Pork Butt lacked smoke flavor

[Thomassen]

I smoked a 5lb Berkshire pork butt for pulled pork today. The final product did not have a lot of smoke flavor. I've never noticed that with brisket, beef or pork ribs, try-tip, or anything else. I used Kingsford Professional, used a DigiQ fan system to regulate barrel temp at 270, even put in a few pieces of post oak. Wrapped in foil after 5 hours with some pineapple juice, on the grate for 2 more hours, rested in the faux camber for another 2.5 hours. It was fine, just minimal smoke flavor. Anyone with similar results?

[MsTwiggy]

Was the butt cold when you put it on the smoke?

[Thomassen]

Yes, 39 degrees.

[Jerod Broussard]

Maybe it left with the pineapple juice.

I hardly ever wrapped butts in the barrel.

[Thomassen]

I'll have to try not wrapping.

[Soonerpop]

I’ve never wrapped in the PBJ.

[Michael_in_TX]

My pork butts on the PBC are decently smoked. I use KBB and four 4-oz or so chunks, two each of cherry and hickory. Two of the chunks I will place on the unlit coals before I pour the lit coals in. I then toss the remaining two chunks on top of the lit coals.

My PBC runs 275-325 F.

[Jessterr]

What was different about the details of this cook versus others that turned out the way that you liked them? It could have been the slightest of things, the old adage being "the devil is in the details". I do like the observation above that maybe wrapping in juice could have washed off the smoke flavor. I do wrap my pork butts, usually at 150F to 160F, but don’t generally add anything before wrapping.

[Thomassen]

I'll try not adding juice if I wrap next time.

[fzxdoc]

Wow, minimal smoke flavor from a PBC, no less. Some folks here with smokers that deliver a lighter amount of smoke to food occasionally remark that PBC food can be too smoky for their tastes. So it's surprising that your pork butt did not have the smoke profile that you've come to expect.

I go along with others regarding the wrapping with additional liquid being the culprit. Waiting until the meat is 170-180° before wrapping can ensure a bark that is better set, more effectively locking in some flavor, to my mind at least. I don't wrap pork butts, as a rule, though.

FWIW, usually I add 4 to 6 oz wood to the PBC for shorter cooks, adding another 4 oz if the cook is a long one. The PBC site says that adding wood is not only not necessary but may contribute to higher temperature cooks. I have not found this to be true with my PBC; my family likes the more pronounced smoke profile that the PBC puts out, with or without added wood chunks.

Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

Wow, Jessterr , it's so nice to know that I must have good taste in cookers, since you own both the PBC and WSCGC as well. We like PBs done on both cookers. I've performed comparisons over the years of identical cuts of meat cooked simultaneously on both cookers. Both do a great job. With the PBC, the smoke flavor is more forward and then fades as the piece of meat continues to be chewed and swallowed. The opposite happens with meat on the WSCGC.
So we don't really have a preference, except

[fzxdoc]

(continued...ran out of remaining characters)
for poultry, at which the PBC shines, IMO and also according to my family. Not that poultry on the WSCGC is bad, it's just a little different in juiciness and flavor. If I didn't have a PBC I probably would still rave about the WSCGC's poultry cooks, but having a PBC, it gets the nod.

continued...

Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

(continued...)

Which cooker I use depends on weather, convenience and volume. I love the flavor of PBs on the PBC--I hang them until they reach 160 then move them to the grate. I seldom wrap them unless I'm in a hurry. I use food safe silicone bands to wrap around the PB to hold it together as it hangs.

In the wintertime, the PBC is so darn easy to clean that I use it more so I don't have to be out cleaning the WSCGC grate and belly as the cold winds howl.

Kathryn

[rickgregory]

"Wrapped in foil after 5 hours with some pineapple juice"

Don't wrap. You block smoke flavor with wrapping.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Pineapple juice being highly acidic and whatever other properties it has that tenderizes meat, probably broke down the smoke layer I would assume.

[rlozinak]

I am thinking wrapping did it. I don't wrap as a rule

[jpsep]

Check out Mad Scientist BBQ on YouTube. You can wrap, but butcher paper is better. Meat can only absorb so much smoke over time. Once it’s reached that point you can wrap in paper and finish on the PBC or in the oven.

[Finster]

I often don't think my cooks seem very smoky. i always ask everyone else how smoky they think it is...
they always tell me I'm nuts when I say something doesnt taste very smoky...lol.
Maybe being around the pit, smelling smoke, all day messes with my tastebuds

BTW...I like the pineapple juice idea.
may have to give that a try

[Jim White]

One more crazy thing to try. Were you still wearing the clothes you wore while starting the fire and smoking the butt? If your clothes are very smoky all day, your receptors can get overloaded. I've gone to changing clothes (and sometimes showering) once a smoke hits the long phase with no intervention. You might be surprised to start agreeing with the other folks that the smoke flavor is there after all. Same applies if you think the leftovers taste smokier than on the first day.

[Jessterr]

I’ve had the same experience, this is hilarious! Thought it was just me, but I had started to suspect this is what might actually be going on. I spend all day doing ribs or pork butt etc, and everyone says it tastes awesome yet I’m disappointed. Then the next day find myself thinking wow, these ribs are really good after all. Maybe I’ll try wearing nose plugs, just when around the smoker. Seriously, I might actually try that.

[Huskee]

Wrapping didn't do it- I always wrap (after the stall though, not to a clock). I never add liquid. You could try no liquid and smaller butts next time for more surface area & bark.

[Huskee]

Do you have other smokers you've done butts in for comparison? I know the PBC tastes different, more grilled than smoked, is this apparent to you too or could this be part of the story here?

[Thomassen]

I've only used my PBC to smoke meat.

[jfmorris]

I would skip the wrap, and definitely skip the pineapple juice. That probably washed off a lot of the bark and most of your smoke flavor. I've used it as a marinade ingredient, but not as a spritzing or mopping liquid.

[FireMan]

Just my feelin on the matter is, ditto on the wrap. I don’t with my barrel ever. Interesting question, did anyone other than you get the "no smoke" results?