wiegie Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I am now attempting to smoke a pork shoulder. Trying to do it in my Weber Kettle. I'll let you know how it turns out in about 6 or so hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I can be to Grand Rapids in less than 3 hours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Remeber wiegie, temperature control is the most important thing. Can't wait to hear how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 Just pulled it off the grill after almost five hours. It seemed like I did a decent job of keeping the temperature just below 300 for most of the day (not sure exactly how I managed to do that). The outside of the shoulder is fairly well charred and I was a little worried by how it looked, but I picked off a few pieces of meat and they tasted pretty good. The inside seems fairly juicy right now. I'm going to let it sit and rest for another 30 minutes or so. All and all, I think it turned out ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 No posts about the egg yet??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Just pulled it off the grill after almost five hours. It seemed like I did a decent job of keeping the temperature just below 300 for most of the day (not sure exactly how I managed to do that). The outside of the shoulder is fairly well charred and I was a little worried by how it looked, but I picked off a few pieces of meat and they tasted pretty good. The inside seems fairly juicy right now. I'm going to let it sit and rest for another 30 minutes or so. All and all, I think it turned out ok. How many pounds was the pork shoulder? Five hours seems like a short cooking time for a pork shoulder. I tend to cook mine for about 15-17 hours. I usually have a 7-8 lb shoulder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazinib1 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 How many pounds was the pork shoulder? Five hours seems like a short cooking time for a pork shoulder. I tend to cook mine for about 15-17 hours. I usually have a 7-8 lb shoulder. What do you do with the rest of the bodies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 No posts about the egg yet??? wiegie is has not seen the Emerald Light as of yet. If he had, he would have never had to post this: It seemed like I did a decent job of keeping the temperature just below 300 for most of the day (not sure exactly how I managed to do that). Temperature control with The Egg is so simple, an economist could do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Seriously . . . unateve, did you invent the egg or something? Are you a regional salesperson? Or just a very, very, very, very dedicated fan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Seriously . . . unateve, did you invent the egg or something? Are you a regional salesperson? Or just a very, very, very, very dedicated fan? He is a very dedicated fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 How many pounds was the pork shoulder? Five hours seems like a short cooking time for a pork shoulder. I tend to cook mine for about 15-17 hours. I usually have a 7-8 lb shoulder. 4.5 pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Seriously . . . unateve, did you invent the egg or something? Are you a regional salesperson? Or just a very, very, very, very dedicated fan? A fan, but a seriously deranged one. He had an Egg tattooed on his wife's back so he could look at his love during those romantic moments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 (edited) for what it's worth, I think I should have smoked it longer. It still tastes good, but it is not quite as tender as I had hoped. (I am a dumbass, I was worried that if I cooked it for too long that it might get less tender, so I opted to err on the side of taking it off too early.) All in all, though, I'm not really dissappointed at all with my first attempt. Next time I will try to keep the temperature a little bit lower too. Edited July 23, 2009 by wiegie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 for what it's worth, I think I should have smoked it longer. It still tastes good, but it is not quite as tender as I had hoped. (I am a dumbass, I was worried that if I cooked it for too long that it might get less tender, so I opted to err on the side of taking it off too early.) All in all, though, I'm not really dissappointed at all with my first attempt. Next time I will try to keep the temperature a little bit lower too. The key to knowing when to pull it off is the internal temperature of the meat. If you are going to slice it, then 175 is OK. If you're going to pull it, then 195 is where it has to be. Your technique is good in that you let it rest for a bit before cutting it up. The temperature will rise another five to ten degrees while resting. The other thing is that there will be a temperature plateau at around 170 degrees. What happens is that the fat in the meat renders out at this temp. The meat can stay at that temp for a couple of hours before it starts on up again while the fat renders. It all depends on the amount of fat in the meat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 24, 2009 Author Share Posted July 24, 2009 The key to knowing when to pull it off is the internal temperature of the meat. If you are going to slice it, then 175 is OK. If you're going to pull it, then 195 is where it has to be. Your technique is good in that you let it rest for