I have a Weber Performer. I have done a bit of smoking on it, mainly ribs and one time a couple years ago I did a pork butt. This pork butt is 7.5 pounds and is bone in. Steve Raichlen's book tells me to only go 4-6 hours, and last time I used a recipe off of grilling 24x7 that called for 12 hours and that is basically what it took. A twelve hour smoke on my Performer is a little longer than I would like. Does anyone have any instructions or suggestions on what temp and how long to smoke a pork butt? What about my fire....side trays, minion, snake...which would be best in this situation? Thanks!
How to Smoke Pork Butt on Kettle?
- Thread starter Allen U
- Start date
GGross
TVWBB Pro
Try the snake method, I find it works well on my kettle. I find the snake keeps the kettle pretty consistent at about 275. You probably want to get the butt about 190 internal. I have run out of fuel before it hits that temp and wrapped the butt in foil and finished off on the gasser or you could rebuild snake. Good luck on finding your method
Bob Ivey
TVWBB Emerald Member
First off, welcome to the site. Have you considered getting a WSM? They work so good for smoking and are easy to use. You might take a look on Craigslist. As for smoking on the Performer, I always do my turkeys on it and it works great. Using the indirect method with wood chips gives a great smoked flavor. It does give you a higher heat but the results are great.
Bob Correll
R.I.P. 3/31/2022
Welcome to the forum Allen!
If you like a lot of bark and short cook time, then you might want to try this method:
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?37749-De-Boned-Whacked-Up-Butt-PP-in-5-5-hrs&highlight=whacked
If you like a lot of bark and short cook time, then you might want to try this method:
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?37749-De-Boned-Whacked-Up-Butt-PP-in-5-5-hrs&highlight=whacked
Robert McGee
TVWBB Gold Member
I did many a pork butt on my Weber 22.5" OTG before I got my first WSM. First, I suggest you do this:
http://www.hotsmokebbq.com/002gear/weber_bottom_vent_marking.php
Then, I bought a pair of thin firebricks. I stand them on edge on top of my charcoal grate and separate the area in two. I dump one chimney (unlit) behind the bricks and put a throw-away aluminum pan on the other side of the grate resting on the charcoal crate underneath my meat. I then put twenty lit briquettes evenly on top of the unlit. I put about three apple wood chunks on top of the fire, for smoke. Put the food grate on and adjust the bottom vents to about half open (monitor the temperature). You can cook at about 275-300 degrees. Put the meat on when you are up to temp.
I apply my rub and let it set before starting my fire. I inject my Boston Butts (check out Harry Soo's pdf on this site for a injection formula) before cooking. When the internal temperature hits 165 degrees, I wrap the butt with aluminum foil (I apply Harry Soo's mixture as per the pdf before sealing it up). Then, back on the fire until it is probe tender. I gently open the aluminum after the butt hit's 195 degrees internally. Sometime after 195 degrees up to as much as 205 degrees the meat will be tender. I use a fork, insert, and try to twist it. When you can easily insert and twist, then pull the meat and rest it a bit after opening the aluminum (you want to stop cooking - if you leave it sealed up it will continue to cook from internal heat) before pulling it.
You can do a FINE job on the Weber grill, it just takes more attention and fire tending than the WSM.
Keep on smokin',
Dale53
http://www.hotsmokebbq.com/002gear/weber_bottom_vent_marking.php
Then, I bought a pair of thin firebricks. I stand them on edge on top of my charcoal grate and separate the area in two. I dump one chimney (unlit) behind the bricks and put a throw-away aluminum pan on the other side of the grate resting on the charcoal crate underneath my meat. I then put twenty lit briquettes evenly on top of the unlit. I put about three apple wood chunks on top of the fire, for smoke. Put the food grate on and adjust the bottom vents to about half open (monitor the temperature). You can cook at about 275-300 degrees. Put the meat on when you are up to temp.
