Did I goof on my pork shoulder?

[SmokinInNH]

I've noticed that the wood I use seems to be reduced to ash in just a couple of hours. I read about wrapping the wood on all 3 sides with tin foil. I used hickory from SmokinLicious and wrapped it up. Set the temp at 220 and going for an internal temp of 170.  After almost 2 hours holding steady at 220, I'm not seeing any smoke escaping. 

Is there a temperature cut-off where ones wraps the wood or not?

 

[dibiase]

I wouldn't worry about it.  I know when I smoke my pork shoulders I do 225 until the internal temp of 190.  Whey it first starts smoking the smoke is heavy and easy to see but after a little while it tapers off and is hard to see but my butts always come out great.  How much wood did you put in?  I do 6 oz for my butts.

 

[old sarge]

You are fine. If the finished shoulder is light on smokiness add more wood on your next smoke.

 

[DivotMaker]

How much wood did you use, Mark?  Did you weigh it?

 

[jcboxlot]

Sounds fine, 2 hours is a normal cutoff.  Taste will be fine.

 

[Pork Belly]

Why 170? Are you planning on pulling or slicing? that's a bit high for slices (150'ish), and too low for a good pull (190'ish)

 

[SmokinInNH]

It was 8 pounds and I was following the recipe on the smokin-it site: http://www.smokin-it.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/recipepork.pdf

First time I ever tried pork shoulder. I did come out very well, pulled chunks out of it and made sandwiches.  I was unable to check how much wood was used as we have a big thunderstorm last night.

How should I cook this next time as it appears the temps on the smokin-it site were incorrect??

 

[jcboxlot]

I forgot that link was even out there  Might need an updating.

Before mentioned is more accurate, 190 to pull, 150 internal to slice/chunk

 

[DivotMaker]

It was 8 pounds and I was following the recipe on the smokin-it site: http://www.smokin-it.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/recipepork.pdf

First time I ever tried pork shoulder. I did come out very well, pulled chunks out of it and made sandwiches.  I was unable to check how much wood was used as we have a big thunderstorm last night.

How should I cook this next time as it appears the temps on the smokin-it site were incorrect??

Ohhh... I've been trying to get Steve to get those old recipes updated!  Sorry about that!  Don't follow the recipes on the SI company site; come here, instead!  Those were created when the company was new, and they were still trying to figure it all out!  Fortunately, we've done all the "heavy lifting" on how to wring-out these smokers to their fullest capabilities, here at the best BBQ forum on the planet!  lol.  Seriously, come here for advice on how to smoke the best Lazy Q on the planet!

 

[SmokinInNH]

I've decided to try again. Brined my boston butt overnight for 12 hours in my briner jr
Washed it off, dried it off and put some karo and rub on it and proceeded to start the smoker
First thing that was off was that the temperature sensor went up a degree a second (is it a loss or will smokin-it fix it?)

So, pulled out my bluetooth iGrill device and set that up
Next thing is that my wood, about 6 ounces of cherry, 2 separate chunks seemed to have gone up in smoke quite quickly, there was a fair amount of smoke billowing out of the top of the smoker for 40 minutes or so, it has now tapered off a bit, it's a nice cool morning at 46
Perhaps I messed up my wood, I had a order of 3 different woods from smokinlicious:  Hickory, Sugar Maple and Wild Cherry BUT the stamps on the box are faded! So, I'm not sure what I had thrown in.  Heard a lot of good things about those guys too

I'm at 58 degrees now, I'm going to simply wait until it gets to 190 [the temp is 235 inside the box]

Perhaps this cut of pork isn't suited for me cooking

and because posts should have pics, one of the smoker (it was heavier than this earlier) and the shoulder

 

[JackT]

Check your box temp probe and see if it got fouled on the previous smoke. Residue on that probe can cause erratic changes on the readout.

 

[SmokinInNH]

I'll check the probe, thanks for the tip
A bit over 13 hours in the smoker and then a 90 minute nap double wrapped and it was all goodness

 

[SconnieQ]

Looks good. Don't worry about the details too much while it is smoking like color/amount of smoke, early temp rise, stall time, etc. It will just make you crazy, and you will be opening the door constantly, which will for sure screw up your smoke. And avoid "cranking" the heat if at all possible. Allow extra time, it can always rest longer. You should carefully document everything you see though. Then when done, evaluate the flavor, moistness, etc., and decide which part of the process needs tweaking, if at all.

 

[BedouinBob]

Mark, looks prokilicious to me...

 

[ibbones]

Next thing is that my wood, about 6 ounces of cherry, 2 separate chunks seemed to have gone up in smoke quite quickly, there was a fair amount of smoke billowing out of the top of the smoker for 40 minutes or so, it has now tapered off a bit, it's a nice cool morning at 46

I have yet to smoke a butt with cherry.  How was that?  It sure looks good.
  I also ordered a 1 cubic foot of wood from Smokinlicious and also had really faded stamps on the box.  I did get the receipt and saw what woods were sent and figured out which is which and with my trusty green sharpie, my box is labeled.

 

[Perkolater]

Looks pretty tasty Mark.  Like Kari said, dont overthink the appearance or lack of smoke.  'Taste' is the vote that counts.

 

[EFGM]

Now that's awesomeness! Great Smoke Mark!

 

[NDKoze]

Next thing is that my wood, about 6 ounces of cherry, 2 separate chunks seemed to have gone up in smoke quite quickly, there was a fair amount of smoke billowing out of the top of the smoker for 40 minutes or so, it has now tapered off a bit, it's a nice cool morning at 46

I have yet to smoke a butt with cherry.  How was that?  It sure looks good.
  I also ordered a 1 cubic foot of wood from Smokinlicious and also had really faded stamps on the box.  I did get the receipt and saw what woods were sent and figured out which is which and with my trusty green sharpie, my box is labeled.

Cherry is AWESOME on pork butts. I love straight Cherry, but one of my favorites is a 50/50 Cherry/Hickory combo.

 

[MarkF]

I always set the temp on my analog to 150ish for about 30 minutes, then 225 for the smoke. Keeps the element from just being continuously on when ramping up to temperature. Since doing that, I have had no smoke issues.

Pork looks good.

Divot maker, when do we get a smell option on this site (hehe)

M

 

[ibbones]

Next thing is that my wood, about 6 ounces of cherry, 2 separate chunks seemed to have gone up in smoke quite quickly, there was a fair amount of smoke billowing out of the top of the smoker for 40 minutes or so, it has now tapered off a bit, it's a nice cool morning at 46

I have yet to smoke a butt with cherry.  How was that?  It sure looks good.
  I also ordered a 1 cubic foot of wood from Smokinlicious and also had really faded stamps on the box.  I did get the receipt and saw what woods were sent and figured out which is which and with my trusty green sharpie, my box is labeled.

Cherry is AWESOME on pork butts. I love straight Cherry, but one of my favorites is a 50/50 Cherry/Hickory combo.

Thank you.  I'll be trying that in about two weeks.