Need Tips on Smoking Boston Butt

Here's my basic rub.

1 cup dried brown sugar or turbanado sugar (preferred)
1/4 C chili powder
3 T cumin
2 T black pepper
2 T garlic powder
2T onion powder
1/3 cup paprika
2 T celery seeds or 1 T ground.
2 T coriander
1 T grnd oregano
I add either ancho or chipolte chili powder to taste.

Most rubs use salt to draw the spices in, but I believe that happens if the meat is wrapped to finish and then rested. I've not been able to detect that the theory is wrong.

I basically use the same rub recipe as wbwood but the paprika I use is a bourbon smoked paprika that I get from a local winery. I also use a mix of apple and hickory chucks and find the flavor to be really good with any pork that I'm smoking. Tim

A single rub can be altered slightly for all smoked meats IMO. I stick to one most of the time and make small adjustments. I eliminate the sugar all together for beef and cut it back for chicken.
I know some use nutmeg and Leo's cloves sound interesting, I'll have to try them.
I think the great thing about a rub is that you can experiment and take a good basic one and tweak it for your personal tastes. I find the difference in rubs more noticeable than in the wood used. They should compliment each other however.

You don't have to use a grate to change the clearance in the Brinkman. You can turn the pan upside down and then put a small can of water on top of it. IMO you only need water while you're pouring the smoke to it.

wbwood wrote:

johnhicks wrote:
Fill the water pan with sand. The purpose of the water pan isn't steaming, it's for a heat sink.

Why isn't it called a sand pan then?

Why do you "park" on a driveway and "drive" on a parkway?? LOL

SETenn wrote:
Thanks again for the help, especially the recipe.

I gave the rub recipe to a coworker that just started out smoking. He was doing a lot of chicken legs. He loved the rub recipe so much that he made a huge batch of it. He gave the recipe to another coworker and he said he put it on tilapia and baked it in the oven and said it was good. I will have to try that.

My in laws gave us a large Big Green Egg. Haven't done any smoking on it yet. Might have to give it a try.

johnhicks wrote:
Fill the water pan with sand. The purpose of the water pan isn't steaming, it's for a heat sink.

I would have to take exception to that. High humidity helps block evaporation from the meat. Most commercial operations use green wood which produces a wetter smoke than home choices do.the moisture carries the smoke better, that's why you can buy it in liquid form.

I took a closer look at how the dome lid fits onto the middle section of the smoker yesterday. The fit was awful as there were several large gaps between the edge of the lid and the middle section when it was set on the smoker. I think I am losing a large percentage of my smoke through these gaps. I am going to close these with aluminum foil during the next smoke and see if that helps. I'm also going to use more chunks of wood since I have been able to raise the water pan a little bit.

Thanks again for the help, especially the recipe.

johnhicks wrote:
Fill the water pan with sand. The purpose of the water pan isn't steaming, it's for a heat sink.

Why isn't it called a sand pan then?

Fill the water pan with sand. The purpose of the water pan isn't steaming, it's for a heat sink.

I add allspice to the rub when doing pork. It's a very complimentary flavor with pork. I also inject the butt with a mix of apple juice and ginger ale, and put some of the mix is the water pan.