Butts on the Barrel

I picked up a Pit Barrel a few months ago to see what all the hoopla was about. This is my forth cook on the Barrel and first pork butt. Previous cooks were chicken and a rack of baby back. I thought I would share.

I picked up a pair of 6.5# butts from a local grocery store. They were beautiful. Nice size, shape, dark colour, good fat cap. I didn't trim them at all. They were injected with a Chris Lilly 1/2 salt and sugar injection the night before. Then at 7:00 am, I seasoned them up. I used a light coat of Pit Barrel All Purpose, 10 minutes sweat, and then a medium to heavy coat of Pit Barrel Beef and Game (as recommended by Pit Barrel)

Here are the butts all seasoned up:


My last three cooks on the barrel, I've lit it the way Pit Barrel says using lighter fluid. I don't think I've been using enough (yes enough) lighter fluid, because when I light it, it doesn't all go up in flame. Just a small flame at the match. I've tried to throw more matches in etc. The two chicken cooks came out fantastic. But, I swear the babybacks had a strong lighter fluid taste on the first three bones closest to the fire. It was so bad I threw them away. The rest of the rack was good though. Anyway, this cook I decided to go back to using a chimney. I lit about 1/4 of a chimney, maybe 25 briquettes. This is more lit than the lighter fluid method after 20 mins. Here is what it looked like in the Barrel with three chunks of wood. I left the lid off for probably another 5 minutes. My thermometer said it was about 220* right after the lid went on and 20 minutes later it had leveled out 275* - 8:20am.



Here they are hanging. You can see where my Maverick probe is. BUT note, later in the cook I put a thermo on the middle of the grate and it was reading about the same.


Temps fluctuated and dropped down to around 255* for a lot of the cook. Here is after 5 hours. They were just hitting 150* to 160*. I wrapped in foil and put on the grate.


After 7:30 hours, the butts were hitting ~195*. I opened the foil up to firm up the bark a little, gave them another 30 minutes and then pulled them. They were around 200* when I pulled them. I let them sit on the counter for maybe 5 minutes and then wrapped and cooler. 2 hours in the cooler and here is what I had.




and after 8 hours in 30* weather, here is the charcoal left. Probably enough for 2 - 3 more hours.



The butts came out fantastic! Everyone loved it and couldn't stop. I poured the juice off into a jar and then added 1/2 back. That juice was amazing flavor. I really really enjoyed the flavor profile. It was very savory, not the typical sweet spicy that you get with other rubs. Kind of a mix of BBQ and pork roast. This might be one of my top favorite rubs (and I've tried LOTS). I normally don't foil. I somewhat missed the crunchier bark. I need to experiment a little more.



I'm not going to claim the Pit Barrel did anything special that other cookers can't. But, it is a simple easy to use smoker that worked really well. And well built. It is nice for me to have a smaller drum to add to my 55 gal UDS. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one.

I used Kingsford and haven't messed with the vent.

The termo is going to lie for a while due to the closeness to the meat. I also think the direct flame plays games with the thermo. But here is what I wrote down. No lid opening, no adjusting:

8:30 am - 280*
9:00 am - 240*
9:30 am - 268*
10:15 am - 304*
10:30 am - 288*
11:15 am - 297*
12:30 pm - 253*
2:30 pm - 248*
3:30 pm - 259*
4:15 pm - 270*

I was a little worried when it dropped down to 248* and kicked it and moved some stuff around on the patio to better block the wind. It seemed to be running fine. Wind! Time on the butts matched up, I think, to what I would expect from the temps.

I got plans to take a paint pen and mark the outline of the factor stock opening on the side, and then replace the stock nut with a wing nut so I can make adjustments. I just haven't got there yet and I want to really use this thing like it was made until I get a good handle on it. I'm also thinking about adding a thermo. I just haven't decided what the best location is yet though.

Pitmaster T said:

But as I was editing the video I noticed the smoker vent was set to half open. According to the instructions it needed to be adjusted to 1/4 because I am at 14 -30 feet above sea level.

Click to expand...

Did you actually get instructions that say what the vent should be set at? I didn't. I would love to see a printed table of the vent setting vs. elevation if it is publicly available. Mostly to satisfy my curiosity.

I haven't measured mine, but I'm guessing from memory that mine is set at about 1/4 open. At the current Chicagoland temps, it could probably be a hair wider. My chickens took closer to 2:20 to cook and didn't get the dark colour that Donnie's did.

I didn't log my chicken temps. The baby backs were between 260* and 280*.

Ron, since we're at the same elevation, we're going to both have to post pictures of our vent and compare. I've wondered about the logistics of custom setting these vents. I'm sure they try hard, but that is crazy hard to achieve if you're selling lots. I'll post a pic of mine later today when I clean it out.

I must say, I do like my Pit Barrel. But, I don't like that there is no default way to shut it down and stop the heat. When the rain is coming, I would like to get it cleaned up and put away. That is hard when you use a full load of charcoal and have 3 - 4 hours left.

Man, I knew I should have cleaned it out and put the cover on at 11:00 pm when we got home last night. What a mess! I had about an 1/2" of water in the bottom today. I scoped it out then turned it on it's side and dumped it in the much bed under some trees. My wife will love that come spring. :wink: But, to be fair my drum had some water in it too, and it was covered. I need a new cover. My fault. Get it cleaned out and get a cover on and I would have been fine.



Anyway, I guess I didn't take a long enough look at my intake. I could have sworn from memory that it was about 1/4 open. You can see it is probably a little more than that. I don't know if you consider this 1/2 or 1/3. I could stick a tape on it, but that is too much work. Call it 40% :wink:

Back to the pork. My wife and I are still talking about the flavor of last nights pork. Getting ready to have some more for lunch. I really really liked the rub. Best I can figure, it has more of a southwest/Mexican roast pork flavor profile. If you don't want to buy a pit barrel, that's cool. But consider trying the rub. :thumb:

Also, I forgot to add that I threw a naked fattie on the rack after one of the chickens. It had some Butcher's Honey rub on it. It was okay. But, had a lot of that grilled flavor. I think the sugar in the rub burned a little. Next time, I'll hang it first. :shock: