Mixed results for a Boston Butt (long)


 
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Barry McCorkle

TVWBB Super Fan
This past weekend I attempted cooking a 4 1/2 lb Boston Butt using the new lump charcoal from Walmart and the southern succor dry rub from Smoke and Spice (my favorite pork dry rub). End result - terrible and I am not so sure why!

Began with half a charcoal chamber filled with the lump charcoal and approx. 20 lit lump pieces and a lot of the pieces were very small. The 20 lit pieces were started in a chimney and they lit in no time, 5 - 10 minutes and they were grey! Put the lit pieces on top of the unlit and assembled the cooker using no water in the water pan and all bottom vents closed. The cooker temp at that time was 160 and it continued to rise till it hit 280. At that time I closed the top vent to get the temp down to 260. Once it hit 260, I opened the top vent 1/3 open and put the butt on the top grate.

My target cooker temp was 210 so I had to keep the top vent only opened 1/3 to keep it there. Remember, I was not using any water in the pan. One note here, there was no visible smoke coming from the cooker at this time or at any time during the session. I have never cooked with the top vent less than fully open but was willing to do it this time as an experiment.

In 4 hours the temp of the meat got to 150 so I turned it and reinserted the thermometer on the other side of the meat where it now registered 143 degrees. For another 4 hours the temp of the meat never went above 147. When I poked the temp probe in different places in the meat, the outside seemed very tough but the color of the outside was a light brown, not black or charred. It is almost as if the outside layer of the meat was acting as an insulator, keeping the inside of the meat from getting any heat. I kept the cooker temp at 210 up till this point by leaving all bottom vents closed and the top vent 1/3 to 1/2 open.

Finally, I added water to the pan, basted the butt with apple juice and opened the bottom vents and the top vent fully to get the temp to 260+ in the cooker. Finally 2 - 3 hours later the meat temp got to 167 and it was tough as a horse's saddle. Took the meat off and gave it to the dog. Funny thing, the next morning the dog hadn't eat the butt as it was still in his pen lying there untouched.

This was supposed to be an experiment to test the Walmart lump charcoal but I don't know how to comment on it after fighting with the butt all day. I have never had a butt do this in the 3 - 4 years of barbecue. The Walmart lump seems to burn hot and quick much like other lump that I have tried beore. On the bag is says that it is made from oak, hickory, maple and other hardwoods.

Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
 
J. Barry..

A couple of things.

Where are you measuring your cooker temps? Just remember that your lid temp is 10-20 ABOVE your grill temp(mine is 14 degrees).....so if your temp is 210 as measured through the lid vent, your grill temps might only be 190.....too low to get meat to 205.

As far as the meat temp staying stable for hours.....this is prety well documented to be the case in all meats that are cooked low and slow. It is caused by the condensation of the collagen fibers as they cook away.....not the correct way of saying that...but the basic deal is the meat actually "cools" itself until all those fibers are gone. Then the temp starts to climb again. When the temp starts to rise, it tends to rise fairly quickly.

Butts, though forgiving, can be a pretty tough cook!! I did a 4 pounder Thurs. and it took almost 10 hours!! You can never tell!

Not much help with lump vs. charcoal.

Stogie
 
Thanks for the reply. 210 should be the grate temp as my lid thermometer was reading 210?-220? and it normally reads 10? hotter than the grate temp once the cooker has stabilized. It really freaked me out to see the temp not rise on that butt for such a long time.

What temp do you normally cook your butts? Most of my cooking experience is at the 225? - 260? range which may change things a lot more than I expected. I knew that at 200 - 210 my cooking time would be a lot longer but I didn't expect it to be that much longer.

It helps to know that you got a 10 hour session is not unusual.

Thanks

SC Que
 
SC Que
At the internal temp of 167* the butts is just starting to break down, you need to get to 185* for sliced and 195-200* for pulled
as rule of thumb.
As far as pit temps go think of this way,
if you want to cook something to 200* and your pit temp is 200-210* it will take forever.
Another rule of thumb, if it's not tender cook it longer.
Jim
 
You are cooking at to low of temperature. You can cook boston butts at 275 and do just fine - I target 250. Having the butt boned will decrease cooking time as well. At 250 the butt(4 lb) should be approaching 195 at the 4-5 hour mark. I would guarantee good results at 275. Then if you want to go lower & slower, work your way down and see if it really improves markedly.

Don't think of low cooking temperature as a badge of honor. At some point you are not running a cooker, you've turned it into a dryer. A significant temperature differential is necessary to accomplish any cooking.

I have well over a thousand lbs of butts behind me and none of them have gone to the dog.

