Wow, a 12 and a half hour smoke!

[camaroon4me]

Well, since this IS the Whatcha been smokin lately: I found a sale on pork butts on Sunday, so since I was off work on Monday, I decided to do some smoking in my outdoor barrel smoker.
I got a late start, and didn't get them going until 11 am.
Smoking at 220 was very hard to do when the outside temp was only in the low 50's. I went through 20# of charcoal, and also about 4 pieces of firewood. At 6:30pm, the butts were only registering 165* on the thermometer. Target temp for this great bbq favorite is 195* to get it to pull properly.
Long story short, (yada yada yada for you Seinfeld fans), I finally took them out of the smoker at 11:30PM.

After letting them sit for about 20 minutes, I started the pulling process. Man, this stuff just fell right apart! I had used a combination of cocacola and apple cider for a mopping solution, and this resulted in a spectacular tasting "bark".

I highly reccomend trying this at home!

Oh, also smoked an Emilio Reyes ceegar while waiting patiently. Not a bad smoke, but not really anything to write home about either. Nice draw, flavor was on the mild side, I would have liked a little more oooomph out of it!

Have a good week guys,

JV

 

[Robbmt]

I understand. The other day it was 40 chicken wings for a MNF party.

 

[bfreebern]

I just got a New Braunfels smoker for Christmas. Hope to try it out this Thursday/Friday since I'm off. Any tips? This will be a new experience for me, never smoked anything.

 

[Horse]

Yeah, come on down to New Braunfels and we'll figure it out over several smokes
(pun intended)

 

[bfreebern]

Hell, that sounds like fun I'll bring the homebrew and the grill.

 

[Robbmt]

Try to SEASON it, fire it up and not put anything in it the first time. Wed Night?

Add hickory chips or applewood or whatever other flavored charcoals or hardwoods you might like.

Smoke a good cigar while you wait for your dinner

 

[camaroon4me]

Try to SEASON it, fire it up and not put anything in it the first time.  Wed Night?

Add hickory chips or applewood or whatever other flavored charcoals or hardwoods you might like.

Smoke a good cigar while you wait for your dinner 

[snapback]150590[/snapback]​

Yeah, what Rob said. When seasoning, you will want to rub the interior down with a good quality cooking oil, and just keep the fire in the smoking range, which would be anywhere between about 220-280 degrees. These are just ballparks, but anything close should be fine. When smoking meats, one key is to use some trays under the meat that you fill with water and optional fruits like apples, orange slices etc....,

The water will help keep the meat moist and tender( and will catch all of the juices and fat coming out of the meat and not make a mess of your smoker).

I also like to use a lot of liquid basting such as a mix of beer and apple juice/cider. Brandy works very nicely too. Just get a good (NEW and CLEAN) squirter bottle and hit the meat about once an hour or so.

If you are a novice or just want any more info, let me know, I have several great books on smoking and bbq, bbq bible.com Check out this guy and you cant go wrong!

One more thing....a real easy first project would be beer can chicken. Im sure a few folks here know about it. It's about the best chicken I've ever had. Beer Can Chicken Basics

Good luck, and if I can help more, just ask!

John V.

 

[bfreebern]

Thanks guys. I plan on seasoning it tonight and will try and smoke a few easy things over the week. I might throw a few pieces of bologna on there to try and get the temperature constant. Trial and error. If I ruin a few pieces of $5 dollar meat, I won't be too sad. I'll PM you John if I ever need any more help :thumbs:

 

[texasaero]

How do you guys keep the heat up in this weather? Mine suck charcoal!

 

[gatorsmg]

I've never heard of the cocacola and apple cider combo...I'll have to try that.
Anybody notice a major difference when using different types of wood?

Sounds like it's time for a BBQ pass :love: