My first barrel smoke

I have taken the plunge and am immersing myself in the world of barrel smokers.

I recall these were mentioned by my neighbor, Ernie, whom I consulted again.  Come to find he has a Pit Barrel smoker and was speaking with some authority on it.

Ready to head in that direction myself I've cast off the Masterbuilt analog smoker and acquired a Barrel House model.  More on that later.

As an introduction Ernie agreed to allow me to cook with his smoker and his assistance.  So a pork shoulder was acquired and prepared for today's smoke.

First I grabbed a shoulder from Sam's.  Previous purchases have always yielded dual shoulders but I supposed things change.  This was a 10lb chunk o shoulder that was all one piece.  So much for one shoulder each.

Rubbed it with the Memphis Dust Thursday night and into a giant ziploc bag in the fridge.  I watched as Ernie fired up the smoker this morning and we hooked the shoulder up with dual hooks across the rebar and closed the top.

Ernie's son Nate, an accomplished BBQ competitor advised 4 hours then remove and wrap, then take to 203F to finish.  Shoulder went on at almost 10AM and came off just shy of 2PM.  I stuck the thermometer in and it registered a perfect 163F.  Wrapped it and put it back on the grate and monitored until finished.

In 30 minutes the temp barely budged to 168F, but 45 minutes later it was at 194F.  10 minutes after that it was off the grill and resting.  It's now back to 203F (so the thermo beeps) and I'll unwrap and pull it.

Regrettably Ernie was called away for an urgent family matter, so the beer, bourbon and bbq concept will have to wait for another day.

Update: Just over 5 lbs of meat came off the bone.  Total cook time was about 5.5 hrs.  Pretty amazing considering in my old smoker it would take 10 hours or more.