Need assistance with my butt

[troutthink]

Hello......Newbie here with a BPS. Loving this thing after building it last week. Kudos to Big Pappa for putting this kit together. I've been able to perfect my smoked chicken but the pork butt was just ok. The pork was great but the bark was super smokey to the point of being bitter and was not good at all. Is there something wrong with the way I cooked it, the rub, the charcoal??? A little help please.

Started at 0530 starting 15 briquettes in the chimney. I am using Stubbs briquettes with no added wood.

I poured the lit coals over a full basket using the minion method.

I rubbed the 7.5 lbs butt with the following.

2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup paprika

Temperature leveled off and I was able to keep it between 225 and 250 all day with little effort. Dropped in the butt at 0630 and was off to the races. I had 1/4 of a hole open on the bottom and the top holes 1/2 closed. The drum was superb....

I pulled it off at 198 degrees internal temp (6 pm) and it pulled very nicely. The actual pork was juicy with a great flavor but the bark (normally my favorite part at the Q joint) was terrible. What did I do wrong?????? Super smokey and bitter.

Pulled the pork and raised the temp to 350 (4 holes open on bottom) and threw on a whole brined chicken. Cooked it for an hour and forty minutes and still had plenty of coals left. Had the BPS running for 14 hours today with fuel to spare.

Sorry, no pictures. I was just too excited at the time.

 

[Tony111]

I have made a heat deflector That I use for my pulled pork. It helps to keep some of the heat from rising straight up to the meat and over cooking the bark.Someone here has a post on it ...made from a cast iron lodge 8" dutch oven thing-of-a-bob that sits 4" above the charcoal basket.
Another thought would be to put in a foil pan and cover with foil and add a little liquid to it at 160 or whenever you like the look of the bark and cook to 200. Take it off and wrap in towels for 45 min. to an hour ...then pull.
I am no expert ....this has worked for me...hope it helps you out and good luck

 

[Bigfish]

I have done several butts on my BP Drum Smoker and have not experienced bark that was smokey to the point of being bitter. I have always used Kingsford Briquettes and have no experience with Stubbs. Also, don't know what you used for wood chucks. I prefer Apple as my wife and I find Hickory a little strong.

The best way to light your coal basket it to light 10 to 12 coals in a charcoal lighter. Sort of make a hole or an indented spot in the unlighted coals in the basket. Pour the lite coals in this indented spot trying to keep all of them on one side of the basket. You want to minimize the number of coals your starter coals come into contact with to help you better control the temperature.

Sometimes you have to close off the top vent a little but the folks here recommend you keep the top vent open if possible. Closing the top vent 50% probably increased the smoke on the butt. I actually smoked a butt on my drum yesterday and it turned-out fantastic. The key to the drum is learning the manage your temperature when you are bringing the drum up to temperature. Light the coals as suggested above and when the drum temperature measures 175 F (By Maverick or other digital thermometer) close the bottom vents down to approximately one hole on each side. Leave the top vent wide open. Slowly bring the temperature up over 200 F. When my drum hits around 210F I quickly as possibly add the meat to the grate and stick it with a digital temperature probe. Close the lid as quickly as possible and then I slowly bring the temperature up to 225 F. I never removed the lid yesterday until my butt hit 195 F and I easily maintained a drum tempt measured by Maverick between 225 and 235F. The top vent stayed 100% open and I ended-up with one vent hole on one side of the drum half open.

The last comment is be careful not to use too many wood chunks for smoke. Start off using one or two chunks and add more on your next cook if you prefer more smokey flavor.

Good luck with your drum. Just wait until you smoke some St. Louis Ribs!

Ken

PS. I read the post above about using a heat deflector. I purchased one of those large pizza pans that is full of 1/4" holes and place it on the top basket U Bolts. This pan keeps my center drum temperatures within 10 or 15 degrees of the tempts measured on the side of the drum.

 

[troutthink]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't have a heat deflector at this point but I didn't have any trouble maintaining temp. I have a dual probe thermometer and was able to keep the temps down.

I didn't use any extra wood for smoke. I only used the charcoal.

I'll try three things next time and report back.
1. Put all of the lit coals in one indented spot in the basket.
2. Wrap the pork when it stalls. (161 yesterday).
3. Leave the top vents all the way open.

Any thoughts on the rub?

 

[southga]

a few things come to mind:
1. spreading the coals over the whole basket could have caused a lot of smoldering briqs instead of a few clean burning briqs. Did you have white smoke or thin, blue smoke? Thin, blue smoke indicated a clean burning fire. a smoldering fire will leave a smokey, bitter flavor even without wood.
2. drop the plain sugar & just use brown sugar. white sugar burns at a much lower temp than brown. that could have been part of the bitterness.
3. leave top vents fully open to allow the smoke to move thru & not get stale. If this means you run at 250-275 instead of 225, then just go with the higher temp. There is nothing magic about 225. Meat cooked properly at 275-300 will just as tender & juicy as meat cooked at 225

 

[Bigr314]

Great posts from the guys above. One more thing you can do. When you get the bark where you like it, foil the butt.Then you can take it out the foil right before it is done to crisp it up again. I haven't tried this but have seen it in many posts.Good luck.

 

[troutthink]

Southga, I think you hit the nail on the head. It took several hours before the smoke was blue/clear and I couldn't figure out why. I'll definitely put all of the started coals in one spot, drop the plain sugar and leave the top vents open.

Thanks to everyone for all of the great pointers.

 

[southga]

This is how I start my drum:
I start about a dozen briqs in a chimney. When they are burning good (don't have to be completely white ashed), I dump them in the center of my basket of unlit briqs. Set the basket in the drum & open all intakes. My drum has three 3/4 nipples, one with ball valve. At 200*, I cap off one nipple. At 225-230*, I cap off the second nipple. At 240-245*, I close the ball valve about 1/2. The drum normally settles in between 255-265*. At this point, I begin to watch the smoke. If the temp is not stable after 10 mins, I make a small adjustment to the valve. In most cases, I start getting thin, blue smoke about 15-20 mins after temps have stabilized.

 

[troutthink]

Thought I would update you on the progress.

I did all of the above and it was better but still too smokey.

I tried it again and nixed the briquettes and paprika. I used royal oak lump, brown sugar and foiled it when it hit the stall. Success. It was perfect.

Thanks again for the pointers.

Now on to a brisket.

 

[Big Poppa]

OK You are getting the bark that is bad smoky because you have the top half closed....its all about air exchanges...that air has to move on out if it swirls around trapped your meat with be oversmoked...I also do not like the flavor ash or burn time on stubbs

 

[troutthink]

Big Pappa,
Thanks for the reply. I have the top open all the way now and am with you on the stubbs. Only lump for this BPS now. I am loving this thing.