Trying my luck with Pulled Pork and a smoker..

[Maverick7687]

I have had this vertical water smoker for a little over a year now and never really used it to its full potential. I have used it just like a regular charcoal grill for burgers, steaks, etc..

Now, I have two Boston Butts that I picked up at Sam's and I'm ready to fire this thing up and get started..

Any tips from the pros are very welcome, I will be on here a lot in the next few hours since this will take a while..

[small change]

I have had this vertical water smoker for a little over a year now and never really used it to its full potential. I have used it just like a regular charcoal grill for burgers, steaks, etc..

Now, I have two Boston Butts that I picked up at Sam's and I'm ready to fire this thing up and get started..

Any tips from the pros are very welcome, I will be on here a lot in the next few hours since this will take a while..

Beer and Lots of it

It will take a long time for them butts to get up to the 190/195 degree range

if you are pullin them butts that is

also make sure you wrap the butts in foil and let them rest half an hour when they are done to let the juices redistribute throught the roast.

[Maverick7687]

The foil comes after they get to the 180-190 range though once they're out correct?

[small change]

The foil comes after they get to the 180-190 range though once they're out correct?

Yes sir but keep the beer iced down

Don't want that gettin warm

[Maverick7687]

Beer stays in the fridge until consumed.

[Maverick7687]

... And we're off.. I had to run around a little to get some more things but the first piece of meat is on and cookin'. I realized I need to learn better heat control so I will be checking that often.

I also saw this and thought it would go along well with this industry, as well as yellowirenut's "Pot Smoker"..

[viceman]

it will be done when its done. baste with apple juice to keep moist.

it will hit a plateau when the internal temp wont seem to be rising.

be patient it will get done.

[Maverick7687]

It's done, and it's awesome!

Great experience that I will definitely be doing again soon. I have two more of these bad boys in the fridge..

Only complaint that I have is the smoker, it is horrible for temperature control. It's the Brinkmann vertical R2D2 model. I have found a website with a few "mods" that can be done to it to improve the temperature control and help the wood/coal last longer. I will be doing those tomorrow then trying another. I want to try different home-made rubs and BBQ sauces too so if you have a favorite, bring it on. I saw a couple other threads here about Sauces and such too that I will be browsing as well.

After this.. Buddy's BBQ can kiss my ass.. ;-)

[viceman]

if you want accurate temp and smoke times check out the bradley smokers. not cheap but worth the money

[wahoo]

Tried a vertical "box type" smoker at my son-in-laws a couple of weeks ago. First we cooked two whole chickens, and then a day or so later tried some pork tenderloin (kind of like small pork butt). Also had problems keeping the temperature up in the smoker. The chicken looked great, but internal temp. would not come up, so after 5 hours, we just put it in microwave to finish the internal cooking. Tasted great, we used hickory for smoke. Also had to put the larger pork loin in microwave to get internal temp on up, but looked and tasted great. But in the hours of cooking, we did manage to get quite a lot of beer drank (we kept it on ice nearby the smoker!). I've got a smaller "roaster" type smoker that I use at home. Its electric, and has a seperate heated area for the wood chips. It cooks great, and has good flavor, however it does not "brown" well. So there are drawbacks to a lot of the cheaper smokers. Gonna have to look at a better unit, but can't give up the beer money to buy it!!! First things first.

[kls-ccc]

I have a Brinkman water smoker, bought it this year, don't remember the model. Has similar problem with the temp control till this last time. I have a starter chimney for the charcoal, I filled it half way, lite it off, dumped it into the smoker when the coals were readythen dumped in another small batch about 2 hours later. It took about 7 hours to cook a 3# chuck roast to 170* but it turned out good.

[madison069]

Temperature Control is tough with wood burners or coal burners. One of the reason Electric or Gas is prefered for some smoker, but no flavor this way. Only thing you can do is just watch the temp gauge near the meat and adjust the air door and add wood as the time goes on.

Great time to drink beer and enjoy the back yard thinking of all of the things you should be doing but instead tending to some delicious BBQ!

[trey r]

Check out bbq-brethren.com great forum for all things smoked. search UDS ugly drum smoker I made one for about 60 bucks best smoker I ever had. It will run about 250-270f for 16 hours on 10# of charcoal