Pork Butt 130 in 2 hours?


 
S

Steve W (Weave)

TVWBB Fan
I just got all prepared and lit 25 kingsford, poured in the middle of a full ring with empty middle and added my wood....got water pan on with warm water and got her dialed in around 250 really quick. I put the butt on ASAP right out of the fridge.
I'm really nervous because I am already getting 132 internal and it's only 2 hours in.... Is this normal????
Seems somewhat quick to me
 
That seems pretty quick to get that high. I'd reposition the probe to make sure it's in solid muscle and not a pocket of fat or possibly touching the bone.
 
I came down about 5 degrees with replacing the probe...I'm about 3 hours in and it is about 145.
No bark formation....everything looks "wet". Is that because I'm using water in the bowl?
Also I'm not sure I'm getting a great burn on my wood chunks....they are on the lit coals..guess I'll wait and see
 
Water in the pan may cause the bark to take longer to form. I give mine a "finger nail test". Only when it's set (does not scratch off with a finger nail) will I wrap in foil (if at all). I wouldn't be concerned with temps during the cook... final temp is the key. It may hit a stall for hours.
 
Well I got a surprise.....I woke up about 2:30 and checked.....everything looked great...internal temp was 158 and smoker was holding 254.... Back to bed I went without checking the fuel ( I started it at 6:30) and when I went out at 0530 the temp had dropped to 175 in the smoker and 144 on the butt....more fuel in the chamber and keep waiting I guess.
My own fault and a learning exercise for sure.
I sure hope I didn't waste a butt.....
 
All turned out great! I mixed up the coals and added about 20 unlit ones got smoker back up to 245-250 and the temp started climbing again.....all in all it took 14 hours for a smaller boneless butt.
Smoke ring was beautiful ( only apple) and pork shredded wonderfully.
My only complaints are the lack of good solid bark and a little dry.
All in all I'm very happy with results and again learned a ton!
I love this little smoker....holds temps amazingly!
 
+1 Way to go! It'll probably take a couple of more tries before you really learn to "relax and don't sweat the small stuff". :cool: Boston butts are just amazingly forgiving and, as you saw, will handle enormous variations in the smoker environment. I don't know if there is a "normal" BB. Mine have all been about 9 - 10 lbs., but the cook time has varied from 9 to 16 hours -- all low and slow, no foil.

It may be that your bark was affected by the drop in temps. Usually that much time gets a good bark regardless of whether you use water (I like water). And that much time usually gets good bark. But again, as you saw, the bark doesn't mean you have bad Q.

I almost makes me laugh that you actually went to bed on a first butt cook. I stayed up babying mine for the first 4 or 5 -- all without any noticeable effect on the pulled pork. But I've come to recognize that almost anything you cook will come out great without a lot of attention -- the WSM is the magic!

Rich
 
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