# a few noob butt questions.....now with pics



## gordon1 (May 24, 2007)

gonna do a few butts for memorial day.  gonna have to start them sunday though.  should be done after midnight (2 am or so) which is fine cause I'm a night owl. 

do to the fact that the butts will come off sunday night and not be served till monday evening should I put my finishing sauce (nice vinegar based one) on immediately after pulling or after I warm it up the next day??  also how long after pulling should I put them in the fridge??   as for warming it the next day I assume I just pop the pulled pork in the oven for a few mins to warm it?


after they come off the smoker what is the advantage of wrapping and placing in a cooler vs just letting it rest??


how much finished pork should I get from 10 pounds pre cooked??

now more noob questions regarding wood chunks.   until now all I've used are chips because that is all I can get here (lowes now has hickory chunks but just got them).  anyway a few weeks ago while in charlotte I hit up bbqsgalore and got a few bags of apple and cherry chunks.

I smoke on a chargriller with side firebox.  I will be using a combo of royal oak lump and apple.  so how much wood to use??  use it right from the start or after they have been on a bit??  or both??  how often??  

yes I'm a noob


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## wittdog (May 24, 2007)

I would save the sauce for after you reheat the PP...
Put them in the fridge right after they are pulled...
You need to be carefull when you reheat the PP...the smoking process renders alot of the fat out and the meat can easily dry out in and oven unless it's covered tight...you might want to add a little Apple juice for moisture....
The advantage to wrapping and putting them in a cooler is they will stay for a long time at a good temp...so if you were planning on eating at say 4 and had the butts done by 12 you would double wrap in foil and back newspapers around the butts in the cooler and the temp would stay for the 4 hrs..
If you have a food saver I would vac back the PP and reheat in the bag in simmering water for about 20min...or I would dump the PP in a crock pot with a little apple juice and reheat it that way..
As far as the yeild it depends on the temp you cook at and if you plan on foiling...expect any where between a 1/3-to 1/2 loss in yield

As for the wood that is one of the great BBQ debates..some people belive that after the smoke ring stops forming somewhere between 120*-130* the meat stops taking on smoke flavor...other believe in using wood the whole time...
I dont' know how experienced you are at using your chargriller but when cooking you are looking for a nice blue smoke out of the stack...or almost no smoke at all...white heavy smokes..not to good...and a heavy black smoke is really bad...it's a fine line between having enough air for the wood to burn clean and mantaiing a nice low and slow temp... 
Good Luck....
These are my opinions and do not reflect on the BBQ Central peanut gallery in any way....


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## gordon1 (May 24, 2007)

thanks for the input.



> dump the PP in a crock pot with a little apple juice and reheat it that way..



that sounds like the plan!




> As far as the yeild it depends on the temp you cook at and if you plan on foiling...expect any where between a 1/3-to 1/2 loss in yield




try for 225 and no foil (well I didn't last time I did a butt).


one more wood question.  I've heard both so y'all tell me....

soak the chunks or don't soak the chunks??


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## wittdog (May 24, 2007)

The whole soaking thing is a matter of opinon...I don't soak my wood..but others do..and swear by it..


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## Cliff H. (May 24, 2007)

I would go with wittdog's advice.  

I don't soak chunks either.


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## Diva Q (May 24, 2007)

me neither


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## SoEzzy (May 24, 2007)

The smoke ring will stop increasing in depth above the internal temperature around 130 - 135, but the smoke never stop adding flavor, this is why it is possible to over smoke a meat, flavor wise!

If you check the internal temperature and it is above 130 then you can choose to either continue adding smoke wood or just keep going with charcoal, of course if you are burning the wood for your heat and smoke you are caught in a circle of what to do.


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## Uncle Bubba (May 25, 2007)

Preheat the wood on top of your firebox but be careful as it will catch on fire very easily after a while.  What you are trying to do is get the temp of the wood up to the point of ignition and then put it on the fire.  This will help avoid oversmoking the meat as the wood hits the ground running as opposed to smoldering and producing the thick smoke we all know and hate.


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## Captain Morgan (May 25, 2007)

great advice bubba!


