Hey guys, today I’m going to show you how I like to smoke a pork butt on the Weber Smokey
Mountain. I’ll cover everything you need to know for getting super tender results.
I’ll even show you how to whip up a homemade Carolina Gold barbeque sauce.. for a really
epic pulled pork sandwich.. Let’s get to it!
Now, pork butts can vary a good bit in weight - this one was right at 9 lbs. As for the
fat cap, I don’t really mess with trimming that, you wanna leave that on, so this thing
comes out nice and juicy. Before the dry rub, you’ll want to use a
binder, I typically go with olive oil. For the dry rub, I used our Barbecue Guys Spiceology
Carolina Rub. This will be a good base layer of flavor for the pork, and of course feel
free to use your favorite rub - the homemade Carolina Gold sauce that I’ll show you will
bring that well loved mustard and vinegar kick to the pork.
This is a pretty big roast, so you can be libral with the dry rub, just work it into
all sides and edges… and this will help to form a nice bark.
When smoking a pork butt, it’s always good to get an early start. You can expect it to
smoke about an hour plus per pound. I used the 22 inch Weber Smokey Mountain for
this cook. Fill your smoker with a batch of unlit coal, and pour about a quarter of a
chimney starter of lit coal over the top of the base layer. This setup will allow the
unlit coals to kind of gradually catch, while you smoke.
The Smokey Mountain has a water pan that sits in the middle of the cooking chamber, beneath
the cooking grids. This is the perfect deflector for the rising heat, and a way to add moisture
while smoking. It fits a good bit of liquid, so I like to
use a mixture of water, apple cider vinegar.. And for this cook, I’m tossing some beer
into the mix, just pour that in too! At this point, you want to let your smoker preheat
and stabilize a bit. I’ll leave the bottom vents completely open
, as well as the top vent until the ambient temp reaches about 200 degrees. At that point,
you can dampen down the bottom vents to somewhere around half to a quarter of the way open.
Once you’re stabilized at 250 degrees, it’s a good time to toss on the smoking wood. I
like to use applewood with pork - about 4 to 5 chunks should do just fine.
Go ahead and put the pork butt on the grill, fat cap side up - you have a good bit of moisture
rising from that water pan - so having the fat cap on the top side will allow it to self
baste a good bit during the cook. It’s a good idea to monitor the cook with an internal
probe, as well as a probe placed at grid level. As for smoking temperatures, anywhere between
220 and 275 degrees will produce really great results.
I let it smoke for a little over 3 hours before checking in. At that point in the cook, you’ll
see some nice color starting to form. I don’t even worry about misting it at this point,
I'm really just taking a peek because it looks so darn pretty.
During the smoke, if you see your temperature start to drop a bit - just toss on a few chunks
of unlit coal. I love the big fuel door of the Smokey Mountain, because I don’t have
to take the meat off the grill to add coal.
The next time I took a peek was about six hours into the cook, the pork butt was looking
glorious! That rich mahogany color is what’s so special about smoking, it just looks like
meat candy! As for the spritz, same as what we used in
the water pan, 50/50 blend of water, apple cider vinegar, and yeah, some beer. A 50 / 50
mix of apple juice and apple cider vinegar is another solid option as well.
This is when you’ll wanna take a deep breath and savor that beautiful aroma.. You’ve
earned it! At this point, the water pan is almost empty,
so i’ll top it off, to keep that moisture rolling.
I like to shoot for 201 degrees internal on a pork butt, so at 6 hours in, this one still
has several hours to go. While it smokes, it’s a good time to mix
up the homemade Carolina Gold BBQ sauce. The gold color will come from a base of 1 cup
of yellow mustard. Follow that with ¼ cup some raw honey, 1 Tbsp. of tomato paste .. and
I like to add some heat with 1 Tbsp. of Tabasco. Follow that with 2 tsp. Of Worcestershire
sauce, ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar, and 1 tbsp of olive oil. For the dry seasonings,
I go with ½ tsp. of chili Powder, 1 tsp. Of garlic powder, and a bit more heat with
2 tsp. red pepper flakes. It helps to have an immersion blender on hand,
but if you don’t you can use a blender or a food processor to get a smooth consistency
to that sauce. The Carolina style sauce is a bit different than say, some of the other
tomato based sauces, that have a lot of sugar content to them, the Carolina style has a
lot less sugar content, which is gonna give you that more tangy flavor.
At 9 hours into the cook - it was looking beautiful.. Nice outer bark with some rich
color.. When you check in you might as well give it a spritz on some areas that are looking
a bit dried out. At this point the internal was reading one hundred and eighty six degrees.
So I checked in on the fire, and tossed in a couple more coals for the remainder of the
cook. All in all, it took right at 11 hours for
it to hit an internal temp of two hundred and one degrees. When you gaze upon your masterpiece..
I think you’ll agree the time you put into smoking was well worth it. When I went to
pull it off the grill, it just started to fall apart.. I’m never mad at a little snack
piece falling off to tide me over while it rests..
Man, when you lift it off the grill, you can just feel the tenderness - you know you’re
in for a treat! Give it a few slaps for good measure.. And it’s time to wrap it well
in some butcher paper, to let it rest for at least 30 minutes, and up to an hour if
you have the patience.. I like to place it in a cooler so the humidity
is trapped in. While the meat rests, I also like to brown up some onion rings for topping
my sandwich. For direct heat on your smokey mountain, just remove the water pan and open
your vents all the way to get a nice hot skillet. I’m looking for just a quick browning on
the rings, that way I get a savory but still crunchy onion ring. Right before they come
off, I dust them with some salt and pepper. And of course, brioche buns are next level
when you toast them with some butter. After almost an hour of resting.. It’s time
to open this smokey little present.. If you have a bone in roast, all you will need to
do is give it a little wiggle, and pull it on out.
As for shredding the pork.. It’ll be so tender by this point - Your hands will probably
be the only tools you’ll need…man.. it just falls apart. I like to toss it well so
that the bark and fatty pieces are well dispersed. To serve it up, look, I wanted to make just
a big nasty sandwich.. I topped that brioche bun with a fistfull of pulled pork, and poured
on the Carolina Gold sauce. Stacked the top with grilled onion rings.. And that right
there is a sandwich that will make your long day worthwhile!
Thanks for watching today. If you enjoyed the video - go ahead and give us a thumbs
up, and hey - down in the comments, let us know what you would like to see us cook up
next time! Cheers.