My FIRST cook on WSM 18.5" - High Heat Pork Butt

[Tom Jordan]

This was posted in the Newbie section, but thought it might be more appropriate here:

Decided to go with two decent sized bone-in pork butts for my first cook. But, since I only have one day off a week (very often NO DAYS), I decided to go High-Heat so I could wrap it up in 6 or 7 hours and not loose sleep. I used the info found here http://virtualweberbullet.com/pork4.html for guidance. I used "Chris Lilly's Six-Time World Championship Pork Shoulder Injection" and Rub.

I prepped my meat at about 7:30 am and went to start the fire at 8:00. I used Apple and Oak as the smoke wood. Using the Minion method, I dumped a full chimney over the unlit. I then learned BBQ Lesson #1,,,, thou shalt not BBQ barefooted,,, as my wife and I BOTH stepped on burning shards of briquettes on the patio and made a beeline for the pool steps!

Put the butts on at 8:30ish, one on each rack all vents at 100% open. I had a probe thermoter inserted in the Silicon gasket thingie to measure temps in the middle section. Early on, I had trouble getting the temp up over 300* so I turned the door upside down and found a paint roller handle was the right height to keep it propped open a crack. Temp on the digital went quickly to 380*, so I closed the door and left all vents at 100% open. The temp went down again to the 300* mark and I adjusted the door again until it read 360*, so I closed the door once more. It was now about an hour into the cook and the temps started to stabilize with a little experimentation of opening and closing the vents. After two hours, I really only needed to check temps every 30 minutes or so (even though my granddaughter parked herself on a cooler to read the digital display every thirty seconds) as it was comfortably parked between 325 & 350*.

At three hours, the internal temp was about 140* in the top butt and 150* in the lower. I closed the lid and gave it about another half hour before I checked again. At 3 1/2 hours, they were 160 internal, so I wrapped them tightly in foil after adding a little of the injection liquid and rub to the foil. They went back into the WSM, this time both on the top shelf and I inserted the probe into one to monitor their progress. There they sat for another two hours or so with me having nothing to adjust on the vents because it stayed in the 330* range. My patio smelled AWESOME! Around 2:00 PM, a little over 5 1/2 hours in, they were reading 190* internal, so I checked for tenderness with my instant read. One was more tender than the other, so I pulled to good one and gave the second another 30-45 minutes when it was ready. Kept them wrapped in foil, wrapped in a towel and went about some errands until around 4:00 PM.

At 4:00, I started pulling both butts, MAN what a lot of meat! (especially when you consider that the only ones in the house are my wife, my 10 year-old granddaughter and me, and my wife doesn't eat meat!). But as a learning experiment, I wanted to go big.

These butts turned out soooooo tender and tasty! I added a jarred sauce to mine (Cattleman's Carolina style), and piled two Martin Potato rolls high and added some tobacco onions from the club. served with a side of cole slaw and mac & cheese.

Awesome meal!
My oldest son came by for a to-go container, my wife took some to her office, I brought some here for the chef's to try and to cry-o-vac the remainder into manageable freezer packets and we'll be in hog heaven for a while.
Thanks for reading.

 

[ChadVKealey]

MAN what a lot of meat! (especially when you consider that the only ones in the house are my wife, my 10 year-old granddaughter and me, and my wife doesn't eat meat!). But as a learning experiment, I wanted to go big.

I'm in the same boat. My wife isn't thrilled with pork, so it's really just me and my 9.5-year-old son, but I never cook a single butt. I usually tell the missus that one would get lonely, and it would be wasteful to NOT cook multiples (I think she buys the latter more than the former).

We have a vacuum sealer, so I always portion the "leftovers" out into several sizes (1/2 lb. - for myself to take for lunch, 1 lb. - for those nights when it's just the boy & me for dinner, and 2 lbs. - for when we're having guests or to give to friends or neighbors).

FWIW, most any BBQ food can survive well in the freezer when packed properly. I've served year-old brisket or ribs and never had a complaint. Sure, they're not quite the same as fresh off the smoker (esp. ribs), but they're still better than the pre-cooked garbage at the grocery store or any of the restaurants in my neck of the woods.

 

[JeffB]

This post need SOME PHOTOS to complete it. Get 'er done!

 

[Jason Paul]

Thanks for posting - this is timely for me, since I'm planning my first "real" cook to be pork butt(s), and was also considering going high heat to save time. Sounds like it turned out well!

One question; did you by any chance happen to note the temperature on the lid thermometer during the main part of your cook? That's what I'll probably be going by and I'm just curious what I might need to shoot for. I'm guessing a lid temp of 275-300 would be good for a high-heat cook, but am curious if you paid attention on yours.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[JeffB]

I'm guessing a lid temp of 275-300 would be good for a high-heat cook, but am curious if you paid attention on yours.

