1st Pork Butt on Traeger PTG Tailgate unit

[smoker pete]

Smoking/Cooking my 1st Pork Butt on my SYL-2372 PID modified Traeger PTG.  Running in the manual mode.  It's a little 6 lb bone-in Butt but as you can see it takes up most of the available space.  After 2 hours of 27-30% the IT is at 93º.  Updates to follow ...



   

Monitoring cook with my iGrill/iPad from the office 

[Pappymn]

No teasing now. Having too much unicorn meat lately

[smoker pete]

After 2½ hours.  IT=116º.  Bumped Output Value to 32% in order to get pit temp in the 325-350º range.  When IT=150ºF I will double wrap it foil and back into the PTG till the IT reaches 200-205ºF.  Then FTC for 3-4 hours before pulling it    The foil will help get through the stall ...



The pellet hopper holds 5 lbs.  After 2½ hours about half the pellets are gone.  The temp has been averaging in the 230-250º range.  Filled the hopper with Pacific Pellet Gourmet Hickory pellets.

[smokeasaurus]

Looking good so far............

[Sam3]

Nice!

[smoker pete]

Took 4 hours to reach an IT of 150ºF.  The Output Value of 32% is keeping the PTG fairly stable in the 325-340º range.



Double wrapped in foil and back into the PTG.  The foil will greatly minimize the stall.  Since this is my first pork butt in the PTG and because of the small pit size I've chosen to use a Turbo method that I've used in my MAK 2 Star many times rather than an overnight process.  So far, all is going according to plan ...

[TMB]

Looks good so far.  But got to ask, when you foil at 150 instead of 160 or 165 and then turbo cook do you not lose a lot of the good "low and slow"  by not melting fats/connective tissue ?

Asking cause I would think you'd want to pull and wrap above the 160 mark

[smoker pete]

It might be a little hard to see but the iGrill graph red line is the pork butt IT and shows a nice steady increase.  Happy to see that the temp swings do not adversely affect the IT increases.

The white line is the PTG pit temperature.  The first 2/3 of the graph is when the Output Value was set to 27% and 30% (~ 250ºF range).  Then a sharp spike down:  Opened lid for photo and refill pellet hopper.  Increased OV to 32% and temp stables out nicely in the 335-350º range.

Sharp spikes when I again opened the lid and when the IT reached 150ºF.  Refilled hopper, took photos, removed butt, wrapped in double foil, and inserted back in.  Right now the PTG has recovered nicely and is staying at a very stable 350ºF.  At the 5 hour mark the Pork Butt is sitting at an IT of 185ºF.

[smoker pete]

Looks good so far.  But got to ask, when you foil at 150 instead of 160 or 165 and then turbo cook do you not lose a lot of the good "low and slow"  by not melting fats/connective tissue ?

Asking cause I would think you'd want to pull and wrap above the 160 mark

Well Tommy I must admit that you absolutely correct!!  I just checked my little black book of recipes and I've always foiled my Pork Butts at 160ºF and NOT 150ºF ...  At my age, that's why I meticulously document all my cooks ... BUT it doesn't do me any good if I don't read my own documentation        Where were you a couple of hours ago 

I'm at 193º right now. I might just take it to 205-210º and hope that the 3 hour FTC rectifies my error!!  Time will tell.  Besides, as the Smoking Monkey once said ... "You can't hurt it cause it's already dead" ... 

[TMB]

Looks good so far.  But got to ask, when you foil at 150 instead of 160 or 165 and then turbo cook do you not lose a lot of the good "low and slow"  by not melting fats/connective tissue ?

Asking cause I would think you'd want to pull and wrap above the 160 mark

Well Tommy I must admit that you absolutely correct!!  I just checked my little black book of recipes and I've always foiled my Pork Butts at 160ºF and NOT 150ºF ...  At my age, that's why I meticulously document all my cooks ... BUT it doesn't do me any good if I don't read my own documentation        Where were you a couple of hours ago 

I'm at 193º right now. I might just take it to 205-210º and hope that the 3 hour FTC rectifies my error!!  Time will tell.  Besides, as the Smoking Monkey once said ... "You can't hurt it cause it's already dead" ... 

Working and watching what your doing with that Little pellet pooper 

The Smoking Monkey is a brilliant Monkey known him for awhile now

[nepas]

Really nice.

I knew i would want one these.

[Savannahsmoker]

Nice looking pork butt and way to go on getting the PID to work.

[TMB]

Really nice.

I knew i would want one these.

Bet it would fit in the trunk of the little car Rick!     

Or do you have it on order and having them ship it next site over

[mikecorn.1]

I'm liking that igrill. Even though I don't need it. . OJ, that hunk of meat looks delicious.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[smoker pete]

Took the Pork Butt to 205ºF followed by a 3 hour FTC.  Using a manual mode Output Value of 32% today on the PID provided a very stable 350ºF range.  Due to ambient temperatures, wind, etc each cook will use different Output Values but now I know that I can smoke & cook with this Tailgate unit ... More cooks to come 



Here's the bone-in Pork Butt after a 3 hour FTC ...  Pulled and ready to eat!!  SWMBO enjoys Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce on her sandwiches.







I prefer to wolf down the pulled pork with a side of freshly made pinto beans.  Who needs a bun!!  SWMBO said this was the best pulled pork I have ever cooked.  It turned out so tender and moist it literally melted in my mouth.  She also suggested that I should cook a pork butt once a week!    No need to freeze leftovers cause the 6 lb butt was just the perfect size.  It fed us, my Son's family, and left us plenty for pulled pork Burritos tomorrow night