Need Help Achieving Good Bark!

[PitDoc]

I’ve been having trouble achieving good bark on pork butts. I’m using Meathead’s Memphis Dust rub recipe. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[HawkerXP]

What are you cooking on?

[HawkerXP]

I use a Weber kettle and PBC (Pit Barrel Cooker) I find that in the barrel because of its moist atmosphere my butts get less of that nice crusty bark. Still great but more moist.

[RonB]

If you are wrapping, wait until after the stall at around 180* - 185*. I t would hepl if we knew what you are doing.

What cooker?
What temp?
Are you wrapping?
When are you taking it off the cooker? (By temp or time, or something else.)

Don't worry - we will help you figure it out.

[RustyHaines]

I have a Weber Performer with SNS and a PBC. It has been my experience if I want great pork bark I will not wrap during or after the cook; and, the Weber always produces the better bark of the 2 cookers. I cook to an internal temperature of 195-198, verify with a probe tender test, and pull the pork within 30 minutes of coming off the cooker. I do not spritz or inject. I just dry brine and use a modified Memphis Dust (I substitute Hatch chili powder for paprika) for the rub. For me, this consistently yields great bark and moist meat.

[AmosMoses01]

I have a Weber Performer with SNS and a PBC. It has been my experience if I want great pork bark I will not wrap during or after the cook; and, the Weber always produces the better bark of the 2 cookers. I cook to an internal temperature of 195-198, verify with a probe tender test, and pull the pork within 30 minutes of coming off the cooker. I do not spritz or inject. I just dry brine and use a modified Memphis Dust (I substitute Hatch chili powder for paprika) for the rub. For me, this consistently yields great bark and moist meat.

I do just about the same, only difference in that I try to let it get to 203F before I take it off of the pellet smoker. No wrapping at 225F smoker temp means a loooooong time till it gets to 203F, so there is definitely bark, even on the pellet smoker. This one took 12 hours:

[JoeSousa]

The last butt I did on my kettle I cooked it at 275 or so with the SNS without wrapping. Vert good bark on it. The but was dry brined overnight and then rubbed with Memphis Meat Dust.

Maybe try bumping your temps up and waiting as long as you can before wrapping?

[JeffJ]

I sometimes have the opposite problem - too much bark, and by that I mean because I rarely wrap sometimes the exterior gets a bit over-done.

[fzxdoc]

I double dog ditto what most of you are saying: dry brine overnight, rub with MMD before smoking, no injection, no wrap, no faux cambro. Smoke to probe tender, pull and eat.

I get great bark on my PBC; I'd call it comparable to my SnS/WSCGC combo. The PBC often runs just a bit hotter than the WSCGC though.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

Not much to add, but I second the no wrap comments above. I don't wrap my butts, and set the high temp alarm on the meat to 203F and let it ride. I used to cook to 195F, but now know that "probe tender" is a thing, but like that most of the fat renders if I go to 203F. I get great bark on both the kettle+SNS and my offset.

I also do not wrap after the cook, just let it sit in a pan for a few minutes on the kitchen counter, mostly to cool down, then get out my meat claws and shred it up.

[Troutman]

Did some mini-center cut butts over the weekend, about 4# each. Got started late, did them on my kettle. My Fireboard grate probe kept reading between 175-200* but no more. I'm scratching my head, plenty of charcoal, burning nicely. Bi-metal thermo (which is accurate if you calibrate it to the Fireboard) was reading really hot. All of a sudden I get this spike on the graph that goes from 175* to 300*. Then within about 2 minutes it drops to 250* then settles back down to 175* again. I'm trying to cook at 275* for a hotter, faster result it's getting later in the afternoon.

So I'm thinking, oh crap now my Fireboard is going crazy again. Only had this replacement unit for about 4-5 months. Luckily I had another grate probe that came with the original Ultimate package so I swapped it out and bingo, rock solid at 275*. Problem solved and I kissed my Fireboard for good luck !!

So anyway, what's this got to do with achieving good bark? Well although I tend to agree that riding nekkid with every protein I cook is the preferred method, I'm not opposed to wrapping with butcher paper to power through a stall. It was almost 8 pm by the time I got things sorted in the cooker and my ITs were only around 170* so I wrapped. Bark by that time was set well. I didn't suffer any degradation to the bark in doing so and managed to get the meat done in about another hour as a result. Rested for about 30-40 minutes then pulled. Drug my butt to bed about 11:30 pm.

So the moral to the story is give yourself enough time obviously, but also to let your cook go as long as you can. I like to spritz because I believe moisture is very key to bark formation and the polymerization of the upper layer of the meat. Also let it ride and get fully developed, go unwrapped if you choose but use butcher paper if you need to power through a stall. Foil is my last choice since it tends to braise too much and gives a pot roast like finish while softening your bark, exactly what you are trying to avoid.

[PitDoc]

Since my original post I purchased a Rec Tec Bull. Yesterday I smoked a 9# Pork Butt and had good bark forming. Cooked at 250 with combo of hickory and black cherry pellets. Spritzed with a mixture of Apple Juice, lil ACV and bourbon(not the good stuff) about every hour. This photo is after about 4 hrs. Wrapped in foil at 160.


Overall cook took about 11.5 hrs. 2nd photo is at the end of the cook. Pulled at 203 and let it test for about 1 hr. Bark was a bit mushy so next time I think I’m going old school with no wrap or if I wrap it’ll be in peach butcher paper! Thanks for everyone’s input! God Bless!!!