First good smoke for a beginner - w/pics

[everss98]

I received an electric ECB a couple years back as a gift knowing my love for all types of BBQ. I am primarily a pork person liking shoulder and baby back ribs. I tried both using the ECB, but the results were less than desirable (I did have a small amount of success smoking small chickens though). The shoulders and baby backs that I attempted were tough with limited flavor. Additionally, there was quite a mess to clean up afterwards with all the grease that dripped in the water pan and grease that was left on the racks. There is nothing more demoralizing than spending all day trying to make some good BBQ and it turns out bad and your left with a mess to clean up in the end. The 4 or 5 smokes that I attempted with unsatisfactory outcomes resulted in me burying the ECB in the garage with no desire to get it out again.

A couple weeks back, I talked myself into “getting back on the horse again” and trying my hand at smoking and BBQ again. I figure that the only way I will get better is to move forward and refine my methods as needed. I believe that the one thing I was missing was some solid direction and advice from those that do know how to make good BBQ. Looking for information, I found this site/forum and there is obviously a lot of information. I browsed the various forums and picked up tips, tricks, pointers here and there.

Below is a chronicle of my smoke this weekend when I made a pork butt. I picked pork butt for two reasons. First and foremost, I love pork. Two, I read that pork butt is probably the best (easiest and most forgiving) meat to start with when learning to smoke.

Preparation
• Friday after work I purchased a 6.75 lbs. bone-in pork butt at the grocery.
• 6:00pm - mustard slather and applied pork rub. Wrapped in cling wrap and placed in the fridge.
o I picked a commercial pork rub sold in the grocery and figured that I can start making my own rub when I get better at making the pork first.
• 7:00pm - soaked a couple handfuls of apple chips
• 9:00pm - took butt out of fridge and allowed to warm to room temperature
• 9:15pm - started electric ECB. Placed thermometer on top rack. Filled water pan about ¾ full
• 9:30pm - 2 oz. injection of apple juice and a small amount of Worcestershire

After mustard slather and rub


Rising to room temperature


The Cook
• 10:00pm - started smoke
o Temperature was steady at 225 degrees
o Placed an aluminum pan on the bottom rack above water pan to collect any drippings
o Placed butt on top rack of ECB with the fat side down
o I threw a couple handfuls of the soaked apple chips into a smoke box and placed the smoke box directly on the electric element
• 12:00am – checked and temperature was still 225
• 3:00am – 225 degree temperature. spritzed with a 3 to 1 mixture of apple juice and Captain Morgan spiced rum
• 6:00am – spritzed and placed meat thermometer in pork butt
o Spritzed every hour until 10:00am
• 10:00am - butt had an internal temperature of 160 degrees
o Was somewhat frustrated that it cooked for 12 hours and only had an internal temperature of 160 degrees. I suspect that it was due to the relatively low heat that the electric ECB maintained throughout the smoke and night. Maybe this is where I encountered the “stall” and did not wait it out long enough??
• 10:30am - wrapped butt in foil and placed in 250 degree oven
• 1:00pm – butt had internal temperature just over 200 degrees
• 1:15pm – removed butt from oven and placed foil wrapped butt in towel lined cooler
• 2:00pm – removed butt from cooler
o Bone was effortlessly removed
o Pulled pork which was very easy to do with a decent smoke ring. In the end, I estimate it produced a 4 lbs. yield of pulled pork (from a 6.75 lbs. original weight) – seemed to be more than I expected.
o Splashed with a bit of sauce and it tasted great. To make it even better, my wife who is generally not a pork person really enjoyed it.

After removing from cooler


Very tender


The yield


Chow down


Changes for Future Smokes
• Try to find a thermometer with a wire so I don’t have to open the lid to check the internal temperature.
• Create a darker and crispier bark. Any tips or suggestions for doing so?
• Generate more smoke flavor – guess I need to use more wood chips. Wondering if another wood such as hickory would create more smoke flavor? Any tips or suggestions?
• Attempt to make own rub. Would like to try and make a spicier rub. Any spicy rub recipes?
• After pulling the pork and placing in separate pan, I will return the “pork juice” to not lose any flavor and keep moist.

Summary

All said and done, I was extremely happy with my smoke this weekend. Thanks to many of you on this forum for providing valuable information and insight. Admittedly, I still have some thing I would like to differently like I mentioned above. I would welcome any feedback, tips, and suggestions to make my next smoke even better.

[k.a.m.]

everss98, thats an awesome job you did on that Butt no doubt. It has a nice bark and beautiful color, and definitely pulled great.
Nicely done For me to achieve a nice solid bark I do not wrap until the Butt reaches 195°internal temp and I am pulling it off the cooker,
then I wrap it and let it rest for 30 min. And if any juice is in the foil I put it back in with the pulled pork. I like Pecan for my smoke on pork,
but will use Hickory, or Oak. I like a hearty smoke flavor so I am adding a lot of wood chunks through cook to achieve that. On my WSM or UDS
I know what the grates are cooking at that takes practice so I rarely open the cooker until about 4hrs into a cook on a 5 to 8lb Butt.
_________________
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Hybrid Cooker

[erniesshop]

Your Pork looks Great.......Maybe you ought to think about building a U.D.S. I think that will go along ways to Improve your Q !
Just my .02 worth ?

[Pigslips]

Hey that pork looks pretty good from here, nice effort. As far as changes here’s my take.

Changes for Future Smokes
• Try to find a thermometer with a wire so I don’t have to open the lid to check the internal temperature.
Buy a remote Redichek, look on Ebay.

