A little discouraged

I've cooked 4 times on my Mak 2 Star and haven't hit a homerun yet. Two things I've cooked on it that I've been real successful with on other cookers are tri tip and pork ribs.

For my tri tip I tried a reverse sear. I had the Mak flame zone cover off and the Mak searing grate on the left side. Used oak pellets; put the tri tip on the right side at 225 until internal temp of 125 then moved to warmer while cooker went to high. Then put on the searing grate until internal temp of 140. It came off with a good smoke ring but was too well done and was just plain tough. Kind of like I expect my first brisket to come out

My beef short ribs before that also ended up a little over done and tough.

I'm wondering if... well at this point I don't what to wonder. Often when I've smoked I've had some humidity in the mix; would a container of water in the cooker help?

I've promised pulled pork in a week and a half for a family party of 15-20 folks; this is the kind of event I bought the Mak for. I've cooked pulled pork at least 10 times on various cookers and have had pretty good success. I want to make sure I'm successful here.

This weekend I'm going to do a test cook:

• Brine overnight in water, salt, and molasses
• Rub with a rub I've used before
• Start at 225
• When the butt hits 145, push up to 275.
• Pull at an IT of 195
• Tent for 15-30 minutes; pull and serve

This is pretty close to my recipe and technique I've used before. Anything else (or different) I need to do? I need to hit a home run here or I'll get discouraged.

dude, everything i cook on my mak is a home run. where are ya getting you meat from partner? i go to the butcher and costco for all of my meats. you brine your pork butts? i have never heard of that? i go outside and set the mak to 225º. come in and pull pork butt from frig. i use any clue i can find (nutela, mustard, ct's, pepper jelly. whatever you can find). glue all over. i drown my pork butt in rub. you can't even see the meat. very niceeee. i normally clean my work area and have a FT. when done with FT. on goes the pork butt. i don't check it, spray it or nothing. its on its own. 225º all the way until 190º. i then foil with a little apple juice or beer (preferable the kids beer). 2 or 3 layers of foil and back on the mak until it reaches 200º or so. i wrap foiled pork butt in beach towels (has to be beach towels, there better. lol). in a ice chest for 1 to 3 hours or until your hungry. save juice from foil. pulled it then add juice back in. yum, yum good. try your test cook this way and one your way and see which one you like better.

Sorry you haven't hit the home run yet, don't get too discouraged as you are learning a new cooker and a little different cooking style. It sounds like you have cooked tri tip before, here is a thread that had some good tri tip discussion a few months back:

http://www.pelletsmoking.com/pelletsmoking-com-gallery-10/tri-tip-786/

Not sure why it would be tough @140, key is to rest a tri tip at least 15 minutes and slice AGAINST the grain. Resting a tri tip is huge. Another thing to look at it, is temp probe placement- was your temp probe in the center of the meat or closer to an edge, I have learned to be real careful with temp probe placement.

As for a water pan in the cooker I have never felt the need and everything comes out OK.

As for your pork, there are a lot of pros here who will hopefully chime in but for the most part your technique looks solid. Never have brined before but I injected for the first time recently and it came out very moist.

Like Sparky said the one thing you might try is FTC, Foil the meat after pulling it off the grill, Wrap it in an old Towel, and then place in a Cooler for a couple of hours and then pull it. This will really help redistribute the juice through the meat and give you very tender pork. The good thing about pork is that is very forgiving.

Keep your chin up and remember very few misfires get posted on here, but they do happen! Once you adjust your old techniques to your new cooker I think you will be fine.

I agree with Sparky on the ice chest. If nothing else, it allows you to be done early, and you can focus on your side dishes. Just unwrap and pull and you are ready to eat. The rest period definitely helps.

I don't brine (sounds like it would be too salty) but I do inject. If you get your butt in cryovac, you can inject right through the plastic (helps keep it from squirting out), Otherwise I inject then wrap in plastic wrap for 24 hours. I apply mustard or molasses as a glue, apply rub very generously (like Sparky), and put on at 225 until IT 165. I then wrap in foil with some apple juice until IT 195-200. I do use a foil drip pan beneath during the cook with beer, apple juice, rub, etc. This helps set-up a humid environment. I've been VERY happy with the results doing it this way.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll have some great pulled pork!

How much apple juice are you guys using and what does it do to your bark?
Do you baste or just place the apple juice in the bottom of the foil?

We used to brine our butts, and replaced that process with the injection. both work...

Are you looking alot while you cook? IF you are, leave the lid shut!!! don't continually open it, until you are ready to flip/turn, etc.
That is all I am coming up with at this point....

Rest period is key also... if you dont give the juices in the meat time to redistribute back into the meat fibers, you will lose all your juices when you slice and end up with something potentially dry &/or tough.

I haven't had a bad cook on the MAK either.

On the butts, I have used the molasses brine.

I run them on "smoke" for four hours, then 225F until an IT of 195-200F. Then FTC at least an hour, sometimes 4+ hours.

You might want to check the calibration on your thermometer...

Thanks everyone. I figured I'd have a learning curve; just a little frustrated at the angle. I'm sure I'll get there; I learn something every time out.
I'll get out and start it super early and use the FTC.

A pan with water will not hurt anything. Some use the extra rack and put a pan with water on the rack below. two fold makes clean up easy and adds some moisture to the cooker. It did take me some time to convert from cooking on a WSM to the MAK.I seem to use higher heat then I did in our WSM.

jimsbarbecue said:

A pan with water will not hurt anything. Some use the extra rack and put a pan with water on the rack below. two fold makes clean up easy and adds some moisture to the cooker. It did take me some time to convert from cooking on a WSM to the MAK.I seem to use higher heat then I did in our WSM.

Click to expand...

Thanks Jim. I may experiment with that. And thanks for the validation that changing cookers takes some getting used to.

I think part of my problem with the tri tip may have been the meat quality. It wasn't fresh like other meat in the butcher case. It was obviously butchered and packaged off site.

keep trying partner. you know what your doing. the food is going to come out fantastic for ya.

OK First off here is my two bits....YOu are overcomplicating your cooks. Keep it simple....Start with your tri tip and cook it at 250 or 275 till the internal temp you want. rest and slice against the grain. My reverse sears are not intended for cooking the meat it is for carmelization..one minute a side on high give you what you want...you are cooking a thick piece of meat on high and raising it 15 degrees....

I foil my pork butts not at temp but at color. When they look good foil them tight with a little liquid and relax. I dont brine and rarely inject for home use. WIth the foil towel coolers it works fine

Big Poppa said:

OK First off here is my two bits....YOu are overcomplicating your cooks. Keep it simple....Start with your tri tip and cook it at 250 or 275 till the internal temp you want. rest and slice against the grain. My reverse sears are not intended for cooking the meat it is for carmelization..one minute a side on high give you what you want...you are cooking a thick piece of meat on high and raising it 15 degrees....

I foil my pork butts not at temp but at color. When they look good foil them tight with a little liquid and relax. I dont brine and rarely inject for home use. WIth the foil towel coolers it works fine

Click to expand...

Good notes on the reverse sear; thanks. I've always brined my pork butts so I want to go with what I know for the party. Think I'll do a couple side-by-side one brined and one not for an experiment sometime.