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Smoked Pork Butt on the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill)

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I just had to have smoked pork butt on the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) the other day. Man, my wife had swiped the camera so I don't have any pictures to share with you. I will correct that situation the next time I do it.

I was a little worried about whether I could load enough fuel to handle this 8lb pork butt. Not because the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) won't hold a ton of lump charcoal, but because the air flow holes can get covered with just a moderate load. Some people have noted that it becomes hard to control when that happens. So, I was careful, but still put a load in that covered those holes.

I started the cooker up with all of the vents wide open. It took about 15 minutes before it got up to 200 F. Seemed like longer because I got a late start and was pacing back and forth. I feel I need to watch this because once it gets above temperature, it's really hard to bring back down. So, once it hit about 200 F, I closed the top vent to a crack and the bottom vent to about 1/2". Outside of a few tweaks during the smoke, they remained close to these settings.

Preparing a Smoked Pork Butt on the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill)

Now, the preparation for this smoked pork butt on the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) was done the evening prior. I had just picked up a book at the local Kroger called Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book: Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary Barbecue Joint. It has some really cool stuff in it. But the pork shoulder recipe caught my attention.

This was going to be a little more elaborate than a simple dry rub like I've done in the past. This was going to include:

A unbelievable dry rub
An apple juice based injection
And a Vinegar Sop Mop

Chris Lilly, the author of the book, did all the prep work just before putting it on the smoker. But, I ended up doing it the night before. I mixed up the injection and got that done. Then I applied the dry rub. I wrapped the pork butt in plastic wrap, put it in a pan and stuck in the refrigerator over night.

I'm afraid to put the recipes up here since they are in the book and I'm not sure if that's a problem. The book is worth it anyway, so just get a copy!

Smoking the Smoked Pork Butt on the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill)

Once the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) was up to temperature (between 225-250) I was ready to go. I was using my Big Green Egg Plate Setter to set it up with indirect heat. Works like a champ.

I was going to have smoked pork butt on the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) in 8-12 hours. That was the problem, I didn't know how long it was going to take. This time, I was determined to get it to an internal temperature of at least 190 F. I had a hard time doing it on the Char-Griller the last time.

I figured this was going to cook more quickly because the Bubba Keg is so efficient. But, I walked away for a few hours leaving the vents slivered, and the fire died out. This was at the 8 hour mark and I was afraid I had run out of fuel. I didn't want to take everything out so after about 10 minutes of wide open vents I decided to throw a starter stick in there. Apparently there was some fuel left, because I got it back up to temp in short order. My bad for not checking at least every hour.

OK, so I started this thing at 7:30 am, so after I got the fire restarted, the meat was still at about 160 F. I decided to start mopping it with the mop sauce. I have to tell ya, that stuff had half a cup of Cayenne pepper in it and I was sneezing as I mopped. This was going to be good! I did this ever hour until about 7 pm. At this point, I made sure my meat thermometer (I use a cheap one from the grocery store) was visible through the top vent. Just used my flash light to see it. For the last 30 minutes I watched the temperature rise until it reach 195.

I was eager to eat, so I got this into a roasting pan and covered with foil to let it rest for 30 minutes or so. While it had been cooking, I whipped up a batch of Green Apple Fennel Slaw I saw over it BBQGeek. I wasn't sure what we were going to do.

Once the smoked pork butt on the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) had rested, I started making pulled pork. Too easy! I wish I had pictures.

Anyway, we decided to put a pile of pulled pork on a bun, add a little bit of Montgomery Inn BBQ Sauce, and then dump some of the apple and fennel slaw on top. Oh man, that made an awesome sandwich! Gotta give that a try some time.

P.S. There was fuel and unburned wood chips left over.....

You can now purchase the Bubba Keg Grill (now the Big Steel Keg Grill) online from Home Depot. Why don't you order it online and pick it up at your local store?