Tips on smoking pork shoulder..

so the last half pig we purchesed we got 3 giant 15-16 pound pork shoulders.. I’m relatively new to smoking (less than a year) so I’m looking for some tips on how to smoke something like this.

I’ve seen estamites at 2hr per pound for pork shoulders. That sound right? With a finish temp of 200*

Any other words of advice?

 

I wouldn't think it would take 30 hours but 15 lbs is a big pork butt. yes 190-200 is a good temp. then wrap it in foil and let it rest a while before pulling it

 

There's a whole lot of fat in that fat-cap that needs to render out. Most of that happens at the last stage. I always start fat-cap up, but I quite often turn the fat-cap down for the last few hours to let that really greasy stuff drip out. This also protects the good meat from drying out and getting hard as its not towards the high heat. Worst case, the fat cap sticks to the grill.

225 degrees is best. 250 - 275 at the start wont hurt but dont get over 275. It takes some time to get the cooker temp to stay steady at 225-250 as the meat goes on cold and as the meat warms up the cooker temp will climb.
You'll hit a plateau around 160-170 where the meat temp will not climb because the moisture cannot evaporate fast enough, (evaporative cooling). This is where Eric VW 's foil wrap comes in... ('cause he's impatient... ) Foil wrap is a trick that will work, but IMHO I feel that it also steams the meat. I will do this with ribs though because they're thin and can dry out quick.

Probably the best way to tell if the pork butt is done is when you can see the meat pulling away from the bone and you can twist the bone (shoulder blade) and it would pull loose. If the meat is no longer attached to the bone, the connective tissues are broken down. Those tissues break down around 190*

Be patient and keep the lid closed as much as possible. And have fun!

I should have asked earlier what type of heat are you using. Electric, propane, charcoal/wood?

 

And since you'll be doing a lot of waiting on this big butt, you'll have lots of time to make a good bbq sauce that will compliment the meat.

 

Cut that sucker in half. They’re commercially cut at around 8# and that’s not an accident.

I also trim off all of the fat cap or other fat chunks, the flavor comes from all of the fat within the meat and I’ve never liked eating big chunks of fat. Those things never quite melt away like butter.

Then run the pit at 250 until the internal probe says 200. The rise in internal temperature will slow down at the render temperature but just wait for 200.

No foil, no basting, no flipping, just time in the pit!

That’s what I do Anway. An 8# roast will feed my family more than a few meals.

 

So we smoked one of the shoulders. Started it last night at 10.

19hrs later. I ran the first 12hrs at 200 and finished at 225 for the rest.

It’s so flipping good!

 

Looks excellent!

and now I'm even more hungry than I already was...