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Old 02-25-2013, 08:38 PM   #1
Biggen
Got Wood.
 
Join Date: 02-10-13
Location: Panama City Beach, FL
Default Trying a butt this weeked & need advice

Wanting to try out cooking a butt this weekend for the in-laws that are coming over for dinner Saturday night. I'm relatively new to smoking and just got my WSM last weekend. I broke it in with 3 fatties just to make sure I knew my way around it. That cook was successful and now I want to move up in the smoking world with a butt.

Anyway, here is what I am planning. Please let me know if there is anything you would change/add/subtract.

1. Going to go with a 6ish lb bone in butt for 5 people. Planning on doing pulled sandwiches. Easy and fun!
2. Planning on trimming the fat cap BEFORE I put it on the smoker. Read pros and cons about doing this but I think I'd rather have more bark and rub flavor all over the butt.
3. Going to just rub it down with a homemade BBQ rub I have been using on ribs. Not planning on injecting.
4. Will be cooking this butt at around 260-275 over apple wood with one chunk of hickory thrown in. I also want to just foil the water pan and not use water which is what I did when I smoked the fatties last weekend.
5. Not planning on foiling the butt at all during the cook. Will take it up to 195 and see if the bone wiggles free at this point. If so, I'll remove from smoker, foil/wrap in towels, and place in cooler for a minimum of 2 hours.
6. After rest pull and enjoy!

I'm a little unsure about how long the cook time will be. I've read that around 260-275 it will be close to an hour per pound but I am going to count on 1.5 hours/lb just to be on the safe side. So if I put a 6lb butt on the WSM at 6am I'll assume it will be done no later than 3pm. Even if it gets done sooner (which I think it probably will at my cooking temps) I can let it rest in the cooler until dinner time.

Any advice/critiques/problems? Or have I overthunk a smoked butt?
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