Boston Butt temp plateau


 
S

Stephen T

TVWBB Member
I'm having one of those "is my thermometer wrong" moments.

Two butts went in at midnight. By 7:00 a.m. they're in the late 170's, by 11:00 they're reading in the high 180's, and now, 3.5 hrs. later, I'm getting lower temps, in the mid 180's. Smoker temp is around 225, was higher (250'ish) overnight.

Anybody have this happen? I've had plateaus before, but not when they were so close to being done. I'd just let them go for a couple more hours and pull it, but this is for company.
 
Re-position the probe in a couple other spots and see what temp readings you get. You're probably just in a spot right now where some fat is really rendering well, and cooling that spot off. Check the bone for looseness-- you might already be done.
 
My brother came by after work and had his thermometer with him (he's a chef, which is handy), and it is getting readings in the mid-170's in one but, around 180 in other. The Maverick seems to be reading around there now as well. We'll let it keep on truckin' for a while.
 
Pretty baffling. 14.5 hrs. into the cook, I foiled the butts and put them in a 300 degree oven. An hour later I'm still reading in the 180's. I'll let it go another 30 minutes and let it rest a while, and see how one comes apart.
 
I have had that happen several times--it's like a second plateau in the 180s. I just lest it go several hours, skip temping entirely, then pull, wrap and rest a couple or 3 hours. Every butt where this has occurred has been great.
 
Steve, What Kevin described has happened to me on the last two pork butts cooks I did. They plateaued twice. Once around 160-170 and again at the 180 mark. Just keep testing for doneness.
 
I pulled them out after the the 30 additional min. (90 total) at 300 degrees for about 16 hrs. of cooking. Let them rest 90 minutes, then pulled.

They came out great, probably a B+ effort. The bark was a little tougher than I like, but everybody loved it. Good cook. Next time I wouldn't worry about temp and just check for doneness, but when you're nearly 20 degrees shy of the "done" mark, that gave me a little pause.
 
This happens to me often. I do typically finish in oven if the WSM temp is starting to drop as I figure the smoking is done anyway. I am used to 8pm on, 3pm in cooler, 5pm pull timing lately.

But I did a brisket this weekend, 13lb, and it only took 10 hrs....my 8pm was done at 6am! ah!
 
Did an overnight on the 3rd of July. The butt plateaued at 160. I went to the store and was gone about two hours and the temp of the WSM dropped to 180 and the meat back down to 155. I had to ramp the WSM back up with lit coals back to 250. The butt then plateaued at 180 for two hours. Finally reached 190 after 18 hours. It would have taken less time if I caught the WSM temp drop earlier. All in all, my wife said its the best ever. Can't rush a butt.
 
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