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## gordon1 (May 27, 2007)

butt's are rubbed







and ready for a night in the fridge.  updates to come over the weekend


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## Cliff H. (May 27, 2007)

Looks like you are off and running.


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## wittdog (May 27, 2007)

Looks like you are off to a good start


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## gordon1 (May 27, 2007)

had to sneak a pic   butt's at 5 1/2 hours ribs at 3 1/2


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## Smokey_Joe (May 27, 2007)

Lookin g ood Gordon!

Here's a tip to save Greg from yelling at you....   

On your photobucket page where you are grabbing your pics from.... first click the box beside which picture you want to use.... then go to the bottom of the page and click the "generate hotmail and image code" bar... then on the page that comes up copy the "IMG clickable thumbnails for message boards - recommended" text and paste that onto your post/message   .

It will give a clickable/enlargeable thumbnail that saves Greg space/bandwidth on the forum here and makes the pics easier for people with dial up to view them.

OH... did I say NICE BUTTS????


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## gordon1 (May 27, 2007)

edit:  figured out the pic thing and changed to thumbnails.


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## WalterSC (May 27, 2007)

*Nice plan I am also doing 2 butts 13.5 lbs worth, I will start them on the WSM say around 11PM and keep em on till they reach 200-205 internal , foil em and put them in a cooler , the company wont get to the house till 230PM tomorrow . They should be done by at least 12 noon Monday.    *


*I dont sauce mine, at home I leave that on the side for folks to use what they like. *


*I use hickory or oak chuncks or chips whatever I have on hand , I have a few coke bottle sized hickory limbs that are dry , I have them cut up in short pecies in case i need em.*


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## cleglue (May 27, 2007)

gordon,

Looking good.

On photobucket you can select / unselect all  (which copies the entire album). You can also select one or two or more pictures at a time manually right below each picture in the album it will have a box then the picture file name example (IMG_3423Small.jpg).


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## gordon1 (May 27, 2007)

cleglue said:
			
		

> gordon,
> 
> Looking good.
> 
> On photobucket you can select / unselect all  (which copies the entire album). You can also select one or two or more pictures at a time manually right below each picture in the album it will have a box then the picture file name example (IMG_3423Small.jpg).



yep I figured it out   the ribs are about done.  time to eat!


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## gordon1 (May 27, 2007)

not my best ribs to date but still very good






butt's are chilling at 160  8)


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## Cliff H. (May 28, 2007)

That looks pretty good to me.


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## gordon1 (May 28, 2007)

I know all about the "plateau" but this is getting ridiculous.  temps haven't moved in hours.


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## john a (May 28, 2007)

Ribs look good to me, you cannot rush the butts; patience.


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## Captain Morgan (May 28, 2007)

if those aren't your best ribs I'd like to some better!  Looks great!


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## 007bond-jb (May 28, 2007)

Gordon you can get the temp up to rush the butts take it too around 300 also relocate your temp probe.


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## gordon1 (May 28, 2007)

they are still at 160   :x   going on close to 21 hours.  I've moved the probes and sure enough 160 all over.

edit: smoker temp has been pretty constant.  fell a few a time sbut nothing crazy.


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## Cliff H. (May 28, 2007)

That is a long time to be hanging at 160.  How big are them dudes ? What temp are you smoking at ?


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## gordon1 (May 28, 2007)

they are about 8 pounds each.  no idea what is going on.


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## Cliff H. (May 28, 2007)

I can tell from the pic that you have a couple of good mods done to your chargriller.

I used a chargriller last year. 

Temps can vary from one side of the meat to the other by as much as 40 deg.  so be careful were you are taking measurements from.  As the meat comes up to temp the temps seem to even out over the cooking grate also.


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## gordon1 (May 28, 2007)

been told to check it a little under the bone.  that said them temp is about the same all over.  163 now  :x   I need some more sleep


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## cleglue (May 28, 2007)

Gordon,

I've had Brisket take a lot of time but my butts usually get to 195 in about 10 to 12 hours.


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## gordon1 (May 28, 2007)

cleglue said:
			
		

> Gordon,
> 
> I've had Brisket take a lot of time but my butts usually get to 195 in about 10 to 12 hours.



I know   :?   had the smoker up to 250-260 the last few hours and it's just to 170


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