Success and failure

[Freeeire1916]

First I'll start with the failure since hopefully I'll get some insight. I am currently smoking a 9lb pork butt. It's rubbed with traeger coffee and black pepper rub as well as meat church holy gospel, layered a few times (just before cooking not overnight) with yellow mustard binder. I smoked it at 240 until I got an internal temp of 175..the problem I ran into is that my rub never dried and set. It just got kind of pasty.

I wrapped it at 175 in butcher paper as I just figured I failed on the park but could still save the tenderness of the butt. Anyway, any thoughts on what happened here? I've never had this issue before.

One thing I did differently leads me to the success. I smoked 2 chuck roasts with Montreal steak seasoning as a rub and made some pretty delicious cheese steaks with tbe meat (and fried onions and green peppers).

Could the additional meat on the smoker have increased the humidity?

 

[Redoctapus]

First I'll start with the failure since hopefully I'll get some insight. I am currently smoking a 9lb pork butt. It's rubbed with traeger coffee and black pepper rub as well as meat church holy gospel, layered a few times (just before cooking not overnight) with yellow mustard binder. I smoked it at 240 until I got an internal temp of 175..the problem I ran into is that my rub never dried and set. It just got kind of pasty.

I wrapped it at 175 in butcher paper as I just figured I failed on the park but could still save the tenderness of the butt. Anyway, any thoughts on what happened here? I've never had this issue before.

One thing I did differently leads me to the success. I smoked 2 chuck roasts with Montreal steak seasoning as a rub and made some pretty delicious cheese steaks with tbe meat (and fried onions and green peppers).

Could the additional meat on the smoker have increased the humidity?

Hello 1916,
How many hours at 240F?

Verify smoker temp with another thermometer.

I wrap at 145-150 or so. 10 to 20 degrees increase per hour until the stall is kinda typical...

 

[Freeeire1916]

Thanks for the reply Red, not to sound rude but maybe my question didn't come through properly. The cook and time for the butt is fine. I just placed in in the cooler after 10hrs. I smoked at 240 for about 7 hours then wrapped for about 3 hrs in butcher paper and now it's in the cooler....my problem is this sad wet and gummy rub that I couldn't get to dry out and create a nice bark.

 

[Redoctapus]

Thanks for the reply Red, not to sound rude but maybe my question didn't come through properly. The cook and time for the butt is fine. I just placed in in the cooler after 10hrs. I smoked at 240 for about 7 hours then wrapped for about 3 hrs in butcher paper and now it's in the cooler....my problem is this sad wet and gummy rub that I couldn't get to dry out and create a nice bark.

NP.
If after 7 hours at "240" , I'm just wondering if it is a verified 240.
What was initial internal temp?

 

[Freeeire1916]

The internal temp hit 165 after about 6hrs. I left on the extra hour (hit 174 degrees at that point) to see if bark would set after I pulled the beef. I use a thermpro grill probe to verify temp woth every cook. Temp stayed within +/-10 degrees throughout cook.

 

[brewersfan73]

You said you've never had this issue before, correct? You've done the multiple layers of mustard and rub before and have gotten a nice bark? My gut feel when I first read your post is that you got too thick of a layer of mustard and rubs, and that it never really set like you were hoping. But if you've done it before and had success, then I'm not sure.

 

[Freeeire1916]

Hey Brewersfan, just one layer of mustard with multiple layers of rubs. But I think I may have overworked the rubs into the mustard now that you just said that.....I just broke it down and it's perhaps the best butt I've ever made. The barks ended up fair (not great) but the post is absolutely perfectly cooked. All in all very happy with the flavor.

 

[Redoctapus]

Hey Brewersfan, just one layer of mustard with multiple layers of rubs. But I think I may have overworked the rubs into the mustard now that you just said that.....I just broke it down and it's perhaps the best butt I've ever made. The barks ended up fair (not great) but the post is absolutely perfectly cooked. All in all very happy with the flavor.

End results Rule!
I don't always season and let rest over night. More often then not I work off of a tailgate, so I lightly season the but and let it it rest a few minutes. Then a few shakes of Whats-this-here-sauce and rub it in. Then a circle squirt of yellow mustard and try to make that cover the whe butt, sometimes another squirter on a side or two, but not slathered on. Just enough to have a tacky base. Then I shake homemade rub on all sides and pat it in, at that point all the rub is damp and a darker color.
By this time the original layer of salt is already pulling moisture as evident in the full hotel pan I work in. So if I am doing several butts sometimes this is the only rest time bc smoker is hot and the cooking starts.

If any one spot look really wet I pat in a little more rub as they are going in the smoker.

I always watch for the stall so I know when to wrap.