Hello all--
Pork butt #2 got done this weekend, and while it was more of a success than #1, I still didn't get quite the results I was hoping for.
Weight was again about 8 1/2 lbs., again boneless. This time I wrapped with string into the tightest bundle I could manage. Cook temp was 250.
Filed the water pan with sand this time and foiled it over the top.
Put the meat on about 2:30 AM (not intentionally, that's just when I managed to get around to it). Minion method again, but I got one of those oversized coal rings from Cajun Bandit, stuffed to the gills with Kingsford. Put in 35 lit coals and promptly went to bed.
I woke up to find I had slept through the stall. After about 8 hours, internal temp was in the mid-170s and progressing nicely. The ATC was doing a great job--pit temp varied maybe 5 degrees either direction max.
The meat temp slowed its climb around 190. At 193 I started poking for doneness: still not that "butter" consistency, and that didn't develop as I tested all the way up to 200. I would say the resistance near the edges felt like dryness, not like undercooked, and later that would prove to be true.
I finally pulled it off after 14 hours at just a smidge over 200. There's some really good parts, but there's some kinda dry parts around the edges.
Am I right in thinking 14 hours is still kind of an overly long cook? The pit temp stayed pegged at 250 the whole time, and I watched the meat temp closely.
Why would I not get that butter consistency at any point? I've heard of people taking butts up to around 203, but my gut feeling is it would just have gotten even dryer. Earlier on, the bark had a beautiful brown color that made me hungry just looking at it, but it progressed to looking like another blackened meteorite by the end--not burnt, just not looking as good as it did before.
Don't get me wrong; I've been eating this thing all week and thoroughly enjoying it. I'd just like to get some of those fabled results I've actually seen. Should I wrap the next one?
Pork butt #2 got done this weekend, and while it was more of a success than #1, I still didn't get quite the results I was hoping for.
Weight was again about 8 1/2 lbs., again boneless. This time I wrapped with string into the tightest bundle I could manage. Cook temp was 250.
Filed the water pan with sand this time and foiled it over the top.
Put the meat on about 2:30 AM (not intentionally, that's just when I managed to get around to it). Minion method again, but I got one of those oversized coal rings from Cajun Bandit, stuffed to the gills with Kingsford. Put in 35 lit coals and promptly went to bed.
I woke up to find I had slept through the stall. After about 8 hours, internal temp was in the mid-170s and progressing nicely. The ATC was doing a great job--pit temp varied maybe 5 degrees either direction max.
The meat temp slowed its climb around 190. At 193 I started poking for doneness: still not that "butter" consistency, and that didn't develop as I tested all the way up to 200. I would say the resistance near the edges felt like dryness, not like undercooked, and later that would prove to be true.
I finally pulled it off after 14 hours at just a smidge over 200. There's some really good parts, but there's some kinda dry parts around the edges.
Am I right in thinking 14 hours is still kind of an overly long cook? The pit temp stayed pegged at 250 the whole time, and I watched the meat temp closely.
Why would I not get that butter consistency at any point? I've heard of people taking butts up to around 203, but my gut feeling is it would just have gotten even dryer. Earlier on, the bark had a beautiful brown color that made me hungry just looking at it, but it progressed to looking like another blackened meteorite by the end--not burnt, just not looking as good as it did before.
Don't get me wrong; I've been eating this thing all week and thoroughly enjoying it. I'd just like to get some of those fabled results I've actually seen. Should I wrap the next one?