Bone In Boston Butt(s) timing.


 
K

Keith Wilson

TVWBB Fan
OK guys. Need some advice here. Doing my first Butt (Bone-in). I was hoping to get one 12#'er to do overnight. (I will be doing about 15#'s of Spares as well). Instead my wife picked up a Bone-in 9.25#'er and a Bone-in 5#'er (2 pack). I would like some advice as to the timing of all this (the butts). How long it should take. I anticipate maintainng a 250 lid temp. Obviously I would exspect the 5#'er to be done first. I use Lump. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Keith,
You'd expect that 5 #er to be done much earlier, but that may not necessarily be the case. I can almost gaurantee it won't be done twice as fast as the 9 #er. My guess is your looking at 10+ hours on that little butt, 15+ on the larger. Time is really a poor way to judge when the butt will be done, you should only use it as an estimate. The butt will be done at 195-205 internal, or when the bone pulls out easily.

Someone else will chime in here, and they'll let you know if I'm wrong, which happens. Often.
 
I completely agree with you Clark. I have had bone-in butts last a long time and I have has some that have gone quickly. You just have to keep an eye on the internal temps after they break through the plateau.
 
Thanks guys. I'll just set the Et-73 to wake me up when It gets close to temp. John. What plateau are you talking about? Thanks again guys.
 
Keith, when you cook butts etc the temp will steadily rise as you would expect then it will stall at around 160 or 170 and stay there for potentially a few hours, this is what is known as a plateau. Once you break the plateau cooking contiues as normal, it just can be frustrating to check on your meat temps and not have them move after 2 or 3 hours.

What's going on is that the connective tissue and fat of the meat is actually rendering and slowing down the cooking.

-Dave
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Keith Wilson:
I was hoping to get one 12#'er to do overnight. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Holy Sow! That would be one great big butt!!! Even the 9lber is pretty big!

They tend to run more in the 7-8lb range. Some bigger 9 and maybe a 10 lber might be found now, but pretty soon butts and ribs are going to start getting smaller and will stay that way through much of the summer.

While the butts are cooking, don't be afraid to let the dome temp creep to 275-280. I get pretty consistent 12 hour butt cooks, sometimes a little shorter, sometimes a little longer. If they haven't finished in a 14 hour time frame, I figured I must have messed up somewhere. That may go counter to some experiences here, but for butts, I gun for completion in 12 hrs. You'll be surprised that the small one won't cook a whole lot faster than the big one, although it should be done a little sooner.

I'd think about using that big one for some pulled pork, and maybe cooking the smaller one for some slices.
 
i've had temperatures vary as much as 200-300 during a single cook. I find shoulder to be endlessly forgiving, as long as internal temp is 185 or higher, it has worked perfectly every time.
 
I have also found that if you see your butt hitting the plateau, you can wrap in foil, put it back on the smoker, and the temp will continue to rise.
 
I did my first butt last saturday, it was also 5 lb bone-in and it took exactly 12 hours. If you'd like I can provide you with my cooking log, which I updated every 15 min including external temp, wind speed, internal temperature, and meat temp (from hours 9-12).
 
Thanks guys. Again; this is all good stuff and I appreciate the input. I can't wait! Gonna put 'em on at midnight tonight! We'll see what happens. Maybe I should have mentioned I use a clay saucer instead of water. But I don't expect that to affect the timing all that much. As I said, at 12:00 I'll put 'em on put the meat probe in the smaller butt , set the ET-73 for 185 and (try to ) go to sleep.
 
Good posts on this topic. I did my first butt (8 lb.) 2 weeks ago. I, too, thought I was doing something wrong when my temps SLOWED at 175. I didn't know of the plateau. Also, my lid temp started out at 260-270 in the first couple of hours of the cook, but was smack on 245 when I got up in the morning. The butt was an enjoyable cook (and eat!), but temp-wise was not as stable as the ribs I did on the previous cook (as to be expected). BRITU for Father's Day!
 
OK Folks. here are the results. The 5#'er took 9 hrs. and was very good. The 9.25#'er took 17 hrs.!!! I must have done something wrong. It hovered at 175 forever. Finally I ramped up the air flow and got the smoker hot and then saw it climb to where it needed to be. Both BUtts rested for 3.5 hrs before pulling. The big one was not as good as the smaller butt (in my opinion). What a great learning experiance though. I found out that my smoker can go for a long time on a heaping ring full of Lump. I also learned some of the characteristics of my smoker on long cooks. I also learned the the alarm on the Et-73 is "Wicked Loud" at 3:00 AM!!! I learned alot on this one. Thanks again for all the info. (I wish I could post the pics on this sight)
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I must have done something wrong. It hovered at 175 forever. Finally I ramped up the air flow and got the smoker hot and then saw it climb to where it needed to be. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't think you did anything wrong. The plateau can last a long time, and it does seem to vary from one chunk of meat to the next. It's not unusual to start wondering if your thermometer is broken after a couple of hours.
 
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