Butt over butt

[Guest]

Hello all,

I'm relatively new to smoking and have a question from my last pork butt cook. The cook was pretty much straight forward: arranged 2 butts in the WSM so one was over the other. Both butts were cooked to an internal temp of 195 and then foil wrapped and stored in a cooler for a couple hours before pulling. Since the top butt hit 195 earlier, the bottom but came of the WSM a half hour or so later. Anyway, when it came time to pull the meat the bottom butt was noticeably easier to pull and seemed much more moist than the top one.

I'm guessing that the top one effectively basted the bottom one during the cooking process. My question is that I'm wondering if it makes sense to alternate the butts midway during the cook so both of them will reap the basting benefit? Is this already normal practice with you all?

Regards,
Robb W.

 

[Chris]

I rarely only cook two butts, more often 4 or 6, I always break the expected cook down into sections, when cooking 6 butts it normally takes 13 + hours.

I leave well alone for the first 5 hours, then I swap meat from the bottem rack to the top rack and turn the meat upside down at the same time, I refill the water before putting the top butts back on the bottom rack.

Somewhere between 9 and 10 hours, they all get flipped end over end, and I add more water as necessary, after they get to 185°, ("ish", because I am not at fussy as I could be), they get spritzed with AJ from a bottle every 20 - 30 minutes until I am ready to pull them off at 195° - 200° +.

So effectively I am using the top to baste the bottom, but I am also turning them more often than some folks will, I like to do them that way, so I do them that way!

 

[Joe McManus]

Not discounting the basting effect, but another factor probably was just a different butt. Even butts from the same cryovac pack can have a tremenous amount of difference. Every one is a little different. Temperature differences between top and bottom grate could have been a reason too. Unless I have HUGE butts (10lb+) I usually just cook them on the top. I never bother rotating them around (i'm just a little lazy I suppose).

 

[Rita Y]

I put the smaller ones on the bottom grate. They often finish very close in time to the larger butts on the top grate. I'm lazy too -- I don't turn mine either.

Rita

 

[Bob T.]

Two butts, side by side on top. Don't even think of looking at them for at least 9 hours. After 10, start spraying with juice. Never flip/turn.
Joe is probably right on track, I think it was the one butt having a different fat content.

 

[Jeff_S]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Joe McManus:
Not discounting the basting effect, but another factor probably was just a different butt. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was just about to say the same thing. More likely the butt that ended up on the bottom had nicer marbling.

Jeff