First Overnight Smoke


 
T

Trevor D

New member
I've been a WSM owner for a couple of weeks now, and after seasoning, and my first shot at ribs last weekend (very successful, if I do say so myself), I decided that there is no time like now to do a pork butt. So, with my new WSM, my new Maverick ET-733 thermometer, and my brand new 10lbs pork butt, I was ready to get started.


Rub was the Mr. Brown rub



Used some apple, and a bit of hickory. Also threw in a few cherry chips that I had lying around. Used the Minion method, here's the charcoal waiting for it's hot friends.



10pm Friday night, coals are warming in the chimney



10:30pm, pork is seasoned and gets its first taste of the grill



By 11:30pm the temps had stabilized to around 240 measured at the grill, so I went to bed and let the magic happen




The night went OK. I had set the Maverick to beep if the temp dropped below 205, or rose above 270, but it didn't wake me at all during the night. I did wake up twice and checked the temps, but it was nice and steady at around 235-242. I was even happy when my 3 year old woke me up at 6:30, cause I was excited to get a look at the pork. I held back a little, and waited until 7:30 to take my first look.



I gave it a couple of sprays with apple juice and apple cider vinegar, and then around 9:00am I flipped it over. Around 11am, I put the probe in the meat. Initially it showed that the meat temperature was 190F, so I figured it had cooked fast that that maybe we'd be having pulled pork for lunch instead of supper. But then I put the probe in a couple of other places, and it consistently showed around 170. I'm guessing that the first time I put the probe in it might have been close to the bone which gave me a false reading. Not sure though...

Stayed at around 170 for a while, then slowly climbed up to about 180, where it again stayed for a while. By now I had to replenish my charcoal because my grill temps were dropping, and I think I made the mistake of not putting enough charcoal in. Lit a bit with the chimney, added them in, and they slowed the temp descent, but did not reverse it. The temps at the grill were now about 220. So then I added more warm water, and even more charcoal, bringing the temps back up to about 235-245.

By about 4pm, the meat temp was still only 183, and it looked like this



I had been hoping that it would reach 195, but I had a family to feed, so I pulled it off, wrapped it in foil, and popped it into a pre-warmed cooler for about 45 minutes.



Not sure what the temp was while wrapped, because I took the probe out when I wrapped it.

Here's after the pull



And on the plate with some coleslaw.




It tasted really great, but might have been a bit dry. It was nice and tender, but not as juicy as I had hoped for. I wonder if I left it on the grill at 180 or so too long at too low of a heat, which dried it out a bit, or if I should have kept it on the grill till it reached 195. Any thoughts? I'm thinking maybe I should have pulled it off earlier, but I don't know.

Anyway, it was a great first overnight cook. I had a good time, and will be doing it again soon hopefully!

Trevor
 
I'm thinking you had it on the smoker for too long. I think the longest my pork shoulders have ever needed to be smoked is about 10 hours (maybe a little over), however that's usually when i have multiple shoulders on at once. I tend not to focus on internal temp when cooking shoulders, so I'm not sure at what temp I would recommend pulling it. My process is generally wait about 6 or 7 hours before taking the dome off (baring any cooker temp fluctuations that require attending to), and then use a skewer to probe in several places for tenderness. Usually when doing one shoulder that's around the 7.5-8 hour mark, two shoulders typically adds about an hour for me.

That's what I have in the way of advice, if you want to call it that. Other than that all I have to say is congrats on the first overnighter! I know i was a little nervous for my first one, but after it turned out so well, that's about the only way I cook pork shoulders now. Looks pretty good for a first attempt at a butt! Keep it up and you'll have it down in no time!
 
Looks great. I keep shoulders on till 190-195, then pull and wrap and set in a cooler for an hour or so.
 
If I follow the thread, you butt was on from 10PM until 4PM the following day? That is an extremely long cook for a 10LBS butt at the temp you were cooking at

Bottom line, that's your first cook and it tasted good :)
I'm sure your next cook will be better and you'll master it. After all, that's a nice cook right there
 
I was under the impression that it was about 1.5 - 2 hours per pound, hence my 10 pounder should take about 15-20 hours. I took this one off around 17 hours...
 
Not Tim, but when I did butts at 250, I averaged an hour per pound. Then I re-read your post and saw your low alarm was 205. So if a bulk of your cook was south of 250, then 15 hours wouldn't be excessive
 
Congrats on the cook, but that is an 8 hour job if you want it to be. About 130 when it starts getting crusty I will spray the butt with apple juice, then wrap in foil at 150 and take it to 195. Keep on smoking!
 
ChuckO said:
Not Tim, but when I did butts at 250, I averaged an hour per pound. Then I re-read your post and saw your low alarm was 205. So if a bulk of your cook was south of 250, then 15 hours wouldn't be excessive
Click to expand...

It never got down to 205... Lowest was about 220. Most of the cook was at about 240.
 
That's the temp range I cook at. It's weird that it took that long but not completely crazy. Wrapping will significantly reduce cook time. I'd rather not wrap but if it's between that and pulling it too soon I'll wrap.
 
I think next time I'll consider wrapping it as I get closer to "must-remove time" and try to get the temp of the meat closer to 195. I'll see how that goes.
 
I too am contemplating doing some pulled pork. Have been doing a lot of reading and according to Meathead Goldman on his website he likes the internal temp to be 203. Then let rest and then pull pork. He also suggests a water pan to maintain the moisture. Yours certainly looks very good.
 
Don't over think it. The butt looks great! Tweak a thing here or there, but stick with your same general game plan. I've never wrapped a butt, and generally do in the 10-12lb range, and they take about 14 or so hours. Like others have said, I'll start checking with a wooden skewer around 185 for tenderness. Some have come off around 190, others have come off around 205. Trust the feel of it.

Great job!
 
I have had in the past very good luck with cooking to 203 but I've since switched to the probing for tenderness method. I had a brisket that I cooked to 196 internal and I let it go too long and overcooked it so temp isn't everything. I think Meathead has since revised it to say that "some folks swear by 203" but to go by probe tenderness and feel but that may just be the brisket article. The very last brisket I cooked, I cooked the probe tenderness and it just happened be at 203 my old pulling temp so there's something to it, but its not worth taking a chance on.
I have had meat hit a 2nd stall. I'm not sure what's happening there and its not well documented. I know the first stall around 150 is surface moisture going away. I have no idea what's going on in the 2nd stall. If you wrap and then unwrap and put it back on to fix the crust you'll see it for sure because the internal temp will drop after you unwrap. I've had internal temp drop 2 degrees just from taking off the lid to check it with an unwrapped brisket. Not sure what happened there.
 
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