Pulled pork (Pork shoulder roast, bone-in)

[pilfjd]

Found a 4lbs pork shoulder w/blade bone at the market and planned to smoke it. It was my first pork shoulder and I figured I should start with something small. The smoke went well except for 2 things: 1)I got off to a late start because I was out for a 2hr bike ride in the morning - shoulder went on approx. 3pm, and 2) I ran out of charcoal at the end. I underestimated how much I had left but not by much. The shoulder needed about 30-45 minutes more. The remaining coals I had couldn't get up higher than 215 with all the vents open.

Otherwise, being my first pulled pork, I think it pulled apart nicely. Tasted great, wife and dog loved it!

Here's my pup guarding her share of the meal :-)


After 1 hr on the SN:


Done, about to pull:

[ncsmoker]

Nice

[rangerone]

Looks like it turned out great, Jay! 

Can you tell me what was your average kettle temperature, at what internal temperature did you take it off the grill, and how long was the cook? Did you use briquets or lump?
I have a 4 lb boneless shoulder in the freezer and I think I will Smokenator it in the next few weeks.

Allan aka RangerOne

[pilfjd]

Hi Allan,

I'm sorry I didn't include those details, I posted from my phone since that's where my pictures where taken. Anyway, I used plain ol' Kingsford briquets. I did the usual - filled up the SN and took out 12 briquets to light up. I tried to keep my temps between 225 and 250, For an average, I would guess probably around 240ish. Every hour, I filled up the water pan and mopped with an apple juice/apple cider vinegar combo. The cook took 7 hours. At that point, the meat temps were at 190. If I hadn't run out of coals, and if the grill temp wasn't falling as quick as it was then I would've kept it on longer until the meat reached 195-200. Also, it was already 9:30pm. :-)

-Jay