Hi All,
Just got a new WSM 18.5 and yesterday did my first pork butt.
It didn't come out as I'd hoped so I was looking for some suggestions for next time.
This is what I did:
It was a 4 pound, no bone butt
I salted 12 hours prior to cooking and then rubbed with Meathead's Memphis Dust before cooking.
Kept the smoker in the 225-235 zone pretty well (I'm using a ET-732). Empty water bath. The meat was on the top rack
The stall came and the meat stuck at 154 for ages. I put the meat on at 9am, hoping it would be done in time for dinner.
At 5pm it was still stuck, so I cranked the temp up to about 270 and eventually up to 300.
Finally the meat started to climb, but not fast enough for dinner.
Ended up pulling it off the grill at 8:30pm, the meat was at 183 at that point.
The meat had good flavour, had a great bark, but it was quite dry.
Now my question is:
What caused the dryness? Would it have got better if I'd left it to 203F? Or was it the higher temps that caused it to dry?
Any suggestions, gratefully received.
Thanks
Dave.
Just got a new WSM 18.5 and yesterday did my first pork butt.
It didn't come out as I'd hoped so I was looking for some suggestions for next time.
This is what I did:
It was a 4 pound, no bone butt
I salted 12 hours prior to cooking and then rubbed with Meathead's Memphis Dust before cooking.
Kept the smoker in the 225-235 zone pretty well (I'm using a ET-732). Empty water bath. The meat was on the top rack
The stall came and the meat stuck at 154 for ages. I put the meat on at 9am, hoping it would be done in time for dinner.
At 5pm it was still stuck, so I cranked the temp up to about 270 and eventually up to 300.
Finally the meat started to climb, but not fast enough for dinner.

Ended up pulling it off the grill at 8:30pm, the meat was at 183 at that point.
The meat had good flavour, had a great bark, but it was quite dry.
Now my question is:
What caused the dryness? Would it have got better if I'd left it to 203F? Or was it the higher temps that caused it to dry?
Any suggestions, gratefully received.
Thanks
Dave.
Comment