I wanted to share some lessons learned from my first “long” smoke because it turned into an adventure 🤣
3 lb. bone-in Pork Shoulder from Meijer trimmed of as much fat as I could get off/out
12 hour dry brine
Mixed up the Memphis Dust Rub recipe from Meathead
Light brush with water before rub
Weber Searwood at 225, top shelf, pan under to catch drippings
Thermoworks Smoke Monitor
The stall went forever. I started around 11 AM and it was still stalled at 7-ish. So I moved to the bottom rack and it still stayed stalled until 9 when I finally realized I was dumb to leave the pan in next to the meat. The minute I took that out it busted through. I did not do a wrap. I wanted to try without.
But, it was still incredibly slow. I tapped out at 230 AM when it hit 196 and started to drop temp. The bone pulled right out at that point. I had to work today so I didn’t shred because I was wiped out
Oven today at 300 double wrapped with a little apple juice inside until it hit 165. It shredded fine. You can see in the pics it has a nice bark and smoke ring. There were a couple small pieces of fat but nothing too bad and it was plenty moist.
Some changes I’d make on the next one: way more salt on the brine, I didn’t put salt in the rub and I think the lack of salt comes through in the taste. It’s not bad mind you, just missing salt. Start earlier in the day, on the bottom rack, no pan, wrap after the bark sets.
by AJ_Hawkweye
13 Comments
Man, I had a similar experience yesterday. Finally purchased a pellet grill and got the Weber Smoque.
Decided I was gonna try a small pork butt, just over 3 pounds. Started it around 1pm (I know lol) and was thinking about 2 hours per pound.
Tapped out around 9:30pm and it was still at 165° internal. Started at 225° and upped the temp to 275° a few hours in.
Obviously I’ll start much earlier in the day next time, but still trying to figure out how it was at 165° after almost 8 and a half hours.
I just wrap at the stall and save myself the hours of waiting. Turns out great everytime.
I do a 8-10lb pork butts on bottom rack at 225 for 4 hours or so and bump it to 250. Takes me about 12hrs. No wrap or anything. I score the fat and put it on top. Love the Smokey fat.
Overnight cook is a game changer.
Doing. 3 lb butt isn’t worth the time. The cooks are way more unpredictable and the time/yield does not seem worth it. Just do normal side Boston butt next time, know it will take a while and give yourself a good buffer zone and also factor in some rest time.
You got the pelletgrill so use its main feature, allowing sleep during the cook. Toss that meat clod on before bed, top off the pellets, and check in the morning. In my experience, 20-24 hours is pretty normal for whole shoulder at 225 unwrapped. I wrap at stall and it cuts cook time close to half. Unwrapped butts tend to get really hard barks which isnt for me. Still looks tasty!
Why not break it down into smaller chunks? You get more bark, plus cook time is significantly less.
The biggest lesson you can learn is that for pork, the temp doesn’t matter. Wrap when the bark is set. You don’t have to worry about a stall.
I do 275 and spritz every hour after the first 2 hours. Then once the bark is set, usually around 175, I wrap with some apple juice in the pan. Let it go at 275 until probe tender. Usually 8-9 hour cook and then rest for 2 hours. Works perfect every single time.
Some like to cook at a lower temp, but 275 let’s you be able to eat it same day for dinner.
My pork shoulders always turn out great and I cook them at 325, that temp just sings to pork. Wrap it tight in tin foil when the colour is right, you’ll forget the stall all together. It’ll pull apart no problem around 200 internal but focus on the feel and tenderness.
And dear god leave the fat, when you pull it apart you can remove it then, but trust me you need it brother.
I’m no bonafide pitmaster by any means but the first lesson of smoking is you cant rush it. Its done when it’s done. One cheek of the pig butt may take 12 hours, the other may take 15. The bone is the best indicator of when the meat is done. If you lightly pull it and it comes right out, its done. Whether that be at 203 or 196. All cuts will be just ever so slightly different due to fat content and variations from different pigs.
Also the internet debates the difference between 225, 250, 275, 300 etc for smoking temps. The reality is you can tell only a little difference between 225 and 300. The key is internal temp and pulling it at the right time. 225 is much slower and tedious compared to virtually the same results at 250 or 275.
People overcomplicate this stuff. Wrap, no wrap, spritz, no spritz, pan or no pan, it dont really make all that much difference. Put meat in smoke, drink beer, watch football, enjoy yourself. My position is pulling the meat at the right time and using a quality rub and sauce is more important than the minutiae people get lost in. And a lot less of a headache.
I don’t brine. I season with a dry rub. I start smoking around 8pm the day before at 225 – 250. After the bark is good and set I’ll spritz it every hour with straight, full-strength apple cider vinegar. I don’t wrap while it’s smoking. When it’s done I take it off and wrap it good in butcher paper and put it in a cooler to rest a couple hours or more.
https://imgur.com/a/OZseiqj
Salt after pulling. Pork butt is so big you can’t make salt penetrate to the core when whole
My guy, that didnt shred at all. Its all chunks and the fat didnt render. Leave it on longer