Long Butt Cook


 

BobJ

TVWBB Super Fan
Hi folks, rookie smoker here.

Tried my 1st butt on my 14 yesterday, 3rd overall cook, have a few questions.

Does 14 hours cook time to get to 195 sound right?
What time do would you start a 14 hr cook to be ready for 5 pm? I started at 6:20 am expecting 8-10 hrs.
General pulled pork question. Do you serve it dry or mix with sauce of some sort? Seems when I get it at restaurants it's wet.


Trimmed, boneless, 5.4 lbs cooked at 225-250.
Cooked on the upper grate, no water in the pan, no foil wrap till the last 2 hours (see below).
Perfect weather, 53-73, no wind.

FWIW, I cut off a couple muscles that were @ 184 at 6 pm so we could eat. Wrapped the rest in foil and moved to the oven at 250. Pulled and tasted fine at 9:30 pm.

Thanks, Bob
 
Expect 1.5 - 2 hours per pound for pork butt. I always plan for 2 and even add a little extra. You can always wrap it in a towel and put it in a dry cooler and hold it for 4 hours. I suggest taking it over 200 for pulled pork. Those few extra degrees make it pull easily.

I serve with BBQ sauce on the side. There should be enough flavor and moisture from the meat by itself. Who knows what restaurants do (many don't really smoke the meat), but the liquid should just be rendered fat.
 
Welcome, Bob! I can give input on a few of your questions but they are based on my own personal experience, or preference. Often, there's no single correct answer. I've never done a boneless but I actually smoke mine at higher temps - I probably average 275 and I don't fret if it jumps to 300. Most of my bone-in pork shoulders weigh 7+ lbs and usually come off in fewer than 14 hours. Smoking at 225 vs. 275 would add considerable more time; if there's a scientific formula to determine the difference I am not the guy to answer it. I also do mine on the upper grate and keep the water pan in place but I don't use water (I just foil the pan). Sometimes I wrap, many times I don't. When I do wrap, I let my preference for how the bark is set to be the determining factor of when to do it. I let each eater choose their sauce while they are serving themselves. Heck; I usually eat a serving without sauce. Good luck!
 
If you want a lot of fat left in the meat, 195 degrees may work. I like to take the butt to 210 to 220 degrees. It is amazing how it tasted with no fat in the meat. every butt is different and will take different times. It just depends on my patience I have that day.
 
Once again, Fletch and I are on the same page!
There is no absolute answer, too many variables, wind, weather, pit temp preference, and the deciding factor “doneness” which is personal.
First, I don’t use water, as for time, I seem to have had good luck with firing off (minion method) about ten PM the night before. That’s for a three PM feast time. I go to 195+ and start tugging on the bone(excellent method, learned here BTW) when it is fully loose in your hand. But, a boneless acts very differently, I might go 205 and “feel it”. If it’s quite tender I will let the heat rise begin to stop and then double foil, towel and pop it in a cooler for a few hours. I have a dozen coolers (not kidding, wife thinks I’m nuts) and use old Omaha steak coolers for holding vessels. Might be the best thing from them to offer my opinion.
The long and the short is :
1-Keep at it.
2-Don’t worry.
3-It will be done when it’s done, don’t rush it!
4-Enjoy the learning curve, even masters learn new tricks!
 
thanks folks
I'll try starting the next one before I go to bed and see how it goes. Would have liked to leave this one going but it was getting late and I was questioning whether it would ever finish or if I was just burning it up.
I'll eventually have to look around for a source for bone in butts, Costco here has just the boneless. Still have the 2nd one left to try.
 
Yup
Every piece of meat is a little different
Time sounds about right
Peeking or spritzing adds A LOT of time. 15 min every time you open it.
Spritzing builds bark, but cools outside of meat too.

I dont wrap...no need to unless want to hurry thru stall.
Havent had a dry or underdone butt yet

Start probing at 195-197 If tender its done. It can turn mushy if overcook, you can ruin the meat texture when it breaks down too much.

275 cook much faster than 250.

Id plan to start a 7-8 lb , about 15 hrs before you want it at 250 if not wrapping. And start working on smoker an hour before that.

Set my heatermeter, go to bed , controller takes care of rest, even ramping down and holding at desired temp when target meat temp reached if desired. Ready for lunch next day.
 
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That seems like an awfully long time to get a 5.4 lb butt done to me. How are you monitoring your pit temp? I like to pull the meat then add a little rub, sauce on the side. Happy smokin!
 
I use a ThermoPro TM20 https://buythermopro.com/product/thermopro-tp-20-digital-wireless-meat-thermometer/

One probe in the meat and the other probe pushed a few inches into the silicone port on the middle section of the smoker. Maybe not quite ideal as I was cooking on the upper grate but it was that or attach the probe to the upper grate with a clip. I chose the simpler of the 2.

You want your pit probe to be on your cooking grate, ideally a couple inches from the meat. Your grate temp might have been different than where your probe was. If it was hanging from the port, it was quite a bit closer to the coals, and right in the airflow path. You could check this by attaching one probe to the grate and hanging the other one like you did the next time you fire it up.
 
