Pork Butt


 
J

Joe Tacoma

TVWBB Member
I cooked a 6.98lb pork butt on my 18.5" yesterday using no injection.

I threw butt onto pit at 8:00AM when temp hit 250, but it dropped down to 220 after opening and it took about 25 minutes to get back to 250. I had intake 100% open and the exhaust 100% open because I like to try and bring the pit up to temp slowly. I used 1 chunk hickory and 3 chunks cherry because that's all I had left. After 6 hours of waiting for the bark to set I decided it was time to foil it and left it on the pit for about 2 more hours before checking the internal temp, it read 191 so I left it another 30 minutes because I wanted it to reach 195. I checked it again 30 minutes later with instant read thermometer in a few more places and it read 197 and 206 so I quickly pulled it off and let it rest for an hour before shredding.

What temp do you guys remove pulled pork from grill, if you are checking the internal temp?
Also what temp do you guys smoke it at?

8:00 AM http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/JoeTacoma/media/20160319_075107_zpsyvdyssz2.jpeg.html?sort=3&o=2
4:30 PM http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/JoeTacoma/media/20160319_163142_zpswzjkbshu.jpeg.html?sort=3&o=1
6:00 PM http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/JoeTacoma/media/pulled pork 31916_zps9rztlvzw.jpeg.html?sort=3&o=0
 
At about 195 I start checking for probe tender. Once the probe or a fork goes in like into soft butter, I pull it and let it rest for 20 minutes and then wrap and put in a cooler with towels around it until I am ready to serve and then I pull it. Comes out perfect every time. The key is that when it hits about 195, the only thing that matters is if it is tender. Enjoy and I hope that butt was great.
 
I cook butts at 275 or so but it doesn't seem to matter much. 195 is as good a guide as any to test for tenderness but I'm not sure that applies if you use foil, something I never do to pork butts. Mine usually sit in a cooler wrapped in towels for at least an hour and sometimes quite a bit longer than that because I prefer to pull the meat just before serving. The hour or 3 extra is safety margin to ensure it's done in time for dinner. Some butts take longer than expected.
 
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the advice. I thought I might have over cooked it when I saw the internal temps and when I poked it with fork it did not go in like butter, but it was moist and tender once I began shredding it. I will continue to practice and try to rely less on thermometers and more on the probe testing.
 
I find that I'm usually pulling my butts off the smoker between 195 and 205. 200-203 is what I've seem to see as my "normal" probe tender temp - yeah, I probe for tender with my temp probe....
 
I've only done a few butts, but the first one I pulled it off the WSM at about 190. It had been on for 11 hours, so I thought I'd given myself enough time, but at only an IT of 190 and the family hungry now, I pulled it earlier than I wanted. It was still good, but not quite as tender as I'd hoped.

The second and third butts I cooked at the same time (foiled one at IT 160). I cooked these a little hotter (250 lid temp). I cooked the foiled one to about 205, and the unfoiled one got to almost 210 (two hours longer than the foiled one). These were both better than the first one I made, so for future butts I'm planning to shoot for 205-ish.

So for that cook (2 butts), I cooked them at 250 (WSM lid temp). I foiled the one at IT 160 (about 4 hours into the cook), and it stayed on for about three more hours (about 7-7.5 hours total). The one I didn't foil cooked about 9.5 hours.
 
I foil my butts at 165-170 and add a small splash of apple juice, before I put them back on my smoker until my probe is reading 200-205. I have never had any experience with trying to pull them in the 190 range, but for me 205 has been great for tenderness. I also store the butts in a cooler of towels for at least an hour before pulling them as well.
 
I never foil butts. I started off with BBQ when I was High School teacher and the PTA did a BBQ fundraiser. I figure if we could could 18,000 lbs of pork butts without wrapping them, . . . .

Plus, it's whole lot easier to do the bone pull test when they're not wrapped.

You just have be really aware of any sugars in your rubs/spritzes/mops.





BD
 
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