Good luck, I'm sure your next effort will be a googd improvement.

------------------
Steve Sheffield
Plant City, FL
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve Sheffield:
You are cooking at to low of temperature. You can cook boston butts at 275 and do just fine - I target 250. Having the butt boned will decrease cooking time as well. At 250 the butt(4 lb) should be approaching 195 at the 4-5 hour mark. I would guarantee good results at 275. Then if you want to go lower & slower, work your way down and see if it really improves markedly.

Don't think of low cooking temperature as a badge of honor. At some point you are not running a cooker, you've turned it into a dryer. A significant temperature differential is necessary to accomplish any cooking.

I have well over a thousand lbs of butts behind me and none of them have gone to the dog.

Good luck, I'm sure your next effort will be a googd improvement.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Steve,

I live in Orlando an am considering the purchase of a WSM. I already have a fireboc smoker but have heard such good things about the WSM, that I must give it a try.

What do you think about this piece of equipment and where can i purchase at a good price?
 
Steve
Cooking from 225 to 275* I don't see as a problem, I use even higher temps for poultry,
but butt in 1 to 1 1/4 hours per pound will
not produce top notch quality product IMHO.
To break down tissue and render fat in pork
butt takes longer. I find it takes 1 1/2 to 2
hours a pound to do the job.
I'm sure you you can get the internal temp up
to 190* but this would not be as tender as a butt cooked for the longer time.
Jim
 
Jim,

I wouldn't argue with that, my times were estimates, I take them off by temperature. I usually slice my butt and use boned, smaller pieces so as to have more bark. For pulled pork, lower,slower and more tender would be the way to go. I don't get too hung up with "best". I'm an eatin' cook -not a contest cook (nothing wrong with that though). Your advice in this and other posts has been excellent, these guys are lucky to have a mentor like you.

My advice was intended to move him away from "too low and too slow" and achieve some early sucess. I think alot of people cause themselves problems trying to cook at really low temperatures until they develop enough experience to real manage a fire.

Marvin, I must 'fess up that I don't have and haven't used a WSM. I have used a 26 inch Weber kettle for 10+ year setting up the fire as in Paul Kirks video - that is fire on one side meat on the other. I make a drip pan tahat covers the remainder of the bottom so air has to flow through the fire. It has the less desireable One-Touch vents. I then use a deep steam table insert to baffle/shield the meat from the radiant heat of the fire. It is no WSM but you can turn out great Q.

When I get enough nerve to bring home another pit I will get a WSM to add to my kettle, Weber Genesis gas grill and 24x60 Klose offset trailer rig. As for the best place to get a WSM, I don't really know. From time to time a store will give one away because no one knows what it is, but those stories are generally up north with winter approaching. I imagine I'll end up paying retail knowing that it will be worth it.

Regards, Steve
 
Steve
I agree you can take low pit temps to far.
I have a couple of Weber kettles and Klose
pits myself so it sounds like we have more in common than you may think
biggrin.gif

Jim
 
I'm a bit confused. There are many opinions here about cooking temp for but.

To everyone who made a comment about what temp to cook the but at...

I'm thinking of Q'ing my first but this weekend. When you said 275* or 260* or 250*, were you adjusting for a measurment from the lid or were you saying that the temp at the meat rack should be 275*, 260* or 250*?

Thanks.
 
Musky-Hunter...

I have found that 225 at grate level is a prety ideal temp to cook almost everything we do...ribs, butt, brisket..these are the type of meats that need LONG cook times so as to break down the collagen fibers and therefore tenderize the meat.

I spent time with lots of cooks at the MIM and the Indy cook-off and most of them were right around 225. The ocassional spike in temp won't hurt anything, but it seems that many of the experts think that 225 is the ideal temp.

I guess in the end, it all depends on what works for you!

Stogie
 
Congrats, Stogie, you're the second "Veteran Member" of The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board!

Personally, I like to cook pork butt at 235-240?F measured at the grate, because I think it renders the fat better and faster. That means I'm looking for about 250?F measured at the lid, since I know the temperature differential in my WSM is about 12-15?F between the lid and top grate.

However, you can cook pork butt successfully across a range of temperatures, and 225?F will work well, too, as Stogie says.

Regards,
Chris
 
My thoughts on cooking at 225 at the grill is that it is pretty close to optimum. My concern is that anything lower is going to translate into a drying rather than cooking experience. Put another way, aiming at 225 and missing low is riskier than 25 degrees either way around 250. I would recommend that someone new start at 250 and work there way down to 225 as the build more skill in temperature control.

My advice is aimed at a beginner rather than the accomplished Q'r
 
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