• Create a darker and crispier bark. Any tips or suggestions for doing so?
[b]As long as you wrap, spritze, water pan and soak chips these all create humidity than thus take away from a crispy bark.[/b]

• Generate more smoke flavor – guess I need to use more wood chips. Wondering if another wood such as hickory would create more smoke flavor? Any tips or suggestions?
Keep on cooker all the time, no oven. Don’t open lid. Use liquid smoke.

• Attempt to make own rub. Would like to try and make a spicier rub. Any spicy rub recipes?
Easy done tons of recipies here and Google. Here’s my next try,

Emeril's Rib Rub
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne

Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning):
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

• After pulling the pork and placing in separate pan, I will return the “pork juice” to not lose any flavor and keep moist.
Try a finishing sauce,

Spicy Pulled Pork Finishing Sauce
Ingredients:
1 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
Combine Ingredients and heat until well blended stirring occasionally.
Let stand as long as possible, at least 1/2 a day, but the longer the better.
Good luck, you’re doing great……….
_________________

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sauces"

[daddywoofdawg]

You can pick up some thermometers with a wire at walmart in the pots and pans section or the BBQ section for around 7.00 I have a few and there pretty close on temp +-2F I think I bought my remote there too.and it right on.
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Good BBQ is all smoke and beers!
The Dawghouse Custom vertical Gasser
Custom Made offset smoker
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[polock]

if you can, wait about a month then go thermometer shoppin, they will all be onsale for the end of season clearance
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bullpin double barrel smoker
brinkman snp
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2 UDS's (love em)

[everss98]

Thanks for the feedback fellas. Always good to get some advice and direction from those that have done this stuff before.

As for the water pan that is present in my electric ECB, what is the real purpose for it? Is it to maintain a steady temperature, retain moisture, or both?

As for the steady temp that the electric ECB maintains - 225 degrees in my case. Is that too low of a temperature for larger pieces of meat? If so, what are some ways in which I can increase the temperature? I saw a mod were someone placed a fiberglass rope gasket around the bottom of the lid to prevent heat from escaping around the lid. Is that worth a try?

Thanks again.

[Pigslips]

[jawquin]

everss98,

That pork looks great and I bet it is very tasty. On the chow down sometime try slapping a big spoon of your favorite coleslaw on top. Oh yeah baby!!! I never new that till reading all the fine stuff the folks on here post.
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Traeger 070
Char Griller 3000
Traeger 022

[Smokin' Hoglegs]

Good looking cook everss98! The fact that your wife enjoyed it must have been a great feeling! I can put some pennies toward your questions. Sure you can get a more robust smoke flavor using different types of wood. I enjoy the apple flavor but you may prefer hickory or k.a.m. sure knows his stuff so pecan is probably pretty good to. Another trick is to not let your meat come up to room temp. I put it on the smoker cold as it absorbs more smoke flavor in the early part of the cook. double rub your butt for a good bark and it helps to run about 25* hotter. I ran 250 - 260 today and had a great bark. Some say foil will spoil your bark too. In my last two cooks I've used sand in my water pan which really helped me get over that 225 mark in my ECB. Just keep at it, and you'll find what works for you!
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22.5" weber kettle x3
weber performer
Fugly drum smoker x3
smokey joe
CI

[everss98]

Using sand in the water pan:
Interesting note on using sand in the water pan rather than water. I saw that tip in a couple other posts/threads, but the underlying reason for using sand was not provided. Does it allow for the ECB to maintain a higher operating temperature throughout the cook? Is ther any particular type of sand in which I should use?

Creating darker and crispier bark
Someone mentioned earlier that the water and humidity as a result of the water in the water pan and wrapping in foil is not helping me create a darker and crisper bark in which I desire. Knowing, this I may ditch both the water and foil for my next cook. I only used the foil because I was at 165 degrees 12 hours into the cook (6.75 lb.s. butt). Maybe I paniced and did not wait long enough, but I also think that the relatively low operating temperature make for a very slow cook.

Just hope I can get over that 165 degree stall and reach the 200 degree internal temperature.
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22" WSM

[stringbender128]

Great job!
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[fs3putt]

IMHO, you did a great job on both the pork and the photos. With regard to the 225 cooking temperature, since you are using an electric ECB, I'm not sure whether you will be able to get the smoker any hotter. The coils are only capable of reaching a specif temp.

I would suggest that you not put any water into the water pan. Just line the insides of the pan with foil. That will help to catch the drippings and make cleanup easier. The purpose behind water in the pan is to serve as a heat sink. It helps maintain a steady temperature. Since your cooker ran at 225, which is at the lower end of the slow cooking range (225-250), you would be safe to use the pan without water.

As far as the meat stalling is concerned, I've never cooked a pork butt that didn't stall at around 160. Be patient and leave it on the smoker. After a while, the temperature will start climbing again. It usually takes me about 12-14 hours to cook a pork butt. Remove it at 190-195 degrees, wrap it in aluminum foil, wrap that in a towel and place the whole bundle in a cooler for 1-2 hours. I think that you will be pleased with the results.
_________________
Frank

Weber Performer, 18.5 WSM

[Smokin' Hoglegs]

everss98, fs3putt knows his stuff for sure! The water pans main purpose is to be a heat sink. You could also use a foil lined bowl, as he suggested, or a clay flower pot plate, there are lots of options. I like the sand because it makes such a dense "heat sink" I can pull my charcoal basket out, shake my assh, refill, hokey pokey, put the coals back in, and still have a decent temp. With your electric, IMO you could prob use a foil lined pan and gain a few degrees. If you still have more fluctuation in temps than you want you may need to try the play sand, or think about your seals. Give it a try and show us how it worked out!
_________________
22.5" weber kettle x3
weber performer
Fugly drum smoker x3
smokey joe
CI

[day_trippr]

[BRBBQ]

Looks pretty good for being new.