I'm smoking my first pork butt on Sunday and was wondering if anyone had any advice {rubs,temps,etc.} I was going to smoke it at 225 and pull at 190 fat side up. Wasn't sure if it mattered which rack I smoke it on and wasn't sure if I should put some sort of pan with liquid in the bottom. Lastly, was wondering which smokes/flavors the meat better: the chunks that came with or just bag of wood chips you can buy at store. Thanks for your help.
advice on pork butt
- Thread starter Don
- Start date
DivotMaker
New member
Hi Don,
Welcome to our little party! What model do you have? Doesn't matter - they're all good, just wondering.
You've picked my favorite smoke for Sunday - the pork butt! ;D I recommend a bone-in Boston butt for your meat, if you haven't purchased yet. I find the Boston butt cut superior to the "picnic" cut for pulled pork.
Sounds like you have lots of questions on this, so I'll give you my 2-cents worth of answers!
First of all, trim most of the surface fat off of your butt (pork, that is) the night before you smoke it. Leave a little, but most of it can go. Next, coat it with plain old yellow mustard and coat it with the rub of your choice. Go to the "Rubs" or "Sauces" sections of the forum, or the Regional BBQ section, to find a rub and sauce that suits your taste. For an easy, commercial rub, I recommend Famous Dave's Rib Rub - good stuff!
Once you have your butt coated in mustard and rub, place it in a big Ziploc bag and put it in the fridge. Let it rest there overnight to "get happy."
Early Sunday morning, get the smoker ready. Foil the bottom of the smoker and the top of the smoker box (do NOT forget to punch a hole in the foil where the drain hole is!). If all you have of quality wood is the hickory dowels that came with your smoker, use those. Stay away from the stuff you buy at the local hardware/grocery store - it's usually way too dry. Add 5 1/2 -6 oz of wood. You'll find that weighing your wood, with these smokers, is a good thing. It doesn't take that much, and you can over-smoke if you add too much. Add a water pan full of apple juice. I use disposable aluminum "mini loaf" pans I get at WalMart, sitting on the bottom next to the smoke box. Fill it about halfway. When you're looking for good wood, check out www.fruitawood.com.
Place your butt on a shelf, and put it in the highest rack you can, without touching the top. If you have one, use a probe-style thermometer inserted in the meat (not touching the bone). I recommend the Maverick 732 - works great! Set the temp to 225 and walk away.
A couple of things will happen now; first, you'll see smoke at around 15-20 minutes. It will bring a smile to your face. The smoke should be thin and blue, not heavy and white. This is the smoke produced by smouldering wood, not burning. The next thing that will happen is you will see the temp rise pretty quick in the first few hours. Don't panic, the butt will not be done too quickly! It will "stall" somewhere around 165-180 degrees (depends on the butt - they're all different). It will sit at the stall temp for several hours. During the stall, the meat is going through convective cooling, that is, the fat and connective tissue are breaking down and moving to the surface. The meat cools as this happens, and you'll even see the internal temp go down! Trust me, it'll freak you out a bit! But, don't worry; just let it work it's way through the stall!
Allow 1 to 1 1/2 hour per pound for cook time. Don't take it out of the smoker until it hits 200 internal; this will ensure the best pulled pork! When it hits that, double-foil wrap the butt and let it rest in a cooler (with a heavy towel on top) for at least 30-minutes. An hour is even better. This "rest" is critical!
After resting, remove the meat. Give the bone a little wiggle, and it will come right out clean. Pull the pork and dig in!
As you get used to your new smoker, you'll learn, and try, more advanced techniques like injection and brining. But, for your first pork butt, keep it simple and you'll still have a fantastic pulled pork meal!
Ask questions whenever you need - we're here to help! Also, post some pics of the finished butt, if you can (we LOVE pics!).
Welcome to our little party! What model do you have? Doesn't matter - they're all good, just wondering.
You've picked my favorite smoke for Sunday - the pork butt! ;D I recommend a bone-in Boston butt for your meat, if you haven't purchased yet. I find the Boston butt cut superior to the "picnic" cut for pulled pork.
Sounds like you have lots of questions on this, so I'll give you my 2-cents worth of answers!
First of all, trim most of the surface fat off of your butt (pork, that is) the night before you smoke it. Leave a little, but most of it can go. Next, coat it with plain old yellow mustard and coat it with the rub of your choice. Go to the "Rubs" or "Sauces" sections of the forum, or the Regional BBQ section, to find a rub and sauce that suits your taste. For an easy, commercial rub, I recommend Famous Dave's Rib Rub - good stuff!
Once you have your butt coated in mustard and rub, place it in a big Ziploc bag and put it in the fridge. Let it rest there overnight to "get happy."
Early Sunday morning, get the smoker ready. Foil the bottom of the smoker and the top of the smoker box (do NOT forget to punch a hole in the foil where the drain hole is!). If all you have of quality wood is the hickory dowels that came with your smoker, use those. Stay away from the stuff you buy at the local hardware/grocery store - it's usually way too dry. Add 5 1/2 -6 oz of wood. You'll find that weighing your wood, with these smokers, is a good thing. It doesn't take that much, and you can over-smoke if you add too much. Add a water pan full of apple juice. I use disposable aluminum "mini loaf" pans I get at WalMart, sitting on the bottom next to the smoke box. Fill it about halfway. When you're looking for good wood, check out www.fruitawood.com.
