ht01us
Junior Member
Posts: 22
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Post by ht01us on Jul 19, 2010 19:38:15 GMT -5
 I smoked two 8lb butts on my Smonkenator 2600 last weekend. Kept a pretty constant 240* - 250* at the vent. Smoked for about 12 hours and reached about 185* on the top. 3/4 of the butts pulled nicely, but the parts of the butts that were on the bottom and facing away from the smokenator was TOUGH - way too tough to pull. Any idea what the problem could have been? I rotated the butts once during the cook side to side. I'm thinking I need to roll them over as well? Does that make sense? I also think I need to use a drip pan on to of the charcoal grate.
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ht01us
Junior Member
Posts: 22
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Post by ht01us on Jul 19, 2010 23:12:58 GMT -5
Thought I'd include a picture of what they looked like about 4 hours in. The tough parts were on the bottom away from the Smokenator. I wonder also if maybe the frog mats are part of the toughness problem. Any ideas? Please let me know. Thanks Attachments:
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Post by jerkylips on Jul 20, 2010 10:22:57 GMT -5
I smoked two 8lb butts on my Smonkenator 2600 last weekend. Kept a pretty constant 240* - 250* at the vent. Smoked for about 12 hours and reached about 185* on the top. 3/4 of the butts pulled nicely, but the parts of the butts that were on the bottom and facing away from the smokenator was TOUGH - way too tough to pull. Any idea what the problem could have been? I rotated the butts once during the cook side to side. I'm thinking I need to roll them over as well? Does that make sense? I also think I need to use a drip pan on to of the charcoal grate. My guess is that those areas hadn't gotten up to temp yet. If I'm reading your message correctly, the tough sections were the furthest from the heat source, correct? I would flip and rotate a couple times during the cook. Also, 185 may be just slightly low for pulling - if you let it get up to 190-200 you may have better luck. Pork butt/pulled pork is my favorite bbq, but it really tests your patience since it takes so long.. |
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ht01us
Junior Member
Posts: 22
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Post by ht01us on Jul 20, 2010 21:30:13 GMT -5
Yeah, you read it right; the tough spots were on the lower side farthest away from the heat. I couldn't figure out if it too hot or not hot enough (should have taken its temperature)  Also wondered if the frog mats maybe blocked a lot of heat. Anyway, I think you are right, next time I'll try rotating every couple of hours. Thanks for the input. |
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ht01us
Junior Member
Posts: 22
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Post by ht01us on Jul 20, 2010 21:35:33 GMT -5
My guess is that those areas hadn't gotten up to temp yet. If I'm reading your message correctly, the tough sections were the furthest from the heat source, correct? I would flip and rotate a couple times during the cook. Also, I just read another response to a post that says the food support grate is 30* lower than the vent temp. This lends support to the idea that the bottom just wasn't cooked enough yet. Next time, I'll definitely rotate. |
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Post by jerkylips on Jul 21, 2010 12:58:16 GMT -5
My guess is that those areas hadn't gotten up to temp yet. If I'm reading your message correctly, the tough sections were the furthest from the heat source, correct? I would flip and rotate a couple times during the cook. Also, I just read another response to a post that says the food support grate is 30* lower than the vent temp. This lends support to the idea that the bottom just wasn't cooked enough yet. Next time, I'll definitely rotate. I didn't catch it the first time that you were measuring at the vent. I know that's how the instructions tell you to do it, but I had spotty results that way. Read through some threads & you'll see that some people see a difference of 10 degrees & some see 40. I gave up on measuring at the vent & guessing what it was at the grate, and just started measuring at the grate. If you have a probe thermo, you can stick it through a potato to keep it off the grates, route the wire either through the vent hole or under the lid, & get the actual temp where the food is. My results definitely improved when I started doing this... |
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ht01us
Junior Member
Posts: 22
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Post by ht01us on Jul 21, 2010 14:11:58 GMT -5
Read through some threads & you'll see that some people see a difference of 10 degrees & some see 40. I gave up on measuring at the vent & guessing what it was at the grate, and just started measuring at the grate. Yeah, I had read those and have come to the same conclusion for my next cook. I'm planning on cutting a small notch in the rim for the smoker probe cable to fit through. Sounds like you find using a potato to hold the probe rather than the little grill clip that the Maverick has. Does it hold better? then of course the next question is where on the grate  front, middle, back? I'll be doing 3 racks of ribs on a metal rack and will place the probe just behind the rack of the racks  thanks for the info. |
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Post by bigsteve on Jul 25, 2010 21:47:09 GMT -5
My guess is that those areas hadn't gotten up to temp yet. If I'm reading your message correctly, the tough sections were the furthest from the heat source, correct? I would flip and rotate a couple times during the cook. Also, 185 may be just slightly low for pulling - if you let it get up to 190-200 you may have better luck.
Pork butt/pulled pork is my favorite bbq, but it really tests your patience since it takes so long.. Yup, I go to 205 for pulling |
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Post by alphonso14 on Oct 25, 2010 20:25:20 GMT -5
Question for jerkylips. Do you go for 205 dome temp or 205 grill level temp for pulling. Also what about adjusting the time? One final question, how often do you rotate the shoulder?
Sorry to be so inquisitive. I'm new at this...just ordered the "nator". Love the feed back from the pros.
a14
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Post by jerkylips on Nov 1, 2010 8:57:16 GMT -5
Question for jerkylips. Do you go for 205 dome temp or 205 grill level temp for pulling. Also what about adjusting the time? One final question, how often do you rotate the shoulder? Sorry to be so inquisitive. I'm new at this...just ordered the "nator". Love the feed back from the pros. a14 205 (in the last reply) is the internal temp of the meat when it's done. When I measure temp at the grate, I shoot for between 225 & 250. Even at these higher temps, I would plan on 8-10 hours.. |
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