Is my butt cooking too fast?


 
C

ChristopherCG

TVWBB Fan
Hi. I put on a 7 lb butt this moring around 7:45am. This is my first attempt at a low and slow cook. I did one about 3 weeks ago high heat and it came out great but the bark was just so-so. I trimmed almost all of the fat cap on this one and have it sitting right on the grate. I was prepared for an 8-10 hour cook.

I've had it on for about 90 minutes. Lid temps average around 240, grate temps around 255. I'm using Royal Oak lump and several chunks of apple and pecan.

My meat probe (Maverick) is reading 100 degrees already. This seems awfully high for just 90 minutes at a low temp. Is this normal? I took the meat directly from the fridge to the cooker. It was reading 48 degrees when I first stuck the probe in.
 
I don't think so. I went out and checked and re-inserted it making sure it was nowhere near the bone.

It's been on for 2.5 hours. Internal temp isat 129. It looks good. Bark is forming nicely.

Taking the cover off caused a big spike in cooker temp. Lid reading 260, grate 293. I closed 2nd vent so all I've got is one vent about 50% open.

I'm wondering if the meat is smaller than I thought. A friend gave me 1/2 of his 2 pack so I don't really know how much it weighed. It seems much smaller than the one I did last time which was 8 lbs or so. Maybe this one is only 5 lbs?
 
This doesn't answer your original question, but if the butt's internal temperature was 48 degrees when you took it out of the refrigerator, your refrigerator is not cold enough. The USDA says "Refrigerators should be set to maintain a temperature of 40 °F or below."
 
Well, now that I think about it I did leave it outside on the counter for maybe 15 minutes before putting it on. I've measured my spare fridge (where I keep my meats) and it usually shows about 42 degrees. So maybe a tad higher than it should be.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Christopher_C_ G:
Hi. I put on a 7 lb butt this moring around 7:45am. This is my first attempt at a low and slow cook. I did one about 3 weeks ago high heat and it came out great but the bark was just so-so. I trimmed almost all of the fat cap on this one and have it sitting right on the grate. I was prepared for an 8-10 hour cook.

I've had it on for about 90 minutes. Lid temps average around 240, grate temps around 255. I'm using Royal Oak lump and several chunks of apple and pecan.

My meat probe (Maverick) is reading 100 degrees already. This seems awfully high for just 90 minutes at a low temp. Is this normal? I took the meat directly from the fridge to the cooker. It was reading 48 degrees when I first stuck the probe in. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have two 4 lbrs on right now and it's heading in the same direction (on target to reach 100 internal in an hour). Not too worried about it though, same thing happened to me a few weeks back and in turned out fine. Temp slowed and went on to have a regular / expected cook time. Eat well tonight my man!
wsmsmile8gm.gif
I know we will...watching the senior citizen match up of Evander Hollyfield and Francois Botha. Break out the oxygen tanks.
 
yeap, my two 8 lbers on almost 4 hours now are at 134'F internal and my dome temp is 240'F . . .
ya know, they're done when they're done.
and having no breakfast today, ima gettin' hungry
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Well things have slowed down considerably. I'm coming up on 8 hours. Lind temp is 240, grate 276 and meat is reading 177. Once it got to 160 it really almost came to a halt.

Surprisngly I started to run out of fuel at the 6.5 hour mark. I was shocked. I'm using a clay saucer and I loaded the pan with RO. I thought I'd get 8-12 hours easy. Not a big deal. Just added another pan of unlit and temps came back up.

Just hit 178!
 
almost the same results here, on 8 hours now, sitting at 171'F internally and I just added a half a chimney of lit Kingsford. Something I've never had to do before today.
Think it's something in the air??
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jim Lampe:
almost the same results here, on 8 hours now, sitting at 171'F internally and I just added a half a chimney of lit Kingsford. Something I've never had to do before today.
Think it's something in the air??
icon_confused.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't know what's going on here but I had to add some more lump to get across the finish line. I'm at 9 hours on the dot and the lid won't go above 200, grate 228. Meat stuck on 185. I looked in the pan and there was mostly scraps left. Very disappointed with this bag of RO. I added some more unlit to the pan to get me home.

Found a hardware store that sells Wicked Good Charcoal briquettes. I will try them next. I think I'm done with RO. I can't believe I've had to add fuel twice on a 9 hour cook!
 
You found the Plateau. When I do butts it seems that the temp comes up fast but once it starts hitting the 150 range it sloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwssssssssssssssssssss down.