Place your butt on a shelf, and put it in the highest rack you can, without touching the top. If you have one, use a probe-style thermometer inserted in the meat (not touching the bone). I recommend the Maverick 732 - works great! Set the temp to 225 and walk away.
A couple of things will happen now; first, you'll see smoke at around 15-20 minutes. It will bring a smile to your face. The smoke should be thin and blue, not heavy and white. This is the smoke produced by smouldering wood, not burning. The next thing that will happen is you will see the temp rise pretty quick in the first few hours. Don't panic, the butt will not be done too quickly! It will "stall" somewhere around 165-180 degrees (depends on the butt - they're all different). It will sit at the stall temp for several hours. During the stall, the meat is going through convective cooling, that is, the fat and connective tissue are breaking down and moving to the surface. The meat cools as this happens, and you'll even see the internal temp go down! Trust me, it'll freak you out a bit! But, don't worry; just let it work it's way through the stall!
Allow 1 to 1 1/2 hour per pound for cook time. Don't take it out of the smoker until it hits 200 internal; this will ensure the best pulled pork! When it hits that, double-foil wrap the butt and let it rest in a cooler (with a heavy towel on top) for at least 30-minutes. An hour is even better. This "rest" is critical!
After resting, remove the meat. Give the bone a little wiggle, and it will come right out clean. Pull the pork and dig in!
As you get used to your new smoker, you'll learn, and try, more advanced techniques like injection and brining. But, for your first pork butt, keep it simple and you'll still have a fantastic pulled pork meal!
Ask questions whenever you need - we're here to help! Also, post some pics of the finished butt, if you can (we LOVE pics!).
DivotMaker
New member
Don, I'm also smoking a butt for pulled pork Sunday! I'm going to brine mine, and use Dave's Rib Rub this week. Here's my post on brining a pork butt:
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1012.0
Enjoy! I know it's a lot of info (sorry for the long post), but I just want to help you through your first pork butt with as little stress as possible! ;D
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1012.0
Enjoy! I know it's a lot of info (sorry for the long post), but I just want to help you through your first pork butt with as little stress as possible! ;D
Hi Don... you can't go wrong with the excellent advice from Divot, and you can't go wrong smoking a boston butt. Give yourself plenty of time, though. While Divot says allow 1.5 hours per pound, I have found that I need more time...more like 1.75 to 2 hours per pound. Better to have more time than less, so start early! You will see a LONG stall as Divot mentioned, and it seems hard to believe that the meat can sit at the same temp for so long (hours), but it does. If you are going for pulled pork, then definitely leave it in the smoker until you hit 200 for an internal temp. By giving yourself extra time, you will be able to take advantage of the 1 hour or so for resting in the cooler...I agree with Divot that this is an important step. Setting the smoker temp to 225 will be perfect, but don't be surprised by the smoker temp swings (+/- 20F or so) during the smoke. No a problem, it will average out at 225!
Happy smok'in, I know you will enjoy the pulled pork at the end of the day! Cheers
Happy smok'in, I know you will enjoy the pulled pork at the end of the day! Cheers
DivotMaker
New member
Nice, Don! I bought a two-pack of butts at Sam's today, and am about to make my brine to put one in this evening. What you've got going it perfect - you'll be amazed at the result!
DivotMaker
New member
Don, I either use 6 oz of hickory dowels, or a mix of hickory and cherry for pork. I use chunks. If I'm using Fruitawood chunks, I usually have to split them into small enough pieces to fit the smoker box. I'd stay away from chips - they tend to burn too fast. Chunks smoulder better and produce the good thin blue smoke we look for. If all else fails, go with hickoryl; good, traditional smoke.
Don
I use 6 oz of cherry wood on my butt smokes. The smoke adheres to the meat until an internal temperature of 140 degrees. I am a foiler for my butts. I foil at 160 degrees (I add no liquid) and let the meat go to 200 degrees. Once that occurred I place in a cooler with some towels and let rest for 2-3 hours. 1 hours is good, two is even better.
I have purchased cherrywood from fruitawood. Very good wood the burns very consistently. I would recommend fruitawood. I do need to order some dowels in the near future.
I would recommend chunks over chips.
I use 6 oz of cherry wood on my butt smokes. The smoke adheres to the meat until an internal temperature of 140 degrees. I am a foiler for my butts. I foil at 160 degrees (I add no liquid) and let the meat go to 200 degrees. Once that occurred I place in a cooler with some towels and let rest for 2-3 hours. 1 hours is good, two is even better.
I have purchased cherrywood from fruitawood. Very good wood the burns very consistently. I would recommend fruitawood. I do need to order some dowels in the near future.
I would recommend chunks over chips.
DivotMaker
New member
Good news, Don! How big was the butt (pork, that is), and what did you think of Dave's rib rub? I did a 9.25 lb butt Sunday, and it took 10 1/2 hours to hit 200. I brined it overnight, which does reduce cook time (not sure why, but it does). Sounds like we both got fat on pulled pork yesterday! 
