BBQ help, please

[Tenntrapper]

It's rather embarrassing to admit, but I have never smoked a pork butt. I'm wanting to give it a try. I have an offset grill/smoker. Any advice, tips, suggestions, etc would be greatly appreciated. Rub suggestions would also be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Nhill]

Here is a good rub.
this will make a ton, but you can scale it back.


It's hard to mess up a pork butt.
put a temp probe in your butt (ha ha) if you have one, and smoke it at 225-250 degrees till your butt reaches 195-200 degrees internal.
when it hits "the stall" around 165-170 and you have a good bark on it, you can wrap it with foil or butcher paper to help it stay moist and cook a little faster.
when it's done, pull it out and vent it for a little while and then wrap it and let it rest for at least 45 minutes.
if it gets done before you are ready to eat, you can wrap it with towels and put it in a cooler for several hours.
count on about 1.5-2 hours per pound.
also, a bone-in butt will usually turn out better.
There are all kinds of ways to do it, but this is a tried and true method and will give great results

 

[Dbllunger]

Lot's of videos on youtube with great advice if you search for it. For me here are a few of the basics.

I use coarse kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper as seasoning. To me this is all that is needed. My feeling is that a well cooked pork butt is what makes it good. Not the seasoning. Cook low and slow. 225 degrees is the ideal smoking and cooking temp. Internal temp of butt needs to reach about 204. It takes this temp to break down the fat and collagen in the meat to make it fall apart good. Take it off too soon and you will have a tough piece of meat. When internal temp of butt hits 150-170 it will "stall". Condensation from the meat cools it off and internal temps will remain the same for hours. If you know you have hit the stall then you can wrap the butt in foil and finish your cook and save a few hours. I like hickory chips for smoking butts and brisket. A 8-9lb butt will usually take in the 10-12 hour range to cook completely. This is all pretty basic stuff, if you have anything more specific just ask and we have lots of folks here that smoke meats here that can give some great advice.

 

[ShedAntler]

Rubs are all personal preference , find one you like and roll with it , there are handfuls of brands at grocery stores to get you started , as you get deeper into this you will learn more of what flavors you want and or don't want , etc.
I run my offset at 225 degrees and use mostly lump charcoal for heat ,
I only "smoke" with wood for the first couple hours with seasoned hickory , then it's straight charcoal til the end . I do this because "I" find it's the right balance of smoke for "my" taste , remember bbq is all personal preference.

I run the butt to 165 internal temp and then wrap in aluminum foil , again this is my method , some people don't wrap at all . When you wrap you can add more seasonings etc if you'd like and then it's back on the grill til it hits an internal temp of 192 , at this point I pull the butt off the grill and place in a cooler to let the meat rest , internal temp at the end of the total process should be at 195-200 to eat .
Then the best part , the bone should slide right out cleanly , and then do what you wish with the meat , some pull , some chop , some slice , it's all BBQ at the end of the day .
I'm no expert , just my process of how I do it , more will be along with their methods , take them all in to account and do what works for you .
Practice makes perfect , kinda ...

 

[Rammer Jammer]

Look up Malcom Reed how to bbq right on YouTube. This guy is my favorite when it comes to smoking!

 

[Nhill]

Lot's of videos on youtube with great advice if you search for it. For me here are a few of the basics.

I use coarse kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper as seasoning. To me this is all that is needed. My feeling is that a well cooked pork butt is what makes it good. Not the seasoning. Cook low and slow. 225 degrees is the ideal smoking and cooking temp. Internal temp of butt needs to reach about 204. It takes this temp to break down the fat and collagen in the meat to make it fall apart good. Take it off too soon and you will have a tough piece of meat. When internal temp of butt hits 150-170 it will "stall". Condensation from the meat cools it off and internal temps will remain the same for hours. If you know you have hit the stall then you can wrap the butt in foil and finish your cook and save a few hours. I like hickory chips for smoking butts and brisket. A 8-9lb butt will usually take in the 10-12 hour range to cook completely. This is all pretty basic stuff, if you have anything more specific just ask and we have lots of folks here that smoke meats here that can give some great advice.

It can take 10-12 hours, but at 225, it could easily take 18 hours too for a 8-9 pound butt
depends on the butt

 

[Shorttine]

It can take 10-12 hours, but at 225, it could easily take 18 hours too for a 8-9 pound butt
depends on the butt

This is a VERY true statement.