Not sure on the coals. I typically go 9 - 11 hours for butts and manage the cooker before hand to not have to add. Briquettes in the ProQ Excel and Lump in the Egg.

Brad.
 
Holy cow! It must be something in the air.... I smoked two butts last night into today and I usually get 12 hours easily on a full ring of Kingsford. This morning, I had to add a chimney.... hmmmmmmmm very interesting...
 
Well, I finally broke through 185 after about an hour. It hit 190 right at the 10 hour mark. Here is what it looked like when I took off the grill. The bone wasn't totally falling out but it was clearly loose. My fork went in nice and smooth.

I double wrapped in heavy duty foil and put into a cooler for about 90 minutes. Very little if any carry-over cook. This is what it looked like when I pulled it. The 90 minutes in the foil really loosened it up. It basically fell apart.

Overall, I have to say I think I preferred the low and slow method over the high heat. Low and slow enabled me to trim and put rub all over the meat so I had tons more bark. It took twice as long as the high heat but it wasn't too bad. Despite the rapid rise in the beginning of the cook, things settled down nicely and the finished product was superb.

The biggest hassle was dealing with the Royal Oak which didn't burn quite as consistently as I was expecting. I kept a log for the cook and I averaged exactly 225 at the lid for the cook.
 
well, that's another fun thing 'bout smokin'... you never know when a curve ball is gonna be thrown... i finished at the 11th hour and none of my previous butt cooks never needed a refill of coal, and i use the same amount each time.
butt then, as the young crowd says, "whatever!"
my butts turned out great and the freezer is re-stocked for AT LEAST another month.
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gonna go burp now.......
 
Jim - what brand of lump do you use? How full do you pack the ring? Are you using an 18.5 or 22" WSM? (I have the 18".) Do you use water or clay pot?

I did an 8 lb turkey breast last weekend high heat. I used two heaping chimneys of lit Kingsford. Lid temps were 350 for 2 hours. Turkey came out perfect. I had almost a full chimney left over. I even let it go for another hour just out of curiosity and I still had at least 4/5 of a full chimney remaining. I bet I would have gotten 5 hours out of the two chimneys. I figured with a full ring of lump I'd get at least 8-10 hours at 225. Very odd.
 
Pork Butts are always deceiving on time. Every time I smoke one the temp rises quickly and I think it's going to be done way quicker than I had planned. And every time, it slows down and ends up taking about as long as I had planned for it to take.

I think the average time for me now is about 1.75 hours per pound. I usually plan around that and it comes pretty close.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael Freeman:
Pork Butts are always deceiving on time. Every time I smoke one the temp rises quickly and I think it's going to be done way quicker than I had planned. And every time, it slows down and ends up taking about as long as I had planned for it to take.

I think the average time for me now is about 1.75 hours per pound. I usually plan around that and it comes pretty close. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It kind of freaked me out given I was cooking at 225 that it was going up so fast initially. But it certainly slowed down over the last 4 or 5 hours.

I have to say I was really impressed with how good the low and slow butt turned out compared to my high heat one. I had a lot more bark and the meat was super tender.

I'd like to try another brisket low and slow and see how that turns out. My last high heat one was very dry.
 
Sometime this seems all to anal and uptight about the details.
I usually start 2 or 3 butts about 8 pm with a full ring and stabilize the lid temp at 240. Then I check the temp about 7 am and adjust the temp back toward 240. It usually needs charcoal about 8 or 9 am. I just throw in some unlit K and give it a stir. about noon I open the cooker for the first time and check the temp. Usually the butts come off between noon and 3 pm at about 200 degrees.
Don't worry about the small stuff and keep the lid on. You don't need to see the meat every hour or two!!!
 
Chris, I never do butts high heat. Have found that they always taste better from being done low and slow. I cook mine around 250-270.I think butts, because they contain a lot of fat, benefit from cooking slow over a long period.Sometimes all the meat doesn't temp out the same. This means one part of the meat could be 190 another part only 180 ish. I just let it hang in the smoker for maybe an hour or so longer. then I temp it again. If it's real close to being where I want I'll take it off and foil it real tight,wrap in a towel and throw in a cooler for a couple of hours. If the meats' not done it will be harder to shred or pull.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Christopher_C_ G:
Jim - what brand of lump do you use? How full do you pack the ring? Are you using an 18.5 or 22" WSM? (I have the 18".) Do you use water or clay pot? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>No lump coal, I use Kingsford blue. Fill the ring half with unlit and cover it with one full chimney of lit Kingsford blue. No water or "claypot". My WSM measured 18".
 
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