00. If you are going to put the butt in warming mode, the residual heat will most likely take the butt pretty darn close to the mid 190s which is where you want to end up at. Then double-foil wrap around 5:00 or whenever you get home from work and place in the cooler with the towels on top.

These are my suggestions anyhow. I have used this method many many times and always eat on time.

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. I have done this numerous times with very good results. You can actually hold it for 4-6 hours. I haven't gone much beyond that as I have never had to.

Yeah, you can set the temp at 235-240 and put it in at 4:00am-6:00am. But I am not a morning person and don't want to have to mess with this before going to work. I would rather get it in at Midnight and not have to worry about it in the morning. I will say that it is hard to walk past the smoker and smell the awesome goodness coming out of the smoke hole on the way to the truck and go to work though. This just adds to my anticipation of good eats for dinner!

[SuperDave]

Aspen, as Gregg eluded to, moving the temp to 140 takes a good amount of time to get temp drop in our well insulated smokers.  You will get a good IT climb even after you turn down the temp.  So, don't take it to your desired temp before turning the temp down. 

[aspenextreme03]

Thanks and that makes sense. I guess we will see what happens and when it gets to 190 i can make the call. At least my wife will be there to turn it down for me if it close. Looking forward to the finished product.

[swthorpe]

Let us know how it goes, and we love pics of the Q   

[DivotMaker]

One suggestion, Eric, is to skip the 24 hours in the fridge with the rub.  Saves prep time.  I rub right after rinsing the brine, and straight in the smoker.  After brining, the rub really doesn't penetrate that much anyways, and is really just for surface flavor and bark.  It soaks in as it cooks, so you can save a day of prep time.  No problem doing what you're doing, but if you're ever pressed for time, and want to prep in one night, I suspect you won't see much difference in the final results.

[aspenextreme03]

I will note the rub for next time. I only did it as i had some extra time to string it out.  By the way, briner jr worked really well. I might buy the briner later on but i can see they both have their purposes.