Chging pork shoulder smoking method after 3 yrs stick burning. Appreciate input.

[Tallbald]

Hello folks. Saturday was a long day with an 11 hour smoke of a handsome 10 pound shoulder. My beautiful Weber Kettle had no trouble, with a few draft adjustments and using knowledge learned here on the forum (Thank you all again so much for sharing), maintaining a temp of 230 to 240 the entire time with just the  one starting  fill in the Slow and Sear 2.0. Topped off the water trough once at about 6 hours, and added cherry wood chunks as needed. Love my new Weber Kettle. Just love it.
 Thing for me is this. I have some physical issues that prevent me from putting in 11 hour smoke days any more even with rests. The stall period is the bugaboo for me. It took 3 hours Saturday to push through that stall from 180 to 195, at which point it was getting dark, I was hurting pretty badly, and I had to call it a day. Just too worn out to bring the IT up to 202 on my Weber and had to finalize it in the kitchen oven.
I've never wrapped a butt because I like a crisp bark. Texture of my fare means a lot to me and my family and I don't want to lose the crunch. Presentation is everything for food I say.
Reading here and watching some videos I've decided to try the following approach next time, which will be maybe in another 3 weeks. This is a culmination of everything I THINK I've learned and I'd appreciate other's thoughts of things to watch out for. I love and appreciate continuing education.

I plan to:
Start the butt early as always in a hot Weber at 230 degrees.
Don't cheat and look more than each couple hours, when I spray mist the meat.
Get the IT up to 165 or so and inject my 50/50 vinegar and fruit juice injection.
Bring it to the stall, which in my experience begins at around 175 to 180.
Pull and WRAP the butt with half a cup of liquid.
RAISE the Weber temp to 275, maybe even 300 until the stall surrenders to my will (grin), maybe even reaching 197 or thereabouts.
UNWRAP the butt and crisp the bark back up as I lower smoke unwrapped up to 202.
Pull and wrap again, resting an hour before I pull the meat from the bone and spread it out for cooling and packaging.

Sure hoping that I can reduce smoker time to maybe 8 hours. Friends am I missing something here please? Will the bark crisp back up in a hot Weber and reach the magic 202 quickly after unwrapping at say 197 up to 202 like I'm hoping?
Thanks for any critiques. Don

[SMOKE FREAK]

Have you ever tried cooking butts at higher temps? Butts will still be fine cooked @300 degrees.
Another thought is to cut the butt in half. You can remove alot of the crap from the inside and you end up with way more bark. Cuts a lot of the cook time for me.

[WNC]

Have you tried the snake method?
I don’t like to wrap either, I build a snake around my vortex in the 26er (same thing can be done in the 22 with or without a vortex) and that sucker will run 12-15 hours no problem.
I like to start mine the night before, temps will stay steady all night, wake up in the morning and start spritzing until it’s tender and done. Wrap in foil and rest in a cooler until we’re ready to eat.
Just and idea, might really cut down on the amount of “work” that you have to do and make things a little easier for you.



Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[HoosierKettle]

Man I would be tired too. My way is a lazy way. I’ll do a snake or just bank coals. I’ll let it go for 4 or 5 hours. Wrap with maybe some juice and toss in the oven to finish. Then I vent the oven and the wrap then seal up and let rest in the oven. Once pulled I mix in a vinegar based finishing sauce. Just a 1/4 cup and sprinkle with some rub and that’s it. I’ve only injected one time. I couldn’t taste the injection or notice any difference at all so I quit doing that. Of course that’s just my experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[Tallbald]

Thank you both. The snake method is what I originally did plan to use for smoking when I switched to a Weber from my modified OK Joe Highland offset. But then I began reading about potentials for discoloring or crazing the coating on my Weber over time, and honestly, the SNS 2.0 makes cleanup faster easier for this Old Beat Up Fat Man. My son and his black Weber kettle do great with the snake method for ribs he makes for his family, and I know it's a great and well thought out method. He and I compare notes now and again. Honestly however he is comfortable not cleaning up his grill and having everything in place before bed for the next time, while I can empty the SNS, clear the fine ashes, dump and rinse the catch pan and cover the grill before hitting the sack. Usually while the meat is resting before pulling while still warm.
 I'd wondered about cutting the butt  in two before smoking and that might be my easiest approach I see. Sometimes I've found there's more bone in one butt than another. There were actually two separate bones in Saturday's smoke, one of which ran quite a ways along the meat compared to butts I've cooked in the past. Maybe a fluke or a tired process tech.
 Do you folks have thoughts on the sequencing I lined out above? Can the bark be crisped up after a wrapped session to push through the stall or will it never be the same? I guess that's really a key concern for me.
Also, I usually smoke a couple chicken breasts when I smoke a butt. The wrap time and raised temp to push  the butt might work out to be a great time to get the chicken smoked start to finish. I'll have to see.
Thank you for your all's time responding. Don
 

[Tallbald]

Hoosierkettle I just now saw your reply. I admit that over the last three years I too have had to oven finish when I was just too worn out to keep on keeping on. In a useful comparison, I consider the Weber, without wood chunks, to be my outdoor "oven" now in a way. The heat is there already and will go as long as there's fuel. And there's no smoke smell permeating the kitchen and adjacent living room. My loving wife says "I don't mind that Honey. You enjoy what you're doing Babe" but I think she's just being nice to me. As always.
 I do really want that crisp bark however. Thus my curiosity about crisping after removing the wrap that gets me through the stall.
Don