First Pork Butt on the Primo XL

[ericbrown]

JCBBQ - I didn't see that interview...perfect. Thanks again!

[ericbrown]

Thanks!

[kmhfive]

Looks great! Well done.

[JCBBQ]

ericbrown in case you didn't see it, there's a section of pitmaster interviews. Chris Gove is interviewed by MH about kamado cooking.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grad-school-seminars-with-pitmaster-professors-aa/118899-chris-grove-on-kamados-runs-1-18-14

[ericbrown]

Thanks! Definitely did.

[RonB]

That looks like a good cook. I hope you took some notes so that the next one is even better.

[ericbrown]

Excellent...thanks for the info and the link!

[ericbrown]

Thanks!

[ericbrown]

To speed up the cook time.

[JCBBQ]

Looks great. Yes load up the smoker with charcoal and wood before long smokes. I generally have clean smoke by the time I get to about 210-225. Generally I budget about 45-60 mins from firestarting before the smoke is ready and I put the meat on. Take a look at what Chris Grove does with his firebox for long cooks.

http://www.nibblemethis.com/2013/03/how-i-smoke-brisket.html

I usually put about 5-6 chunks in with the charcoal. I don't fuss like he does with so many little pieces, but the idea is to load it up before you start.

[Mr. Bones]

Looks great!
Glad it went so well, an' now ya' learned some new things; very important to learn new things!!!

Wishin' ya Good Luck on yer Mother's Day cook!!!

[NortheastAl]

Mmm, mmm, looking good!

[Smoking77]

Looks fantastic! Congrats! Why do you think you should wrap earlier next time? Just to speed up the time? Or for taste reasons?

[ericbrown]

I'm planning on having some family over for Mother's day so i wanted to test out my techniques, etc so I decided to cook a pork butt on my new Primo XL.

Did a Dry Brine overnight and then put a Memphis Dust type rub on it (except I added a small bit of cayenne). Got the cooker up to 250 using Rockwood lump. Added some Pecan and Apple chunks in for smoke and threw the butt on expecting about a 6 hour cook on a really small butt (3.5 pounds) due to not specifying the size when my wife bought one..

A couple of lessons learned:

• With the indirect cooking plates in place, I can't easily add more wood like I could if I was cooking dual-zone on the Primo. I'll have to keep that in mind next time and weave some more chunks into the charcoal.
• I added the butt a bit too early for my taste. The smoke was still white and hadn't settled down to the lighter / more blue smoke. I'll wait about 15 minutes longer next time before adding the butt.
• I'll wrap it a bit earlier next time. I sat in the 150-160 stall for longer than I wanted to. I ended up wrapping it to get it past the stall and cranked the cooker up to 275. Lost control of it toward the end and the cooker moved up to 295ish right about the time I pulled the butt off.
• I'll use a bit better quality butt next time...this one turned out really good but it was a bit too small for my liking.

A few photos

After an hour:



Just pulled off the grill


Pulled:


Temp chart: