what is best time to wrap pork butts


 
Never*.

Open another beer & let it ride. :D
In my experience, wrapping makes the bark mushy & I love crunchy bark in amongst the moist meat.



*If you're pushed for time, I agree with Mark & crutch it at 150f/160f, until you get to +/- 195f. Unwrap to set the bark till you reach 203f.
 
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TonyUK said:
*If you're pushed for time, I agree with Mark & crutch it at 150f/160f, until you get to +/- 195f. Unwrap to set the bark till you reach 203f.
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Hi Tony,
it is actually Fathers Day here tomorrow and I am trying to work out if for a 3pm lunch for pulled pork what start time I need to get up and start the cook. Wife has offered to keep the bed warm for me.Thanks. I like to cook at 225 F so I figure 8hrs mininum, 1hr to rest in the esky, so that has me lighting up at 9 hours back from 3pm, being 6 am. That would be a perfect cook. Do I get up at 4.00am? do I wrap? So many questions.......
 
I agree with Bob Bass. If you are going to wrap, wait until your bark is set. For some this happens to be around 165 internal but you can't always count on that. I've had one stall at 160 and if I waited until 165 it would have been too late. If the bark doesn't scrape off easily with a thumbnail you are good to go.

I'll also agree with Tony, though. An unwrapped butt is pretty damn good too.
 
Another vote for Bob Bass. I usually find that the bark is set and the stall starts at about 165*
 
Stephen R said:
Hi Tony,
it is actually Fathers Day here tomorrow and I am trying to work out if for a 3pm lunch for pulled pork what start time I need to get up and start the cook. Wife has offered to keep the bed warm for me.Thanks. I like to cook at 225 F so I figure 8hrs mininum, 1hr to rest in the esky, so that has me lighting up at 9 hours back from 3pm, being 6 am. That would be a perfect cook. Do I get up at 4.00am? do I wrap? So many questions.......
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Stephen.

Depending on the size of the piece of pork, I would allow at least 10 hrs for the cook & rest. This is only based on what I do. Rarely do I cook pork above 6lbs in weight, & that usually takes me to the 10 hrs mark, at 250f, & including the rest. Since you're cooking at 225f you may need more time....or......you can wrap to push it along if you need to.
Tip: If you're getting up at 4:00am, get the smoker all prepped before you go to bed. Then all you have to do is fire up the few coals & assemble the smoker.

I'm guessing you're using the Minion method. Whilst the coals are getting fired up, take the meat out of the fridge & put it on the cooking grate, put your probe(s) in and put the lid on ready. This is what I do, others do it slightly different. Not putting on the meat until the smoker comes up to temp. No right way or wrong way. But the results all seem to be the same.

Good Luck Mate.
 
As for time to start, I normally assemble the smoker and start the fuel at 10:00PM so the smoker is up to temp about 11:00PM and put meat on at about 11:00PM. Cook at 225* so butts are normally done about 10 or 11 AM and then into the cooler until serving at 4PM or later. This way I can get other things ready and get a shower and some rest so I can enjoy the friends and family.
 
Stephen R said:
Hi Tony,
it is actually Fathers Day here tomorrow and I am trying to work out if for a 3pm lunch for pulled pork what start time I need to get up and start the cook. Wife has offered to keep the bed warm for me.Thanks. I like to cook at 225 F so I figure 8hrs mininum, 1hr to rest in the esky, so that has me lighting up at 9 hours back from 3pm, being 6 am. That would be a perfect cook. Do I get up at 4.00am? do I wrap? So many questions.......
Click to expand...

I did my first couple of butts that way as well, but....well - these things can have minds of their own for how long to cook, and dinner time came and went and the butts still weren't done letting them ride unwrapped.

If you are planning for a fixed time to start serving, I'd budget more time. And I would monitor the internal temp while watching the clock and go to wrapping if you hit the stall and the clock starts getting loud.
 
I thank all of you! A wealth of info for me to chew on. i'm doing 6 racks of ribs for tomorrow. I've finished 2 butts this morning after cooking 13 hrs. got pics on phone but haven't had time to set up getting them on the site. busy! busy! Busy!
 