Yup
Every piece of meat is a little different
Time sounds about right
Peeking or spritzing adds A LOT of time. 15 min every time you open it.
Spritzing builds bark, but cools outside of meat too.

I dont wrap...no need to unless want to hurry thru stall.
Havent had a dry or underdone butt yet

Start probing at 195-197 If tender its done. It can turn mushy if overcook, you can ruin the meat texture when it breaks down too much.

275 cook much faster than 250.

Id plan to start a 7-8 lb , about 15 hrs before you want it at 250 if not wrapping. And start working on smoker an hour before that.

Set my heatermeter, go to bed , controller takes care of rest, even ramping down and holding at desired temp when target meat temp reached if desired. Ready for lunch next day.



How much time would you save @275?

I have a butt and a picnic shoulder and I'm wondering if I can start one in the morning and be ready and rested by 6pm +/-
 
Hi folks, rookie smoker here.

Tried my 1st butt on my 14 yesterday, 3rd overall cook, have a few questions.

Does 14 hours cook time to get to 195 sound right?
What time do would you start a 14 hr cook to be ready for 5 pm? I started at 6:20 am expecting 8-10 hrs.
General pulled pork question. Do you serve it dry or mix with sauce of some sort? Seems when I get it at restaurants it's wet.


Trimmed, boneless, 5.4 lbs cooked at 225-250.
Cooked on the upper grate, no water in the pan, no foil wrap till the last 2 hours (see below).
Perfect weather, 53-73, no wind.

FWIW, I cut off a couple muscles that were @ 184 at 6 pm so we could eat. Wrapped the rest in foil and moved to the oven at 250. Pulled and tasted fine at 9:30 pm.

Thanks, Bob

That's weird. You always read "What size WSM " do I need and the little guy is the perfect size for that sized butt.
One would think that the compact size ( less volume, less air flow) would cook faster and more efficiently vs an 18.5" or 22.5" WSM on the same sized butt?
I know I do early risers on my 18.5". Always two 8-10# and there usually rubbed and on the smoker by 4.30 or 5ish.
Empty foiled pan and both butts on top.
Minion start ( I load the meat Immediately) and leave the vents wide open till I hit 275 at the top vent.
Usually cruises at that temp, but can spike up to 300 when the sun comes out which is ok cause that's my temp.
I foil after I like the color, and that normally takes 5-6 hrs. Take it till it feels soft with a gloved hand, and that is about 9 hrs.
Put em in an empty oven, or cooler, cambro for an hour or more till supper time.

Tim
 
My 14.5 cooks about the same as my 18.5. Given the location of your temp probe you were reading a bit higher than it was on your meat. Maybe 25° higher so you may have been cooking at 200 and that takes a long time. I made a wood stand for my temp probe by screwing two 3" pieces of 1 x 3 pine to make an inverted T. I drilled a hole in the vertical piece and slide the pit probe through it. Works great and very flexible with location.

I checked my logs on pork butt at different temps. I cook a lot of Boston Butts because Pulled Pork is my wife's favorite Q. My experience is that they take about 1.5 hrs/lb. at 275° and over 2 hours/lb. at 225. Most of the time I foil the meat when it hits the stall - 4 to 5 hrs. into the cook.
The highest I ever took the meat to get probe tender was 205°.

I hope this helps and keep having fun.
 
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How much time would you save @275?

I have a butt and a picnic shoulder and I'm wondering if I can start one in the morning and be ready and rested by 6pm +/-

Id say a couple. If you wrap at 160, it should be done pretty fast. Outside also wont be over-hard from higher temp. 275 is high as i would go on long cook.

Im cooking 9 lb of pork loin right now..at 300. Only takes a couple hrs to reach 145-150.. Nothing like luscious, soft, thin sliced smoky pork loin. Cheap...$1.89/lb, high yield...low fat. A slicer makes it fantastic.
 
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Follow up to 14 hr cook of 5.4 lb butt on 14.5" WSM.

Did a 8.5 lb butt that just fit on the upper grate. Monitored the smoker temp on the grate kept it at 225 +/-. Started the fire at 20:30, meat on at 22:00. After 2 days out of the freezer thawing in the fridge it felt defrosted but when I stuck the thermometer in it read 32 degrees. No water in the pan. Took a couple hours to get the temp stabilized where I wanted it @ 225 after putting on the butt. Off to bed at 00:30. At

A long stall around 165, a little up, a little down, roughly 4 hours worth. Fed the fire , flipped and spritzed the beast at 07:00 with the butt @ 165. No foil this time as I'm in no hurry.

Up to 180 @ noon, stayed there till 13:30.

Done at 203 degrees at 15:20. Wrapped in foil and a towel and stashed in a cooler till 6pm dinner.

The little Weber did great, after a 19 hr cook the ash at the bottom of the smoker was just hitting the charcoal ring. No problems keeping it at 225 after the initial 2-3 hrs of messing around with it. Added coals, mostly partially used ones, a few times. A good thick layer of bark and very good smoke flavor. Turned out great.

These take a lot longer then I imagined. Next time I'll try it at 250, or maybe 275 just for giggles.
 

 

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