Bone In Pork butts ideal internal temp


 
B

BCofer

New member
I am going to smoke 4 bone in butts tomorrow on my 22in WSM. A friend of mine just told me that they should be ready at 165-170. I read a recipe on this website that said to cook them til 190. With them being bone in butts, I want to make sure I cook them good enough for the bone to come out easily, but I don't want to overcook. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Brad
 
I think your friend is thinking about the temp they are fully cooked, and at 165-170 that is the temp pork is considered cooked. If you were doing a couple of pork chops on the grill or tenderloin in teh oven for exmple that should be fine.

But as I understand it, with pork butts etc you want to go low and slow to a 195-205 temp range to continue to break down the fats (and or muscles...) to get that tender fall apart in your mouth level. Aim for that range (195-205) as Chris said

I think it takes a lot to over cook.
 
Sliced pork butt take them off at 165. If you want pulled pork cook till 195. At that point take your meat probe or a skewer and start probing different spots. If it goes in with no resistance its done. If there are spots with a little resistance cook it little longer. You should cook butts more on feel than by temperature, they all finish at different temps.
 
My experience is 195/197F for good texture pulling pork. I don't like pulled pork wich melts in my mouth. I like to bite it.
Not chewy At all!
 
Thanks to all...one last question. If I'm going to do 4 butts, roughly how many hours should I expect to have them on? 8? Was thinking about putting them on around midnight tonight and checking them around 6am.
 
BCofer said:
Thanks to all...one last question. If I'm going to do 4 butts, roughly how many hours should I expect to have them on? 8? Was thinking about putting them on around midnight tonight and checking them around 6am.
Click to expand...

That is a hard one to answer since there are a number of factors - how large are the butts, what average temp are you able to keep the smoker at etc. having said all that, I would say I think 8 hours is not even close to enough time (given my experience that is. which is smoking pork butts for pulled pork on 5 seperate occasions)

For ME - I tend to get 7.5-8 lbs. butts, I tend to keep my smoker in the 235-245 range (I try to keep in the 240-250 range but usually it will dip down to 235-240) and it will take me 12-14 hours to get to a 195-200 degree range. I tried 3 once and it took almost 15 hours BUT it was also very chilly and windy out and was not the best day to be doing them

If you are doing it for some type of large party I would aim for at least 14 hours. if they end early you can always wap in foil then towel and put in coller and they will stay warm for 2-3 hours...
 
Thanks Keith...good to know. I'll put them on around 8pm tonight then and check them off and on during the late games of the tourney!
 
I cook my bone in pork butts at 275 degrees. I generally have two 8.0-9.0 lb. butts at a time. I cook to 165-170 internal temperature, then foil with some liquid (butter on top) after injecting. Then I wrap them up and start checking with a probe when they hit 195 degrees. Some are ready at 195 and some take as much as 205. When they probe tender, I remove them. I open the foil to stop cooking, let them rest an hour or so, then start pulling. It generally takes 8.0-9.0 hours or more before they are done.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
BC.

If time permits, I shoot for 200F. I've pulled them off the WSM at 195F and they have still pulled beautifully.

The last 6lb-er I did took 11 hrs to get to 200F, as I had a massive stall at 174F. I usually shoot for a +/- 240F cook temp. The last one I did the temp sat solid for hours at 250F, then started to steadily drop. At 210F I fired up a few more coals, stirred the fire-ring, & dumped the 10-12 lit briqs in. There were spikes up to 280F and drops to 230F. I just let it ride, unless the temps get way out of range. Then I'll fiddle with the vents to adjust as req'd.
 
Last edited:
I take my butts to 190 and it takes awhile for them to get there. How did you like the late games of the tourney? Go UTES!!!
 
Hey James I did watch a lot of that game and I'm glad I picked them to win in my bracket! My first try with butts went ok...B/B- if I were grading myself. I think my main problem was I didn't put enough coals in at the start. It kept a steady temp of around 230 from 9:30pm til 6am. I was thrilled to see the temp still sitting there when I checked them in the morning. But I did 4 butts and I took them off after another 3 hours. Total cooking time of 12 hrs. I think I should have left them on another hour. Most of the meat pulled off pretty easy, but there were a couple butts that were more work than they should have been. All in all, though, the BBQ turned out good, and it was a great learning experience. Thanks again to all who gave great advice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top