12.82 lbs of Pork Butt going on the smoker first thing in the morning! This is actually two pork shoulders (aka Butts) with the bone removed. I injected Apple Cider Vinegar into the meat and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. I will update this cook as we go along. Commentary will be below each photo.
Straight out of the package.
Just starting out. Rub from a modified Pork Barrel BBQ All American Seasoning & Rub that contained more salt and paprika. The water pan has water in it at 3/4 full. The pan was lined with aluminum foil to make it easier to clean afterwards.
2 hours and 10 minutes into the cook. Pit temp is hovering around 275 degrees with the internal temp at 135 degrees.
Another angle at 2 hours and 10 minutes into the cook.
The 18.5 inch Weber Smokey Mountain is getting a lot more usage lately. I use this smoker only with charcoal and no wood. The 22.5 in Weber is reserved when I want to smoke with some wood chunks.
3 hours into the cook. The pit temp was at 265 degrees and the internal temp reached 145 degrees.
I checked the temperature on my Thermoworks Smoke receiver and it shows the pit temp to be 259.5 degrees and the internal temp at 158.9 degrees after four hours and 45 minutes. I expect the stall to happen soon as most of my cooks for pork butt stall around this temperature. Once the stall happens, I'll put the meat into an aluminum pan and add some apple juice in there and close it up with aluminum foil for the rest of the cook. Stay tuned!
The stall has happened after 5 hours and 15 minutes!
Here's what the pork butt looks like before putting it in an aluminum pan, covering it with foil an adding some apple juice.
Another angle of the stalled meat.
Placed in an aluminum foil pan with apple juice and covered with aluminum foil.
Added another chimney full of charcoal. I didn't add as much charcoal as probably was needed initially. So after taking the midsection of the smoker off, I found most of the charcoal was all burned already! I usually only get about 6 hours it seems when I cook because I don't overload the charcoal ring, so this is typical for me. Once the chimney is ready, I'll pour it on the grate and add a few more briquettes to it and let it run to the end. Internal temp on the pork remains at 159.6 at this point even without it being heated by any coals. Keeping it in the smoker is probably the best way to keep that internal temp from falling while doing all of this.
Burning in the chimney...
The final temperatures... finished at 205 degrees. 9 hours total time.
Prior to pulling...
The pull - still in chunks!
After doing this, I think my family prefers not to use apple cider vinegar, especially injected. The vinegar seems to require us to use barbecue sauce to blend the taste to it. I guess it's just something we aren't accustomed to. Also, I think the cook this time was not as good as the last time. The smoke ring seemed to be a lot less this time. Not sure why. Maybe I needed it closer to room temp before putting it in the smoker? I had heard that the longer the time that is under 140 degrees, the smoke continues to work its magic. But maybe it still needs to start out a little less cold? Not sure. Could it be because of the injection? Still, overall, the cook went well and it's not bad.
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