Had a day off last week and decided to try my hand at smoking a pork butt. I've done plenty of ribs but never a butt. First things first, locating a butt. My local grocer (fantastic) only had very large picnic cuts. This being my first pork shoulder I thought it best to stay with a butt. Hit up two more shops before finding a nice five pounder. Btw, spent $$$ at all three stores, doing my bit for the economy
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Got the butt home, slapped some rub on it and fired up little Smokey Joe (it's all I've got at the moment but seriously eyeballin' a BWS Chubby or G2). Put the butt on Smokey at 1pm and ... trouble. The butt's too big and the lid won't close all the way! Temps are soaring. Never fear when you've got a 25lb kettlebell on hand (I just knew it had more uses than a doorstop). Put it on top of the lid and problem solved.
Temps were still too high so I added a small pan of water opposite the coals and under the butt. This seemed to steady the temps in the 200-250 range with occasional spikes to 275.
The biggest issue with such a small grill was every couple of hours I had to add coals and completely re-stoke the fire. Once I got the rhythm down it wasn't so bad. I was even able to leave the house for an hour or so.
Ten hours later and the butt came off. The bone practically fell out and I pulled it hot - it was getting late - and me and the lady had a nice mid-night meal.
I couldn't have done it without the 'Bretherens' (and the search function). A big thank you to all.
