How long can you cook a butt?


 
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Kevin Taylor

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I have been cooking some large butts lately and wanted to share some of my experiences. This may help us all in regards to timing and overnight cooks.

One of the variables is the large butts I cooked. I buy my butts in bulk cryovac and they contain 2 butts with a total weight of 15 lbs. This is much larger than most that are bought from the butcher case.

I cook all my foods at 225? and always plan on 2 hours per pound for butts.

I started cooking at midnight Friday planning on serving this up around 4-5 pm Saturday evening. My temps dipped to 188? overnight, but held pretty steady around 225? for the remainder of the cook.

Serving time came at 5pm and of course "other" things distracted from serving it up. So, at this point I wrapped it in foil and returned it to the smoker.....where it sat for another 6 hours! I turned the vents closed to snuff the fire and let it sit.

At 11pm we finally broke it open. Total cooking time...23 hours. The temp was still 160? in the smoker. All of this on one load of charcoal!

The butt was absolutely marvelous! PLUS, almost NO fat was present. It was not too dry and this is the least amount of fat I have ever seen in a finished butt.

So, how will I change my cooking times going forward?

I now know I can cook a large butt for 24 hours and it will come out great. As long as the butt is 7-8 pounds, this will work. This makes planning much easier and I know that if it has to sit in the cooker for 6 hours longer I will not lose anything in the finished product.

To me, it avoids having to start cooking at midnight or later to get a finished product on the table. Now I will start them 23-24 hours ahead of time which seems so much easier.

Hope this helps some of us.
 
Hey Stogie, Kevin, BBQGURU,

I don't know how you got your smoker to go 24 hours on one ring of charcoal are you Houdinicharcoalguru? I am awake from an overnight cook that I started at 8:30 last night and checked out my smoker 12 hours later to find the charcoal all used up!!

I use those same cryovac butts from Costco that are 15 lbs for two. I just checked out my supply of charcoal......EMPTY!! I have to go to a birthday party so I am going to finish in the oven or let them cool and put in the frig and smoke them later.

Anyway, good to know I can go so long in smoking them.

How the heck did you get that 24 hour cook??
 
Yesterday, I planned on cooking 6 slabs of ribs for the neighborhood. I started the charcoal in a chimney about 8am, assembled the cooker when the coals were white and poured in the water--when whooosh--the pan slipped off its brackets and doused the fire.

I had other errands to do that morning, so I bagged the idea of cooking that day. I covered the cooker, but left all the vents open so the coals could cook/or die as they saw fit.

When I got back around 5pm, the cooker was smoking along at a merry 300 degrees, despite having been soaked in water--in fact there was still water in the very bottom of the cooker.

I added a chimney full of unlit charcoal, reset the cooker, with carefully added water, and proceeded to cook the ribs, taking them off around 12:30am. This morning, at 8am, I checked the temperature of the cooker and it was still at 180 degrees. A full 24 hours, with a slight addition of charcoal and at least a gallon of water soaked into the coals.

I was amazed.

Dale
 
Jim and Stogie,

I use Kingsford and the smoker is in a position where there is very little wind. Could I be losing heat through the lid or the side door to make my charcoal only go 12 hours on a load?
 
Jeff
A full load is aprox 10 to 11 pounds of charcoal and then use 15 to 20 burning pieces at the start.
Jim
 
Hi Folks!
Just wondering...I ahve had that crovac meat from Costco in the way of RIBS---they where shipped in a briney solution that I felt made the ribs taste "hammy"-just wondering- did the butts have that solution thing going on??
Later!!
Mark (in Joisey)
 
A number of packing companies have gone to anywhere from 7 to 12% solutions.
Your paying quite bit for this salt water and it is the reason that your rib taste hammy.
I have been able to get a lot of pork out of Canada packed by Fletchers that is not solution added and well priced.
Jim
 
Hi all!

Jim.....sorry, but I have not charted my cooks in many years. I also don't rely too much on the ole Polder for internal meat temps any more. I finally have enough experience where the Polder is not quite as critical as it was many years ago.

Jeff...I have tried several other charcoals and keep coming back to Kingsford. No other even comes close to comparing in burn length. When I say fill it up, I use 3/4 - 7/8 of a bag...depending if I have the 20 or 24 lb. bag. The charcoal will be over the top of the charcoal ring by a small amount.

Another reason for the long burn was the outside temps were very mild and no wind at all.

As to the cryovaced butts...I get mine from a local hog farmer who tells me that any product she gets in, is NOT brined with anything. She told me that the only brined meat that is shipped, is strictly for retail consumption. Since she re-packages the meat for retail sale, she gets in it's original form.

Stogie
 
Kevin
I agree the Polder is just a guide but you stated by this cook you know you can cook for 20 hours and have it come out great. The pit temp got as low as 188? overnight but to recreate this cook without knowing pit temps and internals is leaving a lot to the gods.
The cook lasted for 17 hours and you held it for 6 hours in foil. At the point it went into foil rendering would have been done, so would the butt been as good at the 17 hour mark as the 23.
Catering I find that holding product doesn't usually improve it.
I don't doubt what you say, just interested in your observations.
Jim
 
Hi Jim!

I have no idea how the butt was looking at the 17 hour mark. It was more than likely done at that point. I was really more in search of how long can you hold it....and it appears they can be held for a pretty long time, with a little heat left in the pit, without totally drying them out. That was the eye opener for me.

As to re-creating the event, I think if I follow my procedures closely, it will be close enough. Every overnighter I have done, the pit always drops below 200? at some point in the night. Having said that, I also realize there are many variables and I may never get a long burn on one load of charcoal like that again.

Don't get me wrong, I would not do this in competition, but for serving to a group of people, most of whom have never tasted pork butt, I think I can come close enough to re-creating it.

The biggest finding was the fact that I can put the butt on around 9-10 at night instead of 12 midnight and serve it up without losing much quality.

Like most of us around here, we need our sleep!

Stogie
 
Stogie
I do know about sleep, I've got a few years on you and it gets more important every year :d
I also cook the same size butts you do all the time and my find they will finish in 12 to 16 hours on average, but I cook at 235 to 250?.
I just did my company party for 400, I started the butts (22) at 5pm on a Saturday and they where ready at 6am Sunday. I wrapped in foil and held them in Cambros for 4 hours.
We went to the site put on chicken, 500 pieces. The butts where pulled as needed and we held them at 160? with the chicken in the cooker. I used the Treager for this cook and was able to sleep for 7 hours that night.
Jim
 
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