a bit before cutting it up. The temperature will rise another five to ten degrees while resting. The other thing is that there will be a temperature plateau at around 170 degrees. What happens is that the fat in the meat renders out at this temp. The meat can stay at that temp for a couple of hours before it starts on up again while the fat renders. It all depends on the amount of fat in the meat. Thanks. I took it off the grill when the internal temperature was about 180. There was still a decent amount of fat in there when I pulled the pork--not solid fat, but not quite completely rendered either. I'm guessing I should have just let it go another hour or so. Even so, it wasn't bad or tough. Just not quite as tender as I had completely hoped. I'll do better next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 (edited) I'm not familiar with the egg but shouldn't you try and keep the temp around 225 and go longer? 300 seems pretty high to me which could be why it wasn't that tender. Smoke that butt around 225 for 8+ hours and you have pure heaven IMHO. Edited July 24, 2009 by twiley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I'm not familiar with the egg but shouldn't you try and keep the temp around 225 and go longer? 300 seems pretty high to me which could be why it wasn't that tender. Smoke that butt around 225 for 8+ hours and you have pure heaven IMHO. Yes, 225 is the target I shoot for and never higher than 250. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 24, 2009 Author Share Posted July 24, 2009 300 seemed high to me too, but I was sort of following a recipe from a BBQ cookbook and it said 5-7 hours over low indirect heat (and defined "low" as between 250-350). I'll know better next time. (In the meantime, it is time for me to head downstairs and make myself a few sandwiches for lunch out of the leftovers.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I've always done pork shoulder at 250, and usually an hour per pound. Though my goal is always 200 internal temp. Makes it pull apart easier. On a Weber, I have gotten the cooking temp to 250. Pile your coals on one side only. Put a water pan under the other side. Start off with about 30 charcoals. When the coals are ready, throw on your wood chips. Apple works great with pork. And add coals and wood as needed. A tip: When you are adding additional charcoal after you begin cooking, start your charcoal elsewhere (maybe another grill, old cookie sheet, or something). That way the black residue burns off and you put the grayish coal on the fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I've always done pork shoulder at 250, and usually an hour per pound. Though my goal is always 200 internal temp. Makes it pull apart easier. On a Weber, I have gotten the cooking temp to 250. Pile your coals on one side only. Put a water pan under the other side. Start off with about 30 charcoals. When the coals are ready, throw on your wood chips. Apple works great with pork. And add coals and wood as needed. A tip: When you are adding additional charcoal after you begin cooking, start your charcoal elsewhere (maybe another grill, old cookie sheet, or something). That way the black residue burns off and you put the grayish coal on the fire. I've heard of this procedure...adding coal. Can't say I've ever had to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 (edited) On a Weber, I have gotten the cooking temp to 250. Pile your coals on one side only. Put a water pan under the other side. Start off with about 30 charcoals. When the coals are ready, throw on your wood chips. Apple works great with pork. And add coals and wood as needed. A tip: When you are adding additional charcoal after you begin cooking, start your charcoal elsewhere (maybe another grill, old cookie sheet, or something). That way the black residue burns off and you put the grayish coal on the fire. I actually did all of this except I put the pan of water in the middle and had coals on both sides and I used hickory chips. Probably would have helped to have used the two-zone method instead. Overall, after eating the leftovers for lunch today, I think I might have been too negative yesterday. Today the sandwhiches were really really good. Edited July 25, 2009 by wiegie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 I've heard of this procedure...adding coal. Can't say I've ever had to do that. That's ok, I'm guessing that Chief Dick has never had to change a felt gasket in order to BBQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 That's ok, I'm guessing that Chief Dick has never had to change a felt gasket in order to BBQ. I'll trade changing a felt gasket about once every five years for not having to add charcoal on a 24 hour cook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 That's ok, I'm guessing that Chief Dick has never had to change a felt gasket in order to BBQ. I'll trade changing a felt gasket about once every five years for not having to add charcoal on a 24 hour cook. Meeeooowwww... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 That's ok, I'm guessing that Chief Dick has never had to change a felt gasket in order to BBQ. I'll trade changing a felt gasket about once every five years for not having to add charcoal on a 24 hour cook. my BGE is about five weeks old and i just burned off part of the gasket tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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