Butts for a party finishing too quick?


 
S

Stephen T

TVWBB Member
I've got two 6 pound butts I'm trying to have ready for a birthday party this afternoon. Short version is they're reading in the low 180's after only 6.5 hrs. @250 in a preheated cooker.

I put them on at 2:45 a.m. (would have done this earlier, but got in town late), and called an hour ahead to have my roommate fire up the cooker. I had a guru preset to 270 and the coals in the chimney, so all he had to do was light the coals, dump them, and turn on the guru.

Put the butts on, the temps rose to 250 pretty quickly, and (because I lowered the guru temp after adding meat) stayed around there over night.

by 8:30, the butts were in the high-170's, I flipped and mopped. At 9:20 I'm looking at 180. I've lowered the temp, as I suspect I don't want these finishing in the next couple hours.

Assuming they do finish quick, am I looking at a big problem? Will letting them rest longer help break down connective tissue? I've had butts run long, sometimes very long, but never short.
 
No worries.

First, check their temps with a different therm to be sure the 180 reading is accurate. If so, not a problem. Butts can easily rest 5 hours in a towel-packed cooler. I'm not sure what time this afternoon you'll be needing them but you of course need to factor in the time they'll take to pull. If they're done ~6 hours before you need to serve you're good. If they finish sooner you can either double-wrap in HD, return them to the cooker, and shut the lid vent and the Guru damper (remember to turn off its fan). The coals will die out and you'll get a longer hold time. Alternatively, you can cooler and rest 4 hours or so, pull the meat, and put it in roasting pans; sprinkle with a little liquid, cover tightly with foil, and hold in a very slow (175-200) oven.

Enjoy your party.
 
Thanks!

We're probably eating around 5:30, so it sounds like I should be OK. It's 10:30 now and I'm reading 183. The party is actually about 90 minutes from here, and I actually need to pick a couple people up from the airport, putting me away between ~11:30 and ~2:30. (Yes, this was planned poorly. I was expecting someone here to pull these when they hit temp, and it didn't work out
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I didn't quite follow this:

"If they finish sooner you can either double-wrap in HD, return them to the cooker, and shut the lid vent and the Guru damper (remember to turn off its fan)."

What's HD? Heavy duty foil? So, I hit late 188's-190, wrap, and stick them in the cooker with the air cut off?
 
Yes to all.

The fading coals provide heat for quite a while as does the heated grates. On warm days it works well; on cool or winter days the time is shortened but it's still a viable alternative to a cooler.

Note that because heat is still applied by the coals further cooking occurs till the time the temp drops below the temp of the meat. Butts can handle this without issue but continued cooking is usually not warranted for brisket.
 
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