Can't seem to get good bark

[sysop]

Hello, I've had the Smokenator for some time now, and have had mixed results. My issue of late has been finishing with a good bark. Usually the flavor is pretty good, with the meat being less moist than I'd like, but not dry necessarily. I've had a decent smoke ring, but not real penetrating like I've seen on youtube or other sites. Most pressing though is the bark. I typically wind up with a real moist exterior, but no bark. Just a brownish look to it, with some black, but again certainly not the bark I've seen and have come accustomed to with my brother-in-law's Weber Smokey Mountain. I know the Smokenator can do it though.

I smoked a 7lb pork butt Sunday for 7 hours, then wrapped it in foil for an hour. The smoke was constantly blowing, using charcoal and wood chunks. Water never ran out, and the temp never dipped below 250 at the dome.

Please help with this! Thanks!

[ecripps]

You need to figure about 1.5 -2 hours per pound. Did you have the internal temp of the butt? The temps can stall out and take several hours for the temp to rise. When you wrap the butt in foil you can let the water pan run dry to increase the temperature as well.

[sysop]

Thanks for the reply. The butt did reach 190 or so before I pulled it, so internally I think we're ok. The problem is just the bark. I've been doing some more looking around, and although I used the Minion method, maybe I didn't pack enough coals in the corners. I don't know. Not sure if I let the charcoal get lit too early or not....

[flbuckeye]

You can always put it over high heat for a bit to firm the bark up. I do this with Texas brisket after the Texas crutch. Works well

[sysop]

True, I've heard of doing to that finish it off. Thanks for the suggestion!