If you are going to rely on the thermometer in the lid of your WSM you'll need to accept the fact that it could be off from the actual temperature at the grate by plus or minus 50*. They are notorious for being inaccurate. Having said that, Boston Butt is a very forgiving and easy piece of meat to cook, really at any temperature between 225* to 300* or higher). The key is waiting to pull it until it's cooked to tender (roughly 195-205* internally) using a pointy object of some sort to do the test. I like to use my Thermapen to get a temperature reading and a long metal skewer for tenderness all the way through. If the probe goes through without any resistance (like a nail through hot butter), then it's done. The meat is very forgiving so even if you're **actual** temp is off by 30 or 40*, you'll still do fine.

Good luck and POST PICS. We love to see pics!

 

[Van DeWald]

Nice job! Enjoy those leftovers.

 

[Mike Cout]

Boston Butt is a very forgiving and easy piece of meat to cook, really at any temperature between 225* to 300* or higher). The key is waiting to pull it until it's cooked to tender (roughly 195-205* internally) using a pointy object of some sort to do the test. I like to use my Thermapen to get a temperature reading and a long metal skewer for tenderness all the way through. If the probe goes through without any resistance (like a nail through hot butter), then it's done.

I try to cook bone-in butts, which makes it 100 times easier to know when it's done. If you're cooking a bone-in, once the bone is loose from the meat (you can turn it/pull it out) then it's done.

 

[Jason Paul]

If you are going to rely on the thermometer in the lid of your WSM you'll need to accept the fact that it could be off from the actual temperature at the grate by plus or minus 50*. They are notorious for being inaccurate. Having said that, Boston Butt is a very forgiving and easy piece of meat to cook, really at any temperature between 225* to 300* or higher). The key is waiting to pull it until it's cooked to tender (roughly 195-205* internally) using a pointy object of some sort to do the test. I like to use my Thermapen to get a temperature reading and a long metal skewer for tenderness all the way through. If the probe goes through without any resistance (like a nail through hot butter), then it's done. The meat is very forgiving so even if you're **actual** temp is off by 30 or 40*, you'll still do fine.

Good luck and POST PICS. We love to see pics!

Thanks. Yeah, I know they're known to be inaccurate, but I would think (hope) they would at least be consistent. If I knew it was it was (almost) always about 50* cooler than the grill, then I could just do the math and be OK. The oven in my house is about 100* off, so we have to make adjustments for that all the time.

I know how you guys love pics here, and it's addictive! So, I hope to get some good shots of my first cook and will have to figure out how to post them here.

Thanks again!
Jason

 

[Bob Bass]

Some lid thermometers have proven to be troublesome... stuck pointer and water captured inside. Most of the time, accuracy is not the issue. Do the ice point and boiling water tests if you feel the lid thermometer is inaccurate. Knowing how your pit works will answer your pit temperature questions, most of them at least. Heat in the air is 'generated' through the burning of charcoal. As the heated air travels up through the pit, heat is taken away to accomplish tasks such as cooking the meat(s) and heating that water you have in the water pan (if you use water). There is less heat available for the lid thermometer to read as the heated air passes next to the lid thermometer and out the vent. Hence, a lower temperature. How much lower is primarily dictated by how much meat is on the grates and the temperature of that meat. The lid thermometer will read its lowest when the meat is the 'coldest'. As the meat heat up, the lid thermometer will read closer to actual grate temperature.

 

[ChadVKealey]

Thanks. Yeah, I know they're known to be inaccurate, but I would think (hope) they would at least be consistent. If I knew it was it was (almost) always about 50* cooler than the grill, then I could just do the math and be OK. The oven in my house is about 100* off, so we have to make adjustments for that all the time.

I've found that the only thing consistent about it is that in warmer (as in HOT) weather, the lid therm is usually higher than the grate temp; in cooler (as in COLD) or windy weather, it's typically lower than grate temp. How much higher or lower is somewhat dependent on how hot or cold/windy it is, but it's not consistent enough to guess.

The moral of the story is that you really need a remote probe that you can put at grate level (clipped to the grate with the bracket that most of them come with), about 1-2 inches from the meat to get an accurate measure of the cooking temperature. I use a Maverick ET-732, which is pretty popular/common and not terribly expensive (~$60-80, sometimes less on sale).

 

[Jason Paul]

Thanks to you both for the additional insights - stuff to keep in mind for sure. I was trying to avoid spending too much on a thermometer, plus I like keeping things as simple as possible, but maybe a Maverick or similar is the way to go.

Sorry to the OP if I'm hijacking the thread!

Thanks again,
Jason