1st time pork butt


 
A

Andy from Denver

New member
bone in, one 8 pounder. 18 1/2 WSM, 2 gallon water bowl will be filled with hot tap water. Using minion method, Kingsford charcoil(one full unlit and 2/3 chimney lit),3 chunks apple and one hickory, and assuming a 12 hour cook. Questions are whether the water may need to be filled overnight, and what to expect with Denver temperatures around or below zero. Any help or suggestions will be appreciated!
 
Put hot, hot water in the bowl. Not boiling, but as hot as you can get from the tap.

2/3 of a chimney might be too much - even with the cold temps. I'd go with half.

Good luck, post pics, and welcome to the board.
 
sorry, butt i do not use water in the bowl... cold or hot. your outside temps may/will keep your smoker temps at bay...
Only foiled the bowl to make clean up ez.
not sure about the alt... butt i go about an hour a pound at lid temp 250'F
probe and remove at internal temps between 185'F - 205'F
i like 200'F.
I then tighty foil the butt and store in a dry beer cooler covered in dry towels for at least 1 hour, up to 4 hours.

0h yeah, btw, i use a lot of lit charcoal, you can adjust the vents to maintain your favourite temp.
forgot to say...
newyear-clock-new-year-holiday-celebration-smiley-emoticon-000374-large.gif
 
thank you gentlemen. I have been reading about an hour and a half per pound cooking time, so I am guessing about a 12 hour cook. Got a pretty good price on it, so at the worse I will ruin a bit of money.
 
Andy, I usually put my pork butts on the cooker around 10pm and hit the sack an hour or so later, not topping the pan off with water again until the next morning at about six am. I cook two to four at a time, and take measures to keep 'em hot in a cooler til time to pull right before supper.

I run pretty long on my cooks (14-18 hours) cooking 225-250 measured by a Maverick ET-73 probe hanging in the vent, and try to start checking for tenderness once the pork butt I have probed reaches about 185 IT. I find that most of the time they're ready to pull off at around 190 IT. If you cook at higher temps, which is certainly fine, you'll find that the pork butt IT when tender will be higher, especially if you opt to foil during the latter part of the cook.
 
I hope pork butt is forgiving, really forgiving...last night I fell asleep, woke up a bit later than intended (new years of course) and woke up to see the temp down in the 120's! I added more fuel, tapped the legs and got it into the 225-250 range, vents wide open. Internal temp of the meat is in the 120 range. Should I just keep cooking until I get it up to 190 meat temperature? Will it still be okay?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I hope pork butt is forgiving, really forgiving...last night I fell asleep, woke up a bit later than intended (new years of course) and woke up to see the temp down in the 120's! I added more fuel, tapped the legs and got it into the 225-250 range, vents wide open. Internal temp of the meat is in the 120 range. Should I just keep cooking until I get it up to 190 meat temperature? Will it still be okay? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

At that point, I would have stuck it in the oven or something. I did something similar, leaving a butt for a few hours to return to a dead fire. I threw it in the oven for as long as I could before bed. It just got to the point where I could kind of pull it and I threw it all in the fridge. A couple of days later, I reheated it in a crockpot with some sauce for a few more hours. I had low expectations, but it ended up being pretty darn good.

so yes, butts are forgiving.
 
Andy,just let it go. 1 1/2 hours per pound is just a guideline. Sometimes they go shorter,sometimes longer. Keep your temps steady, and it'll get done. Pulled pork is really forgiving.
 
I hope it turned out ok, but I'm really surprised that the temps dropped that low, unless it was windy and you didn't have a wind break.

Also, you gotta watch that Kingsford. Sometimes it'll ash up so bad it suffocates itself. The only thing you can really do is tap the cooker's legs every few hours, or at least right before going to bed. You shouldn't have that issue if you use a low ash briquette like Stubbs or Royal Oak, though. I use a Maverick Redi-check ET-73 to wake me up if temps spike above or drop below my chosen temp zone.
 
yes, I got the Kingsford because that was the only one I knew about, I am finishing up a bag so I can try thee Stubbs or Royal Oak next time. Part of the learning curve.
Now that you mentioned the ash suffocation, it makes sense. It did not seem to be a lack of volume to the coals, they just were not burning well. I have been at 160 internal temperature for a 3-4 hours now, moved it back to the top grill after I finished the ribs I added this morning. Maybe it is reaching that "plateau" I've heard about...
 
JMO, but I wouldn't be afraid to cook butt at 275-300. Quicker and just as good as 225-250. Did one last week like that and it was really good. No inedible junk in there either as the higher heat really melts down the fat etc. Started an 8 lber at 7:30 am and we were eating by 6
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Andy from Denver:
yes, I got the Kingsford because that was the only one I knew about, I am finishing up a bag so I can try thee Stubbs or Royal Oak next time. Part of the learning curve.
Now that you mentioned the ash suffocation, it makes sense. It did not seem to be a lack of volume to the coals, they just were not burning well. I have been at 160 internal temperature for a 3-4 hours now, moved it back to the top grill after I finished the ribs I added this morning. Maybe it is reaching that "plateau" I've heard about... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep, and you've got a LONG time to cook at the rate you've been going. I don't know what time you want it done at, but to be on the safe side, I'd wrap it in foil, open the vents, and get on with it. I always plan on mine being done at least a couple of hours before supper, and up to six or more. Sometimes they're stubborn, and if you have a temp stall, that's a huge setback, to say the least. Pork that's work to pull isn't really pulled pork. It should just about fall apart.
 
the good news is that the ribs turned out well, so we can eat those for dinner. I added more fuel and the temperature (top vent) is in the 260 range, so I will keep the vents all at 100% and have at it. The meat temperature has been at 160 to 161 for HOURS, so it will take some time. Guess I learned my lesson on using a lower quality charcoal on the overnighter. Probably did not help that it got below zero here last night, our 1st real cold snap of the winter.
 
Congrats on the ribs, Andy, and don't write off the K. You just gotta learn how to deal with the ash, and even though I'll use Stubbs for an overnighter, K is my choice for day cooks when cooking low-n-slow. It's cheap.
 
thanks you all for the help!
I just wrapped it in foil, stuck the thermo into the meat and cranked the vents to 100%. Hopefully the 275 heat will finish the stubborn thing off. As long as it tastes good, my wife will not try to shame me on my first all night voyage
 
It'll be fine. Start checking it when it reaches 200 IT, and if your bone is loose and you can stick the probe in and it feels like "buttah", it's ready.
 
After foiling, finally hit the right temp and pulled it off. Wrapped in foil for a couple of hours, then shredded. Bark was great, bone fell out on it's own, the finished product tasted so good the kids wanted it for lunch and dinner! Thanks everyone
 
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