Stephen R said:
Hi Tony,
it is actually Fathers Day here tomorrow and I am trying to work out if for a 3pm lunch for pulled pork what start time I need to get up and start the cook. Wife has offered to keep the bed warm for me.Thanks. I like to cook at 225 F so I figure 8hrs mininum, 1hr to rest in the esky, so that has me lighting up at 9 hours back from 3pm, being 6 am. That would be a perfect cook. Do I get up at 4.00am? do I wrap? So many questions.......
Click to expand...

Stephen, like Tony said it depends on the size of the butt. I just did a 10lb butt at 225-250. It stalled at 160 and I wrapped it, unfoiled at 195, probe tender at 205. Total time 12 1/2 hours. Not including cool down time which is about an hour.
That's why I always do pork butts the day before I want to use them. Never plan to use them on the same day, so if it takes a lot longer than I figured no problem.
Good luck with your cook.
 
TonyUK said:
Tip: If you're getting up at 4:00am, get the smoker all prepped before you go to bed. Then all you have to do is fire up the few coals & assemble the smoker.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tony, I got the mini ready for a 4am start to be safe.




Erik Tracy said:
I did my first couple of butts that way as well, but....well - these things can have minds of their own for how long to cook, and dinner time came and went and the butts still weren't done letting them ride unwrapped.
If you are planning for a fixed time to start serving, I'd budget more time. And I would monitor the internal temp while watching the clock and go to wrapping if you hit the stall and the clock starts getting loud.
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Thanks Erik- to be safe with this cook I will probably wrap.

Bob Ivey said:
As for time to start, I normally assemble the smoker and start the fuel at 10:00PM so the smoker is up to temp about 11:00PM and put meat on at about 11:00PM. Cook at 225* so butts are normally done about 10 or 11 AM and then into the cooler until serving at 4PM or later. This way I can get other things ready and get a shower and some rest so I can enjoy the friends and family.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob- do you use a ATC on your smoker, or just trust it to stay steady? With 4+ hours in the cooler do you have to reheat before or after you shred?

Rich Dahl said:
Stephen, like Tony said it depends on the size of the butt. I just did a 10lb butt at 225-250. It stalled at 160 and I wrapped it, unfoiled at 195, probe tender at 205. Total time 12 1/2 hours. Not including cool down time which is about an hour.
That's why I always do pork butts the day before I want to use them. Never plan to use them on the same day, so if it takes a lot longer than I figured no problem.
Good luck with your cook.
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Hi Rich- I like the idea of cooking the day before, but how do you store, reheat/shred?

Beautiful blue sky day here at my father-in-laws near Sydney. The air traffic controllers have decided to bring the aircraft landing approach over his house today. I have just watched three A380s, one after the other fly overhead while checking on the mini. Good, 'butt early' start to Fathers Day.
 
Yes I do use and ATC but you should always learn to control the heat on your smoker before getting one. I do love my toy's so I decided to go the ATC route and sleep at night. Besides, the heat in Los Angeles makes me want to stay indoors as much as possible. As you get older, you don't tolerate the heat as well. As for reheating, I have never had to. With a good cooler and double wrapping the meat and quite a few towels surrounding the whole thing, it stays hot. Last brisket I did a month ago, When I took it out of the cooler, it was still hot enough that I have to use gloves to hold it. Same applies to the pork butts. When I pull them, they are still very hot. Good Luck.

Stephen R said:
Thanks Bob- do you use a ATC on your smoker, or just trust it to stay steady? With 4+ hours in the cooler do you have to reheat before or after you shred?
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Hi Dan.

Welcome to the family !

To check if bark is set, use a fingernail to scrap off some bark. If you can, then it's not set.

ADDED - The bark will go from a 'soggy' state to a dry, hard state during the stall, if uncovered.
 
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Great, thank you for the explication. I am doing my first cook of a 8lbs pork butt tonight on my new WSM 22. This tip will defiantly come in handy.
 
Agree on the never! ;)


TonyUK said:
Never*.

Open another beer & let it ride. :D
In my experience, wrapping makes the bark mushy & I love crunchy bark in amongst the moist meat.



*If you're pushed for time, I agree with Mark & crutch it at 150f/160f, until you get to +/- 195f. Unwrap to set the bark till you reach 203f.
Click to expand...
 
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