I apply my rub and let it set before starting my fire. I inject my Boston Butts (check out Harry Soo's pdf on this site for a injection formula) before cooking. When the internal temperature hits 165 degrees, I wrap the butt with aluminum foil (I apply Harry Soo's mixture as per the pdf before sealing it up). Then, back on the fire until it is probe tender. I gently open the aluminum after the butt hit's 195 degrees internally. Sometime after 195 degrees up to as much as 205 degrees the meat will be tender. I use a fork, insert, and try to twist it. When you can easily insert and twist, then pull the meat and rest it a bit after opening the aluminum (you want to stop cooking - if you leave it sealed up it will continue to cook from internal heat) before pulling it.
You can do a FINE job on the Weber grill, it just takes more attention and fire tending than the WSM.
Keep on smokin',
Dale53
Mike Willis
TVWBB All-Star
Hi Allen, and welcome to the site! I usually run my WSM around 325˚-350˚F for a high heat pork butt (the only way I do it anymore). I put one on my rotisserie once directly over the coals and it turned out very good as well. The one time I just used my kettle, I used the snake method with a drip pan under the butt and smoke wood staggered every few inches and it came out good too. I guess what I'm saying is 1) high heat is the way to go if you want to avoid a 12 hour cook, and 2) pork butt is very forgiving, whatever the temp and conditions. Use a therm if you want to know when it's close, but use the "probe tender" test for best results. Good luck and have fun!
Charlie L
TVWBB Super Fan
What is your typical cook time at those temps?
Do you shred or chop?
Do you see a consistency or tenderness difference at 325 vs lower temps?
What is the "probe tender test"? Thanks!
Dustin Dorsey
TVWBB Hall of Fame
Essentially you are just testing how easily a skewer or your temp probe goes into the meat. It's a better test of tenderness that simply aiming for a specific temp. It takes a little getting used to but its basically similar to putting the probe into warm butter.
Eventually you can get used to the feel of it. You can start the "probe test" around 190 and get used to what it feels like at different stages. I've done one high temp cook of a pork butt and I really liked it and I'm telling you this as a guy that is pretty dogmatic about going low and slow.
I have a WSM myself but there are plenty of guys that cook almost anything on a kettle and actually prefer it. I hear great things about snake method and I'm sure someone can suggest a good setup.
I did many a pork butt on my Weber 22.5" OTG before I got my first WSM. First, I suggest you do this:
http://www.hotsmokebbq.com/002gear/weber_bottom_vent_marking.php
Then, I bought a pair of thin firebricks. I stand them on edge on top of my charcoal grate and separate the area in two. I dump one chimney (unlit) behind the bricks and put a throw-away aluminum pan on the other side of the grate resting on the charcoal crate underneath my meat. I then put twenty lit briquettes evenly on top of the unlit. I put about three apple wood chunks on top of the fire, for smoke. Put the food grate on and adjust the bottom vents to about half open (monitor the temperature). You can cook at about 275-300 degrees. Put the meat on when you are up to temp.
I apply my rub and let it set before starting my fire. I inject my Boston Butts (check out Harry Soo's pdf on this site for a injection formula) before cooking. When the internal temperature hits 165 degrees, I wrap the butt with aluminum foil (I apply Harry Soo's mixture as per the pdf before sealing it up). Then, back on the fire until it is probe tender. I gently open the aluminum after the butt hit's 195 degrees internally. Sometime after 195 degrees up to as much as 205 degrees the meat will be tender. I use a fork, insert, and try to twist it. When you can easily insert and twist, then pull the meat and rest it a bit after opening the aluminum (you want to stop cooking - if you leave it sealed up it will continue to cook from internal heat) before pulling it.
You can do a FINE job on the Weber grill, it just takes more attention and fire tending than the WSM.
Keep on smokin',
Dale53
So approx how many hours are you smoking the butt then?
Jim Mathews
TVWBB Member
Allen -
I don't have a WSM yet, I do have a 26.75 inch kettle, I have done about 7 or 8 butts, good results. A few comments...
