My first attempt at a Mr. Brown pork butt turned out pretty good, but honestly not as good as I had expected. I started at around 6:30 am and by 5:00 pm my wife was pressuring me to get it off because the kids were screaming for dinner. The internal temp was not high enough, so I opened up the vents blasted it until the temp reached about 190. Pulled it off around 6:30. It pulled apart OK, and was very good, but again was not quite as tender as others here had described.
So this past weekend I had my family coming over to celebrate my daughter's 5th birthday and of course I had to do something on the WSM. In the meantime I had read here on this forum about the temperature plateau phenomonon and the importance of remaining patient through them until the internal temp gets up around 195-200. I also read that I should allow for up to 16 hours for Mr. Brown to cook to completion.
Dinner Sunday was scheduled for around 5:00, so that meant my first overnighter. Fired the WSM up at around 11:00 pm Saturday night using the Minion method and had two 7-8 pound butts in place by midnight. Fussed with the vents until about 12:45 am getting the dome temp stable at around 240, then hit the sack.
Woke up in the morning to a dome temp of around 275. Got it back down around 240-250 and kept it there until guests arrived at around 3:00. Internal temp reached 195 at around 3:30-4:00. Pulled them off, wrapped in foil and towels, and stuck in a cooler for about an hour.
When I opened them up and pulled them apart, I could immediately tell that this was going to be one tasty meal. About all I had to do was breathe on the meat and it fell apart into a pile of the most delicious pork I had ever eaten. Guests couldn't stop raving, and it was a good thing I cooked two because 11 adults ate the first one in no time and put a pretty good dent in the second.
Just wanted to say thanks to all the posters here (can't remember specific names, but you know who you are!) who contributed to that recent pork butt cooking thread I read which helped me serve the most delicious feast my family has enjoyed in quite some time.
So this past weekend I had my family coming over to celebrate my daughter's 5th birthday and of course I had to do something on the WSM. In the meantime I had read here on this forum about the temperature plateau phenomonon and the importance of remaining patient through them until the internal temp gets up around 195-200. I also read that I should allow for up to 16 hours for Mr. Brown to cook to completion.
Dinner Sunday was scheduled for around 5:00, so that meant my first overnighter. Fired the WSM up at around 11:00 pm Saturday night using the Minion method and had two 7-8 pound butts in place by midnight. Fussed with the vents until about 12:45 am getting the dome temp stable at around 240, then hit the sack.
Woke up in the morning to a dome temp of around 275. Got it back down around 240-250 and kept it there until guests arrived at around 3:00. Internal temp reached 195 at around 3:30-4:00. Pulled them off, wrapped in foil and towels, and stuck in a cooler for about an hour.
When I opened them up and pulled them apart, I could immediately tell that this was going to be one tasty meal. About all I had to do was breathe on the meat and it fell apart into a pile of the most delicious pork I had ever eaten. Guests couldn't stop raving, and it was a good thing I cooked two because 11 adults ate the first one in no time and put a pretty good dent in the second.
Just wanted to say thanks to all the posters here (can't remember specific names, but you know who you are!) who contributed to that recent pork butt cooking thread I read which helped me serve the most delicious feast my family has enjoyed in quite some time.