Overnight Pork Shoulder


 
D

Derrick H

TVWBB Fan
Trying out an overnight cook on the Searwood. A single butt at 220 all night long. I put it on at 10 p.m., won't touch it until the morning. I debated between 200 and 220, but 220 should be fine. Not wrapping and using the pan to catch drippings. One thing I am noticing is how much smoke the Searwood is producing even without the smoke boost. I will update this post in the morning. I am really resisting the urge to open the smoker and sneak a peek, lol.

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Update -

The pork turned out good. Not as tender as I wanted but it was good. One thing I think I figured out about the Searwood is that it does not like drip pans. It was in the stall for hours, I mean like 3-4 hours. Then once it got out of it, it was very slow to climb in temps. I was trying to be patient, but I did pump up the temp from 220 to 250, no change. After a few hours, I removed the drip pan and it pretty much immediately started climbing. I am still learning the Searwood and if I can't use a drip pan it's no big deal as it is easy to clean. But again, it was good, but just not as fall apart as I was looking for.

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Was the meat in the drip pan? If not as long as it wasn't terribly high sided it should not have really interfered much if at all. I Always put a shallow pan of some sort under a long fatty cook like that. And have never had an issue. FWIW I do not use any liquid in the pan (which perhaps if you did may have had an effect)
 
LMichaels said:
Was the meat in the drip pan? If not as long as it wasn't terribly high sided it should not have really interfered much if at all. I Always put a shallow pan of some sort under a long fatty cook like that. And have never had an issue. FWIW I do not use any liquid in the pan (which perhaps if you did may have had an effect)
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There was a very little liquid in the pan, but not enough to affect anything.

Timothy F. Lewis said:
How long did you let it rest? That can be a significant help with more tender pulling. I like three to five hours.
Just a question.
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I only let it rest about 2 hours, but after eating, it was fine. Just the pull was not fall apart at all. For all I know it was the cut of meat that I got. The good thing about this hobby is practicing and experimenting bring some delicious results!
 
Then I seriously doubt the pan affected your cook. Every piece of meat you buy behaves a little differently. So it may have just been an anomaly of that hunk of meat more than your cook or how you outfitted the grill. Like I noted. I use catch pans all the time on those long cooks. Not because I think they do anything to affect the cook, but so afterward I don't have a ton of cleanup. I simply take the disposable pan and toss it
 
A couple things I would try changing. First, I would move the pork butt to the center of your grill to help with airflow on both sides. I would use a shorter drip pan. Most of the time I just use the lids to the steamer pans. As shallow as the lids are, I can still add a small amount of water if needed. And they are super cheap. Your finished photo off the butt in the foil pan, looks like it needs more cooking time. I don’t see much pull back in the different muscle groups. Running at 220 will allow more time for smoke penetration in the early part of the cook. But as you found out, it takes forever to push through the stall and longer to reach finishing temps. Just like my brisket cooks, I like to bump temp to 250-260 when it reaches the stall. None of the above are major changes. Just small suggestions to try. Your shredded finished photo looks fantastic.
 
Darian Hofer said:
A couple things I would try changing. First, I would move the pork butt to the center of your grill to help with airflow on both sides. I would use a shorter drip pan. Most of the time I just use the lids to the steamer pans. As shallow as the lids are, I can still add a small amount of water if needed. And they are super cheap. Your finished photo off the butt in the foil pan, looks like it needs more cooking time. I don’t see much pull back in the different muscle groups. Running at 220 will allow more time for smoke penetration in the early part of the cook. But as you found out, it takes forever to push through the stall and longer to reach finishing temps. Just like my brisket cooks, I like to bump temp to 250-260 when it reaches the stall. None of the above are major changes. Just small suggestions to try. Your shredded finished photo looks fantastic.
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Thanks. When it hit 150, it stayed there for about 3-4 hours. I pumped it up to 250, then 270 to push it through. We had a quick power outage When it hit 192 and that put the grill into shutdown mode. I had guests coming a couple of hours from that time so I just decided to take it off, let it rest and then pull it. The power was flickering off and on because of a storm so there was no way I could keep it on the smoker anyway. The finished product was fine once it was pulled, but as you noted the pull back wasn't there. This wasn't a huge pork butt, so the 14 hours it took was unexpected.

I did contact Weber for their advice on a whim. They actually got back with me and said they would recommend no drip pan for the Searwood, but if I used one, make sure it is really shallow, as you have noted. The taller ones seem to affect long cooks. As LMichaels pointed out, every cut of meat is different and every cook has it's story. I'll try all the suggestions I am getting. Thanks everyone.

With all that said, my guests thought it was perfect, so I guess that is what matters more than anything. It tasted great as part of my lunch today and I had fellow employees asking where I got it, so it was a success.
 
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