Butts for a birthday

Our first grandson turned two this week and we celebrate tomorrow. I have been honored by being asked to provide pulled pork for 25. I was hoping to find a pack at Sam's in the 20-22 pound range but was disappointed to find the largest pack was about 17 pounds. I got two of the smallest packs that were about 14 pounds. I'll have a little extra. I'll also do a couple naked fatties for the birthday boy.

Weather is very pleasant at about 70° and sunny with wind light at about 4 mph. We should climb to near 80° by afternoon.

I used a rub recipe similar to the previous cook with the addition of a couple tablespoons of oregano as follows:

• 2 Tbsp black Pepper (whole)
• 2 Tbsp Rosemary (dry, whole)
• 1 Tbsp Coriander (whole)
• 1 Tbsp mustard seed
• 2 Tbsp Hungarian Paprika.
• 1 Tbsp Adobo seasoning
• 1 Tbsp powdered onion
• 2 Tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp Cumin
• 2 Tbsp powdered garlic
• 2 Tbsp Kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp Oregano

These somewhat smaller butts are going on the 18.5 WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain.) The water pan is foiled and for the first time ever, I am using Kingsford Competition briquettes. For smoking wood I'm going with chunks of hickory, black walnut and apple.

time	temp	comment
9:00 am		propane on the mini-chimney about half full
9:10		partially lit chimney set on cooker.
9:20		lit chimney emptied on the fire lay and cooker closed up. Closed two bottom vents to about half and the third is fully closed.
9:45		Temps in the cooker around 260° and stable so meat on!
10:15	217°/48°/112°/230° (grate/pork/fatty/lid)
10:50	214°/68°/152°/220°	Opened one closed bottom vent to about 1/2.
11:13	252°/81°/163°/255°	Time to take the fatties off the cooker.
11:58	279°/108°/x/270°	Closed one bottom vent. (two remain half open.)
2:17 pm	275°/160°/x/250°	Moving right along!
3:40	262°/171°/x/250°
4:13	243°/171°/x/235°	Time to fiddle with the fire. Found lots of ash on the coals so I stirred them a bit and tapped on the grate so it wold fall through. Left lower vents as is (2x 1/2 open.) Boy that sure smells good!
5:05	264°/172°/x/???
5:20	248°/172°/x/225°	Added a couple handfuls of charcoal (left overs including some lump.) Need to get this show moving! Will open the third vent 1/2 also.
6:05	255°/174°/x/220°	Just added a couple more handfuls of new briquettes and opened two bottom vents full.
7:05	280°/181°/X/275°	Now we're cooking!
8:02	302°/196°/x/???	cooker closed up, meat on.
8:37	158°/198°/x/175°	meat off!

The butts were great! Some parts were a little harder to pull and others pulled very easy. Maybe they could have gone a little longer, but the result was very tasty.

Not sure I would do anything differently next time.