Butts are a very forgiving cut of meat (hence why there so popular) you can cook'em hot and fast or low and slow, wrapped or unwrapped, injected or not. Biggest thing i have found on a butt is to make sure you get a bone in. Heck slater that thing down with mustard, add some rub, insert temp probe, crack open a cold one and enjoy the cook. I might add get you a little note pad and write down what you did for the rub, injection, and the details of the cook so that way you can start narrowing down what to do on the next one and after 3 or 4 you'll really start to figure out what you like and how to repeat it. COOK BY INTERNAL TEMP THROW THE CLOCK OUT THE WINDOW

 

[spoonie]

if you get tired of tending to your fire/heat you can always finish in the oven as well. I love smoking meat, grilling, dutch oven cooking ect..... My wife bought me a pellet grill last month for my birthday and its so dang easy to cook butts/ribs/ whole chickens its almost like cheating

 

[Bucket]

A buddy told me, and I've seen it to be true, that hitting about 203° internal temp is key to getting a lot of the fat to render. Like everyone else said, you can wrap it after the stall, or just after the bark looks right for your taste and it has plenty of the smoke flavor. After wrapping it put it in a foil pan and finish it on the smoker or in the oven. The pan catches all the juices that you'll want to retain. It's finished when you hit 203°, so pull it and let it rest in a cooler for an hour. Then you can shred it and pour those retained juices back over the shredded pork.

 

[Blackbeard]

I personally love slathering mustard on pork I'm going to smoke and then putting the basic dry rub on it, S&P. After I make a apple cider vinegar sauce with red pepper flakes, and just a smidge of brown sugar.

I usually let it sit in the fridge overnight before smoking it the next day.

 

[iowavf]

A buddy told me, and I've seen it to be true, that hitting about 203° internal temp is key to getting a lot of the fat to render. Like everyone else said, you can wrap it after the stall, or just after the bark looks right for your taste and it has plenty of the smoke flavor. After wrapping it put it in a foil pan and finish it on the smoker or in the oven. The pan catches all the juices that you'll want to retain. It's finished when you hit 203°, so pull it and let it rest in a cooler for an hour. Then you can shred it and pour those retained juices back over the shredded pork.

I like to use a foil pan also and will add some apple juice and pour some barbecue sauce, (not a lot of it) over the but when wrapping it in foil. I'll pour the juice and drippings out into another pan, then leave the but to rest awhile before tearing it apart. After i have it apart, I'll pour some of the drippings I saved back over the top of it if it needs a little moisture. Some buts will have more fat content than others and won't need any drippings added.

 

[Laxxxxxx]

All good advice. Internal temp is the most important for tender meat. The seasoning/rub/injection is very lenient.
I think you'll be on your way with the tips given!

 

[TAFKAP]

I make my own rub with salt, brown sugar, paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, and thyme. Apply it the night before.

As for smoking, I roll a hard smoke for 2-3 hours. You'll want to wrap it after the smoke period, so here's my thoughts on that. I'm not a hard-headed purist intent on burning a whole sack of charcoal, so I put my shoulder in a Pyrex dish and cover it with foil. I'll pop it in a 250° oven for the rest of the day. About 2 hours before serving, I'll uncover it, and put the Pyrex back in the smoker to finish. Pull it after an hour, and let it rest uncovered until you're ready to pull & serve. Total cooking time is 6-hours for a small Boston butt or over 12 hours for a bone-in shoulder. You want 25% of your cook time to be rolling smoke, 60-70% wrapped, and 5-10% of your time unwrapped to finish.

I use lump hardwood charcoal or Chef's Delight briquettes. For smoke, I'll use a combo of whatever hardwood chunks I have on hand: hickory, apple, pecan, and maple

 

[WTM]

read this and you cant go wrong:

An Easy BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe With Mouthwatering Results

This easy pulled pork recipe skips the slow cooker to create authentic low-and-slow smoked pulled pork on a smoker or grill. With smoke woven through the moist meat, bits of seasoned crust, and a gentle splash of BBQ sauce, pulled pork is perfect for your next backyard cookout.

amazingribs.com

pay attention to what he says about how much and when to add wood. if you have white smoke rolling out of your cooker looking like a freight train, then you have "bad" dirty smoke. it should be a faint wisp of "blue" smoke. the smoke should never overpower the meat.

his memphis dust is pretty good. if you dont want to make your own, ive used three tablespoons of Rendezvous mixed with 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar.

dont get caught up in the rubs. when my step brother and i used to help at grand dad's pit( Clydes bbq) he only used liberal amounts of salt and pepper for his whole hog and let the coals and a little smoke do the rest.

