Pork Butt question


 

Rusty D

New member
Generally, what size hunks of pork do you all smoke on your WSM? I have a bad habit of always going "bigger is better" and then have a heck of a time getting them all the way thru the smoke without wrapping. This past Sat I had 3 that were in the 8-9 lb range and pulled them off at 14 hours. Thanks
 
Welcome here! Mine are always 8-9 lbs, just as yours. Once in a while I'm in the mood to hang out and wait on a long smoke but more often than not I increase the pit temp to shorten the cook time; I'm perfectly fine at 275-285 and honestly don't even get worked up if it approaches 300. Sometimes I wrap but more oft than not I raise the temp and don't wrap.
 
My local market carries smaller chunks, boneless,around 3-4 pounds each. I like that size because:

1) Such a smaller piece is big enough for most of my/our meals, and I get more bark/spices on it.
2) It cooks faster
3) I can fit 3 per racks, and or easily combine with other cuts.
4)easier / less costly to package and gift and get new people hooked on bbq
 
I usually do a high heat and wrap. That is after cutting them in half. 4 to 6 hours is about the max.
I was going to start a thread on something that touches on this.
My last bash (Saturday 4th) i cooked several (12) along with other stuff. (Brisket, ribs, prime rib.)
While I started as a purist I now usually cut all mine in half. As close to half as possible with bone-in ones. One side cooks faster. Then the others. Now if I am not in a hurry I tie each one to get more even cooking. Otherwise I just let them cook at their own pace.the issue I had last week was that I used large shoulders. 10 to 12 pounds. I found the heavier ones did not cook as well no matter how long.
Boneless can be cut more evenly. But "pre-brined" ones are more fool-proof. Has anyone noticed that very large shoulders tend to be a bit tougher?

Ps. Last weeks did not take any longer even though I did not wrap at all.
Pss. I ran out of space several times over. Had three portable electric roasters. (Yep the turkey kind.) They worked!?
 
My Costco carries 2 pack deboned butts, I cook one at a time, I finish cutting them in half and an overnite dry brine. More bark equals more flavor
Actually did one yesterday, put it on at 11 am and it was finished around 5, Temp was high 200's. no wrap and it was very good. It's pretty hard to screw up a pork butt.
 
Welcome here! Mine are always 8-9 lbs, just as yours. Once in a while I'm in the mood to hang out and wait on a long smoke but more often than not I increase the pit temp to shorten the cook time; I'm perfectly fine at 275-285 and honestly don't even get worked up if it approaches 300. Sometimes I wrap but more oft than not I raise the temp and don't wrap.

I'm with @BFletcher on this one. Higher heat and the only difference is that I tend to wrap every time. I always ask the butcher for 8lbs.
 
At my store they usually have two butts vacuumed packed. They avg 8 lbs a butt. I like to have left overs to freeze or take a whole butt to work for the guys so none really goes to waste in my house. As far as cooks go l've done slow and low and high heat and wrap.
 
At what point/time/temp do you wrap? How long is the butt wrapped? Do you do something similar as the 321 for ribs? Other?

Thanks......
 
You want to wrap when the bark is set. There's nothing like 3-2-1. Also you don't typically unwrap after you wrap. I'd wrap around 160 internal maybe or when it starts to stall to get the full benefit of wrapping.
 
Same as Dustin. I only open the foil when I'm probing it to confirm doneness. Then it stays wrapped and goes into a cooler surrounded by towels for 1 to 5 hours.
 
Agree with Dustin and Lew. Pork usually is very forgiving and wrap when it close. I just can't tell the difference between L&S and high heat. Just get er done.
 
Hello;
I am going to do an overnight cook at 225-250 of two ~8# butts. I want to have them off of the cooker at noon so they can rest for 1.5 - 3 hours for the super bowl.
I watched an A.Franklin video and he cooked 1 large butt in about 8 hours and foiled after about 3 hours. AF said he foiled to prevent too much smoke.

Question:
I have never foiled pork butt on a 12+ hour cook. I use no more then 3 fist sized chunks, so I do not think the butts are
getting too much smoke.

Should I consider foiling on a long/overnight 12-14 hour smoke? What is the benefit at this point? And if yes, at what point to foil?

thank you
~ Sean
 
Sean, l only wrap when l'm under a time crunch. Usually its at the 3.5 to 4 hr mark to speed it along. If you've planned correctly and your satisfied with your results in the past, l wouldn't change a thing.
 

 

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