1st PB on new sm025

Congrats on the new smoker and welcome to the forum.

The butt temp will start rising pretty fast towards the end of the cook, so I'd not worry about it.

Welcome to the club.

You can expidite the process with an initial temp setting of 240 vs 225. You can also foil once you reach the plateau (agonizing wait period) of 165 but you'll lose the crunchy bark by doing so. Let us know how it turns out.

Merry Christmas.

I finally hit 190 at 16.5 hour mark and just couldnt wait to look. It had a pretty nice dark bark and the meat probe went in real easy testing a few different spots. I took it out (man pork was fallin all over the place) and wrapped it in foil and a towel to sit for an hour or so. I picked some pieces out of the snow on the deck and sampled...pretty tasty. Lots of smoke flavor. I'll hold the final verdict after I pull it and eat it on some bread. Preliminary thoughts...I may have used too much hickory (4+ounces).

quote:

Originally posted by flywithme76:
I finally hit 190 at 16.5 hour mark and just couldnt wait to look. It had a pretty nice dark bark and the meat probe went in real easy testing a few different spots. I took it out (man pork was fallin all over the place) and wrapped it in foil and a towel to sit for an hour or so. I picked some pieces out of the snow on the deck and sampled...pretty tasty. Lots of smoke flavor. I'll hold the final verdict after I pull it and eat it on some bread. Preliminary thoughts...I may have used too much hickory (4+ounces).

My PBs routinely take 16 hrs for an 8# butt. I start them at 225 until they hit 140 IT, then I drop the setting to 190 until the PB hits 165-170 IT, then I raise the temp to 250-175 to finish around 190-192 IT.

I think a long period in the plateau is a good thing because it renders fat and collagen. Also, I can control the time the PB hits 192 better on overnight smokes.

Oh, and I like 5.5 to 6 oz of wood for PBs. To each his own when it comes to smokiness.

Welcome to the forum and to the club of CS owners

So after pulling and eating a couple things to note. 1st the bark was really dark, almost black. It was not pleasing to the eye and kinda tough. It did taste good however. Any tips? 2nd it seemed after I pulled it by hand, to dry out a touch. Any tips to retain moisture? However all for my 1st ever smoke it turned out great! I just did a rub with no foil or mopping and I never opened the door until I pulled it out.

This is a good serving/finishing sauce to use on pulled pork.... Smokin's finishing sauce

or, you could just add a little apple juice for moisture.

Cooking low and slow can render most of the fat out of a product, so over cooking might leave it a little dry. Some butts might be a little lean, so you need to make sure you see some internal fat when selecting the butt.

I have an SM150 but I don't think it's really any more efficient than your smoker. I apply my rub (one I make at home, NO SALT or MSG) a couple hours in advance,before smoking I mix equal amounts of rub and light brown sugar and apply that liberally over the 1st layer of rub. I have the PB out of the fridge a good hour or more before it goes into the cold smoker and I use the default setting for Pork Butt on the smoker: 225 for 12 hours. I start my PB at 8pm and no matter what the weather when I get up in the morning it is fall apart tender. So tender that I can't LIFT it from the shelf I cooked it on. I have to flip it over into a waiting hotel pan.

I wasn't gonna do a pork butt for Christmas since it's just the wife and I, but reading your thread I'm pulling it from the freezer now. I let my PBs cook until they are 195-198. And I only pull what I need to eat. I find by leaving the meat intact it retains it's moisture better. LOVE MY COOKSHACK

quote:

Originally posted by cal:
This is a good serving/finishing sauce to use on pulled pork.... Smokin's finishing sauce

I second using this finishing sauce. I put it on every PB I smoke. People rave about my PBs and I think the finishing sauce has a lot to do with the accolades.

I did forget to mention I made Smokin's sauce. I just let the individual decide to use it by spooning some on their meat on the sandwich. The sauce was real tasty. So maybe I'll add some of the sauce to the pan of pulled pork and mix it a bit. I'll try the brown sugar as part of my rub next time also. Thanks for all the tips

After reading some more I get the feeling that CS owners have trouble producing a bark related to moisture. I most certainly did not have that problem. I felt I could have used a bit more moisture and a more tender bark. Any tips? I am going to test my meat probe and look into buying a separate one.

I used to use a Maverick remote setup, but the doggone meat probe would die after a couple uses. So when I got my SM150 I got a very nice digital quick read probe, not a Thermapen. So I rely on the SM150s temperature reading for my cook temp and wait until the very end of the cook cycle to test for internal temp. I usually stick to the 12 hour cycle I described and have great consistent results. I too have tried the finishing sauce, foil and other techniques. I find what I describe works pretty well FOR ME. That brown sugar gives a nice bark and I forgot I COOK FAT SIDE DOWN...

After a couple of runs your SM025 will have developed a pretty nice patina on it too and that is helpful in achieving better faster cook times (in my experience). When I got my used SM150 the first thing I did was a thorough inside cleaning, it needed some love. But it was like breaking in my SM008, it took a couple runs until I got good results. Regularly changing the foil on the bottom of the smoker to ensure a clean air flow also improves the efficiency of the cooker. Otherwise it becomes more of a steamer.

To me 225 is the perfect cook temp.

quote:

Originally posted by flywithme76:
After reading some more I get the feeling that CS owners have trouble producing a bark related to moisture. I most certainly did not have that problem. I felt I could have used a bit more moisture and a more tender bark. Any tips?

I've found that after resting by FTC(double heavy duty foil, wrapped in beach towel,prewarmed cooler) for an hour, I don't seem to have dry hard bark. It also helps to distribute the juices to the outer edges of the PB and soften the bark.

My brother in law is coming out for a visit to the Bay Area in January and wants to swing by our place for a few days. When Mrs. Pags asked him if there's anything he'd like, he said, "I'd love some of Jim's pulled pork."

That said, I'm a big fan of Smokin's Finishing Sauce. Throw about 1/2 a cup or more into each lb of pulled pork. You won't have dry meat or bark, and it will be very tasty.

One thing to note with additional brown sugar. It will produce a much darker bark. Actually, any sugar will do that, the heat will caramelize it more. Not saying it's good or bad, depends on your tastes, just something to keep in mind.