 

[backyardtndeer]

I brine then for about a day. Course kosher salt, brown sugar, and black pepper. Use about 3/4 cup each of salt and sugar, tsp of pepper and just enough water to get the meat totally covered. After getting out of the brine, put a rub on then and slow cook at 225 over hickory or pecan. Usually wrap around 170 ish and crank the heat up to 255 and go until the temp his 200.

 

[Forvols]

I have weber smokey mountain 22in smoker. I usually run mine with all vents wide open a full basket of charcoal and a full lite charcoal chimney to get it started. Smoker settles out a t 250-275. I dont try to keep it a 225 or even 275 just let it run. Important thing is have the internal temp probe. I finish mine off at 200-205 degrees internal temp. If its taking too long in the smoker greater than 10hours or I dont have the time, I will finish them off in the oven (set to 295) to an IT of 200-205. Rubs you can make your own, but as a first timer I would suggest buying (Weber sweet and smoky is pretty good, so is the one I just tried Bone Suckin Sauce rub).

 

[backyardtndeer]

(Weber sweet and smoky is pretty good,

Not sure if that is the same as the weber smoky brown sugar, but that is pretty good as well for a commercial rub.

 

[brassmagnet]

I make my own rub with salt, brown sugar, paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, and thyme. Apply it the night before.

As for smoking, I roll a hard smoke for 2-3 hours. You'll want to wrap it after the smoke period, so here's my thoughts on that. I'm not a hard-headed purist intent on burning a whole sack of charcoal, so I put my shoulder in a Pyrex dish and cover it with foil. I'll pop it in a 250° oven for the rest of the day. About 2 hours before serving, I'll uncover it, and put the Pyrex back in the smoker to finish. Pull it after an hour, and let it rest uncovered until you're ready to pull & serve. Total cooking time is 6-hours for a small Boston butt or over 12 hours for a bone-in shoulder. You want 25% of your cook time to be rolling smoke, 60-70% wrapped, and 5-10% of your time unwrapped to finish.

I use lump hardwood charcoal or Chef's Delight briquettes. For smoke, I'll use a combo of whatever hardwood chunks I have on hand: hickory, apple, pecan, and maple

Yeah, what he said. Do it that way. You're welcome.

 

[Displaced_Vol]

It's rather embarrassing to admit, but I have never smoked a pork butt. I'm wanting to give it a try. I have an offset grill/smoker. Any advice, tips, suggestions, etc would be greatly appreciated. Rub suggestions would also be appreciated. Thanks

Lots of good advice, I'm going to touch on something I don't think has been mentioned yet. What kinda quality is you offset? Not casting stones I've got cookers of all shapes, sizes & price points. If it is one of the cheaper ones you get from wal mart, it's going to be an uphill battle. Those things leak smoke and more importantly heat like a sieve. Also, an offset is designed to burn split logs (hence the stick burner nickname). Charcoal is great to get them started, but that's not what those fire boxes were made to burn. I like the artistic approach to bbq so I don't worry about some fluctuation in temp. I look for a range of 30ish degrees or so and let it ride. Those cheap offsets are a head ache though. They can be fun, if you have all day to sit and tend fires it's great. Sometimes I do, more often I don't. Tons of way to make great pork butt, check some YouTube vids. I do 90% of my butts on a 22.5 Weber kettle. It's damn near set it and forget it.
Couple other thoughts: I'd rather not see any smoke as see thick white/gray/black smoke. Ideally a thin blue smoke is what you're after. There's no such thing as a finished temp. It is done when it is probe tender and the bone will pull out freely (cook one with a bone in it). That said, I start probing around the 200 mark. I've had em tender at 199 and at 205. Each piece of meat is different, as is the day you cook it.
Foil wrap is a great way to go after you get the color/bark you want.
It is delicious and very forgiving. Even if something messes up it can be salvaged into 1000 different recipes. Give it hell and post some pics.

 

[Forvols]

Each piece of meat is different, as is the day you cook it.

Best advice yet right there, those 2 things always change and I will add indifferent to type of meat hoof, foot or scale.