A "quickie"

[Paul G.]

Got two 8 lb butts this weekend at 99 cents per pound and they had to be cooked this weekend. I forgot Sat. night, so had to do a quickie on Sunday.

Used a 12 inch clay pot base as the heat sink and ran the pit higher than I normally do, around 300 at lid. Started at 10 a.m. At 4 p.m. they were at 175. I then foiled both, with holes in the bottom of the foil and they finished in 1.5 more hours at around 195.

Bark was less and softer, but otherwise really good.

Discovered another viable option for a daytime butt cook when you want to serve that evening.

Paul

 

[Nick H]

How firm was the bark prior to foiling the butts? I understand that foiling the butts is basically going to soften/remove the bark.

Last weekend on my high-temp brisket I noticed that prior to foiling (4 hours) the bark was firming and with another hour or two it would have been set fairly well.

I ask becuase I plan on doing 2 butts this weekend. Hopefully in between 4-5 pounds each. No more than 5.5. I plan on the kettle lid being in the 280 range, and a 10 hour smoke. Butts that are cooked for 16 hours unfoiled are basically guaranteed to have a nice bark, hopefully 10 hours will still give me sufficient bark to my liking.

If you would have skipped the foiling and left the butt on at 300... how much more time do you think it would have required to get the butt to temp? Would it have dried out the butt?

 

[Paul G.]

Nick

I guess I foiled at about 6 hours and the bark was still pretty light colored so I'm sure it wasn't very hard or firm. The butts were about 8 lbs each. At 6 hours they were at 175 and it probably would have taken another 3 plus hours to get to 195 without foil. That really is a little unpredictable. I was impressed that they cooked that quickly and lesson learned was that a higher temp certainly cuts down on cook time and butts can handle it.

I don't think I would have had a problem with drying out if I left them on without foil unless I let their temps get up around 205.

I think you'll have no problem finishing the smaller butts as you plan and you'll probably have more than an hour to hold them after cooking in foil, which is beneficial.

Good luck to ya'

Paul