Smokin' Joe

[jkdurden]

On this cook, I started the cook at 225-235 with apple wood and kept that temp for about 3 hours. Then bumped the temp up to 250-255. Kept it there until I had the bark I wanted and was nearing the end of the stall. I wrapped in foil (still need to buy butcher paper) and pushed the temps up to 295 for the remainder of the cook. Total time for the cook about 9-10 hours.

[Geary58]

That looks absolutely delicious!!!

[LA Pork Butt]

Thanks for the shout out. There are many different ways to get good Q. Developing a good system helps give consistent results.

[HawkerXP]

Welcome to the Pit!

[Thunder77]

Apple or cherry are my favorite woods for smoking pork butt.

[Texas Larry]

LA Pork Butt k butt has a good system there. I have a Big Joe, and do much the same for temp control. I sometimes put the wood under the charcoal. I don’t use a water pan. Have fun with your cooks.

[Mr. Bones]

Me neither, Mate...

[Stuey1515]

Welcome from Oz, you will like it here, I'll let the guru's make suggestions for the Kamado as I have no clue

[jkdurden]

Thanks everyone. I somehow missed the reply but everything turned out great. I appreciate your help. I hope it also benefited someone else.

Make it a great one.

JD

[LA Pork Butt]

@conraderzo yep! I use the one from BGE. I put it, the waterpan and the grill in when the temp reaches 300 and then let it settle down and stabilize at 225.

[conradzero]

Do you use the ceramic place setter to great deflect heat? Assuming you do unless you have a very big BGE.

[mountainsmoker]

Welcome from the mountains of North Carolina. LA Pork Butt gave you some good advice.

[FireMan]

Yup! Welcome JK. Eat good & have fun.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[LA Pork Butt]

I cook on a BGE, but I think what I do will work for you. I do mine overnight at 225 and plan for the cook to take 12-14 hours on a Butt that is almost 5” thick. Thickness of meat determines cook time. While I don’t usually wrap during the cook, I do wrap after the cook and plan to hold the meat in an ice chest for 2-4 hours before serving. Allowing one hour to start and stabilize the fire the total time will be from 15-17 hours.

Here’s how I set up the fire and wood. I place a layer of the largest pieces of charcoal in the bottom of the firebox followed by a layer of medium sized pieces and topped off with a layer of small completely filling the fire box. I bury a starter square on edge about mid way between the center of the charcoal and the bottom vent running from left to right. I light both corners of the square and let the temp run up to 300 degrees. The temp will drop when you put the diffuser in. Then I take a large fist size piece of hickory and place it directly on the fire. I put the diffuser and drip pan in, fill it with water and then put the grill on. While the water isn’t necessary more smoke is attracted because moister attracts smoke.

Once the cooker is stabilized at 225 I take the meat out of the frig and put it on the cooker. Cold attracts smoke. I go to sleep and check it when I wake up in the morning.

The good news for you is that the shoulder is the most forgiving piece of meat you can cook. Have fun.