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Emergency! Did I ruin my overnight pork butt for today?


 
Teddy J.

Teddy J.

TVWBB Pro
Ok - so long story short. Overnight pork butt smoke going perfect. She was on hr 10 with internal temp @ 158 with a target of 175. I go to take an hr nap and check on her, but said hr nap ends up 4 hrs. Run to WSM, lip temp is at 125, and internal temp of butt is ~135.

I check the charcoal, almost out, so I fire her back up, and run to my anchor of VWBB.com to find out what next?

I'm not serving till 1pm, so I have plenty of time - should I just reheat till target internal temp?
 
Internal temp is back up to 150 and rising. Right now lid temp is holding at 275.

I guess I'll still shoot for ~175 internal and then foil so I can throw the 3 racks of spares on.

I wish I had more confidence on this butt right now. Who wants to bet the mixup will cause my best butt yet...
 
Hi,

Butt will be fine. Not in the danger zone long enough to cause a problem. Just curious, with a finish temp of 175° I'm assuming that you're slicing and not pulling??

Al
 
Al - Pulling. The past 2 butts I've done have gone to 175 internal temp, foiled, and placed in an empty cooler for another 4 hrs or so. I've been fairly happy with them.

I have 3 racks of spares that I'm about to put on for a get together in 5 hrs or so.

Would you recommend leaving the butt under the ribs until the internal temp gets higher, and then no need to foil unless I want to keep warm while the ribs finish?
 
Mitch,

I also pull my butts at 175, foil and rest for an hour or two. And I think you'll be fine sounds like temps are right on track again.

Are these butts bone in or boneless?
 
Hi,

I would foil the butt to keep the fresh rib juices from dripping onto it. I usually pull my butts at 195°- 200°. Temps will rise pretty qiuckly in the foil. I also rest for a couple of hours in a cooler and then outside the cooler with the foil opened up until cool enough to handle.

Al
 
Chris - This is a ~7.5 pound bone-in. My first butt cooked with lump, I'm excited.

Al - I'll give your method a try. Thanks for your help and advice, I'm feeling a bit better about this piece of meat now.
 
Mitch,

I have found them to be much easier to pull when taken up to 195-200 as Al suggests. And they don't dry out even at that temp.

Bob
 
Question for you Al -

Since the butt is now foiled on the lower rack, ribs just went on, what kind of ETA do you think for the foiled butt to raise from ~168 internal temp t ~195? I'm using an instant temp probe to check reading, but it's not the easiest to get to and I don't want to open and close lid more than needed. Oh yeah, and the smoke is in it's billowing stage, not easy on my eyes!
 
I usually pull at 195 if I am pulling. Then foil and rest will hold several hours no problem.

Kinda of a guess about an hour and I would check butts are kinda forgiving you could pull at 185-190 an the temp should carry.

Sometimes they get stuck at a temp and take and hour or two longer to break through. Stuff about the fat rendering and cools resulting in a stuck temp. Ther are lots of post about it.
 
Originally posted by Mitch Josey:
I'm using an instant temp probe to check reading, but it's not the easiest to get to and I don't want to open and close lid more than needed.
Click to expand...
Can you reach it through the door?

Every butt I've done gets stuck in the 170's for awhile, sometimes the temps may even drop a few degrees, but don't worry, it's normal.

I've never foiled one before it was finished so be sure to post pics. Should be nice and juicy.
icon_biggrin.gif
 
Hi,

Sorry for the delay in getting back, had to make a Home Depot run. It can take from two to four hours depending on the size. It will not stay in the plateau long due to the foil.

Al
 
Mitch, I've had a few overnighters go this way, usualy because I had too much to drink, but I've never been able to screw up a butt no matter how hard I try. Yours will be just fine.

If you have never taken a butt into the 190's I highly suggest trying it. You won't be dissapointed.

Brandon
 
Awesome info guys, I thank myself everyday I found this place.

Looks like we're stuck at ~178. Only ~15 more degrees to go. I feel like I'm doing something wrong because this 7.5 pound butt is now going on it's 19th hr of cook (due to my 4 hr neglect on temp). Oh well, gotta love it when your BBQ experience seems to last forever!
 
Mitch, try opening a vent to try to get another 25* out of her, this will help push the temps out of the platau and past 178*

Brandon
 
Brandon - worked like a charm.

She's rising at ~187, just a few more ticks to go. Ribs just got foiled as well, so timing should be good for the butt to come off at ~190 and rest for a couple hours till ribs are done.
 
I know its been said a million times before, and it should be stated here again. 190* is not the "perfect" temp to use. "Cook butts until tender, when you can insert a probe with little to no resistance." However in this case, 190* is much more likely to be tender then 170*.

Most people, including myself, start checking for tender around 185. And alot of people go to 195*-200* It wont take you more then a few tries to know what your feeling for.

Enjoy your meal Mitch,

Brandon
 
Agree with Brandon here. I start checking at 180 and it's true that 90% of the time they are not tender until 195.

One time I had a cooker run low overnight around 190 - 200 pit. Those butts turned tender around 180. Not sure exactly why, probably because they went for like 16 hours. So time won vs. internal temp.

I've had 2 identically sized butts and one be tender at 190 and the other wasn't until 205.

Todd
 
Just wanted to update this for a good reference.

Butt came out SUPER tender and juicy. Was a total hit along with the ribs. All the neighbors that were over (it was one of the neighbor's 77 b-day party I got suckered into putting on) thought I should quit my day job and open a BBQ business! Hahaha, good times - wish it were true.

Either way, butt turned out great. I'm definitely going to be bringing the internal temp up a bit on my future butts. One gentle tug on the bone and she slid out like charm, and the butt fell apart in my hands.

The only complaint that I had was the outside bark was VERY mushy (from being foiled I assume). Luckily I had taken a small taste test of the bark prior to foiling and got a glimpse of what an entire pork butt would be like covered in the crisp, barky goodness.

Next time I'm going to ride internal temp all the way up without foiling because I hate to waste all that hard earned preparation and smoking for the wonderful bark, to only have it turn to mush after foiling.

Either way - thanks for all the help.
 
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