I haven't posted in a while, but a post a while back caught my attention regarding higher heat pork butts. There has been a sale the last couple of weeks for bone in at .99 a pound, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
First attempt, I used a flower pot base inside the stock pan. The temps settled in at around 280 to 295 and it took about 9 hours to cook two 8.25 butts. I believe I left all vents open. This was the fastest pork butt cook I have done so far.
Second try I used just a foil lined stock pan but inside the charcoal pan I placed two fire bricks towards the outside edges. I kept one vent closed and two wide open. After an hour, the temps settled and stayed around 280 to 290. Total cook time to reach 200 degrees internal was about the same time as above (8.5 to 9 hours+-).
Both cooks were a little over an hour a pound.
Both times I felt the meat was the same as a lower temperature cooked butt except the higher temp cook resulted in more and consistent bark. If you're bark fan consider a higher heat cook.
John
First attempt, I used a flower pot base inside the stock pan. The temps settled in at around 280 to 295 and it took about 9 hours to cook two 8.25 butts. I believe I left all vents open. This was the fastest pork butt cook I have done so far.
Second try I used just a foil lined stock pan but inside the charcoal pan I placed two fire bricks towards the outside edges. I kept one vent closed and two wide open. After an hour, the temps settled and stayed around 280 to 290. Total cook time to reach 200 degrees internal was about the same time as above (8.5 to 9 hours+-).
Both cooks were a little over an hour a pound.
Both times I felt the meat was the same as a lower temperature cooked butt except the higher temp cook resulted in more and consistent bark. If you're bark fan consider a higher heat cook.
John
