going for my pulled pork smoke this weekend

Pooj17 said:

any help? 4 adults and 2 kids...charbroiler smoker from Lowes...so still relatively "green" where can i get the skinning on temps etc on the site? Want to give it my best "first shot" Have none the nakes fatties a handful of times getting a better idea of temps etc...any help would be great!

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The pork butt is more forgiving than other types of meat which can be smoked in your CharBroiler.

Your first step would to be to get accurate temperatures on a test run with a fatty. The electric version would be easier to control the temperature. The offset will be a little more difficult due to the air leaks. In the offset use charcoal with wood chips or chunks rather than just a wood fire.

Remember in both cookers use your water pan as designed for a heat diffuser to avoid spikes in temperature.

For a pork butt at 250 degrees cooking temperature, allow 1.5 hours per pound as a guide, check the internal temperature anywhere between 190 - 205 and is done when the bone wiggles without resistance. Move to a foiled pan and rest in an insulated cooler for aprox. 4 hours.

Some pitmasters foil the pork during the cook, some of us don't.

You can go to meat smoking calculator and find your options, it will give you a timeline of approximations of when to foil (if chosen), when it is near finish temperatures, and when to rest. It is a nice tool for the beginner to build confidence in themselves for the first few cooks. Once you have had a couple successful cooks you can cook without the calculator very easily.

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IamMadMan said:

The pork butt is more forgiving than other types of meat which can be smoked in your CharBroiler.

Your first step would to be to get accurate temperatures on a test run with a fatty. The electric version would be easier to control the temperature. The offset will be a little more difficult due to the air leaks. In the offset use charcoal with wood chips or chunks rather than just a wood fire.

Remember in both cookers use your water pan as designed for a heat diffuser to avoid spikes in temperature.

For a pork butt at 250 degrees cooking temperature, allow 1.5 hours per pound as a guide, check the internal temperature anywhere between 190 - 205 and is done when the bone wiggles without resistance. Move to a foiled pan and rest in an insulated cooler for aprox. 4 hours.

Some pitmasters foil the pork during the cook, some of us don't.

You can go to meat smoking calculator and find your options, it will give you a timeline of approximations of when to foil (if chosen), when it is near finish temperatures, and when to rest. It is a nice tool for the beginner to build confidence in themselves for the first few cooks. Once you have had a couple successful cooks you can cook without the calculator very easily.

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About as simple as it gets. Id also reccomend getting on amazon and picking you up a BBq cookbook or 2. Slow Fire by Ray Lampe is a good beginner book. Good luck with youe cook.

Pooj17 said:

thanks guys!!!

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Keep us posted on your results....


Another tool you should use is a log book to record your cooks which includes temperatures outside as well as in the cooker, meat weight, rubs ect.

This will always give you a reference point for your best cooks, and can always go back to that point if you make an undesirable change. The key is to only change one item at a time to keep an accurate control log.

Here are a few templates:
Weber Log
Excell SpreadSheet Style

And Lastly BBQ Log Software http://www.pelletsmoking.com/pellet-smoking-com-lounge-9/bbq-log-software-647/

He don't need no stinkin cookbook; he's got us!! :-D

Here's my unsolicited method.

Rub the butts with your favorite pork rub. I'm a big fan of 3 Eyz and Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust (Those are my local boyz :wink: ) . I personally like to rub the night before, wrap in Saran Wrap and let it marinade in it's own juices in the fridge all night. But you can rub an hour before.

Butts are very forgiving so I've been smoking at 300* with no ill effects.

Try not to open the smoker for the first 4 or 5 hours (depending on your temp). If you're smoking at 225, go 5 hours before you peep. At 300 I'll check in on it around 3 hours and take a temp. Note- I do not insert a temp probe at the beginning. No need. They're gonna cook; that's all. I'm more interested to watch the temp around 145-150 on.

Anytime you open the door, give it a spritz of apple juice. Or a spritz of your own concoction.

If I'm gonna reinject, I do that at 155*.

At 165*, wrap. We like to give it some Love at this point. We smear with Parkay, turbinado sugar, and our favorite hot sauce. Double wrap tight in heavy duty foil. Place temp probe in top of butt.

The temp you remove from the smoker depends on how many butts you're doing. If I'm only doing 2 butts, I take to 200-205. Four or more, I remove at 195. (Reason being, the more butts you have in one cooler, the more thermal mass. They will drive their own temp up to 205). Place them in a old cooler and let rest at least an hour. 2 hours is better.

Place wrapped butt in a half pan. Open the foil and dump the butt into the pan. If it's extremely juicy, pour some off and save. Leave 1-2 cups of juice in the pan.

The shoulder bone should pull right out with no effort. Bust up the meat with regular kitchen forks. Discard any undesirable fat. If you wouldn't want it in your mouth, toss it. Add any juice back if needed for desired moisture content.

And there you go. Pulled Pork sammiches. Enjoy. :clap:

Pooj17 said:

on a different note the water pan I put under the rack opposed to a drip pan correct?

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Yes the pan supplied with CharBroil is a "Waterpan" to help stabilize the temperatures. I put half size foil catering pans just above the water pan to catch the drippings. Even though it is a water pan, wrap it in foil before adding the water to make clean-up easy, as some drippings will find their way into the water pan. Keep an eye on your water levels every 3 - 4 hours you may need to add a little more.

You have the wood chip pan just above the heat source, just slightly above that is the water pan, then next above that are your meat racks.

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Wash your but in cold water
pat it dry with a paper towel
apply a thin (lite) coat of rub
get the pit to 300
cook it until the bone wiggles
about 1 hr per lb YMMV
wrap in foil and place in a preheated cooler min 2 hrs
pour off the juices and retain to add back to pulled meat
pull your pork with a gloved hand
add the juices back
add a little rub mix through
enjoy your work

Some good info here. I will stress the rest period 100% I always rest for at least 1.5 hrs in my dry cooler wrapped in towels. Two weeks ago I was doing a big cook for the crew at work and didn't have time to rest them. They just were not the same and they didn't pull very good.

To start early and rest longer is better than a rushed butt. They will stay hot for several hours at the rest.