(1) any estimate of time from someone else, will be a very rough estimate. All cooks are different, depend on a lot of factors (size/weight of butt, average temp inside grill, weather outside, wind, etc). One thing I learned with butts is that you cannot use a timer. It's not done after a certain amount of time, it's done when "she lets go", meaning, I think, that the connective tissue breaks down and melts into the meat. For me, this is usually when the internal temp hits around 205, but again, some butts may be tender earlier or later. It's done when it's very tender all the way through. Not at a certain temp or after a specific amount of time. That's important to buy into(at least, it was for me).
(2) I find, as others have said, that butts are forgiving...as long as you cook her till she's done, it's not that easy to ruin it (as opposed to brisket, which is a much tougher mistress). High heat, low heat, both high and low...as long as your temperature doesn't get too hot or swing too much, just let it go till it's done.
(3) You can get great results on a kettle. I use a wall of 3 firebricks to wall off about one-third of my charcoal grate. On the smaller side of the bricks, I dump a bunch of unlit. Put about 15 or so lit briquettes into a small pile all the way to one side of the charcoal grate, so that one side of the lit pile is adjacent to one end of the unlit pile. That gives me the fuse/sname/minion, whatever. I can keep 275 for 3 or 4 hours this way. I also put a couple of apple chinks on the pile of unlit, one on the pile of lit. Also, sometimes I wrap the portion of the charcoal grate that will not have charcoal on it, in some heavy duty tinfoil. Not sure it adds any benefit, but others do it...
Cooking grate goes above charcoal grate. on the section of the cooking grate that's above the charcoal, I put a water pan filled with water. On the other side of the water pan, as far away from the charcoal as I can get, I put the butt.
Given that the kettle is fussier than the WSM, a dual-probe thermometer is a good investment. One probe tells you cooking temp where the butt is, other probe goes into the butt, tells you the temp in the center. I usually have to re-load charcoal once or twice. That's the disadvantage of not using a WSM.
Some of mine have been better than others, all have been pretty good - smoked butts are like chocolate chip cookies in that regard - they're not all the same, but never had one that was "bad".
Good luck.
I don't have a WSM yet, I do have a 26.75 inch kettle, I have done about 7 or 8 butts, good results. A few comments...
(1) any estimate of time from someone else, will be a very rough estimate. All cooks are different, depend on a lot of factors (size/weight of butt, average temp inside grill, weather outside, wind, etc). One thing I learned with butts is that you cannot use a timer. It's not done after a certain amount of time, it's done when "she lets go", meaning, I think, that the connective tissue breaks down and melts into the meat. For me, this is usually when the internal temp hits around 205, but again, some butts may be tender earlier or later. It's done when it's very tender all the way through. Not at a certain temp or after a specific amount of time. That's important to buy into(at least, it was for me).
(2) I find, as others have said, that butts are forgiving...as long as you cook her till she's done, it's not that easy to ruin it (as opposed to brisket, which is a much tougher mistress). High heat, low heat, both high and low...as long as your temperature doesn't get too hot or swing too much, just let it go till it's done.
(3) You can get great results on a kettle. I use a wall of 3 firebricks to wall off about one-third of my charcoal grate. On the smaller side of the bricks, I dump a bunch of unlit. Put about 15 or so lit briquettes into a small pile all the way to one side of the charcoal grate, so that one side of the lit pile is adjacent to one end of the unlit pile. That gives me the fuse/sname/minion, whatever. I can keep 275 for 3 or 4 hours this way. I also put a couple of apple chinks on the pile of unlit, one on the pile of lit. Also, sometimes I wrap the portion of the charcoal grate that will not have charcoal on it, in some heavy duty tinfoil. Not sure it adds any benefit, but others do it...
Cooking grate goes above charcoal grate. on the section of the cooking grate that's above the charcoal, I put a water pan filled with water. On the other side of the water pan, as far away from the charcoal as I can get, I put the butt.
Given that the kettle is fussier than the WSM, a dual-probe thermometer is a good investment. One probe tells you cooking temp where the butt is, other probe goes into the butt, tells you the temp in the center. I usually have to re-load charcoal once or twice. That's the disadvantage of not using a WSM.
Some of mine have been better than others, all have been pretty good - smoked butts are like chocolate chip cookies in that regard - they're not all the same, but never had one that was "bad".
Good luck.
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