Pork Butt.... Is over 250 degrees bad?


 
S

Scott Greenia

TVWBB Pro
I've seen in the logs on the Mr Brown cooking section that there were temps over 250. Is that too hot? Mine is only 3 hours in and it's been hovering around 250 for about an hour. All the bottom vents are closed.
I used a full ring with a combo of BGE lump and char, a big chunk of cheery and a full chimney w/ MM. It's a 6 pounder.

Just Curious. I've never seen it this hot before ... especially with all the bottom vents closed all the way.

Thanks!
 
Scott, you had a full ring of charcoal and then put on a full chimney of lit? If I misunderstood, I apologize.

If you are hovering at 250 at the lid that's OK, that would give you about 225-240 at top grate, that's OK. Even 250 at top grate isn't bad, but I would try to get it a little lower maybe in the 225-235 range.

I have never cooked pork butt at higher temps, others have and have reported no adverse effects. Let us know how it goes. I still prefer the lower and slower method.
 
Sorry, I guess I left out some details....
The ring was level but not heaping... a good part was taken up by the wood (see below), and yes I poured on a full (not heaping) chimney.
The temp is at the rack level. I have the Maverick probe on the top grate with that wonderful little clip it has. Also have sand in the water pan.
The curious part is that it only rose up to 250 after 40-50 minutes after I added the meat. Before that, it was stable at 230.
It seems to be coming back down now. It's 246, and I didn't change anything. Meat temp is 123.
I started at 11:30.
I use large chunks of wood, like this ...
chunk.jpg

Maybe that has something to do with it?

[edit: fixed some typos]
 
Scott,
When I smoke I'm very happy with anything that produces stable temps at 250 or less. I shoot for 225 as my optimal temperature to smoke at, but I can't say that I notice an enormous difference in taste if the thing decides to run at 250 for a while. If you have all the grates closed down the temperature will start to go down eventually (assuming no gaping holes elsewhere..
icon_wink.gif


-Matt
 
Hi,

One of the things that I noticed about using lump is that when given some air, like when taking off the cover even for a quick peek(a real no-no) is that the temp rises much faster than when using charcoal briquets. It also takes longer to come back down.

Al
 
Yup. I didn't peek! I swear !
icon_biggrin.gif


It's sitting nice at 224 now ... which is where I like it. I'm at a loss on what happened.
Meat is at the 160 plateau.
 
Scott
The reason for the high temps was a combination of things, lump charcoal, large chunk of wood and a full chimney of coals to start.
Lump will burn hotter so less burning coals at the start would have allowed you control the pit temps easier on the way up and then as the chunk of wood got hot enough to ignite the pits went even higher. By closing down the bottom vents you were able to catch the fire and bring down the pit temps by cutting way back on the air supply.

Same setup with a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a chimney coals at the start and controling the pit temp on the way up would make the start easier for you.

Jim
 
Thanks Jim. That makes perfect sense !
I used a full chimney due to the cold weather (25.f) , and I guess that was the downfall...among other things.
 
Scott
We all have been there, you will get hang of it, more you cook the easier it gets. Were you using Kingsford chances are that was the right amount of fuel for your weather conditions. Lump just requires less burn fuel.

Catching a fire and cooling it down isn't easy to do. I would not call that a downfall, I'd call it good instincts.
Jim
 
Jim,
I was using 75% Big Green Egg lump and 25% Steak House charcoal made by Royal Oak. After the bag of lump is gone, I'll probably just stick to regular charcoal. Thanks again.
 
Scott,
Just to help you calibrate, I did a smoke about 2 weeks ago overnight in 16 degree weather. I used about 30-35 kingsford coals to get things going and it ran stable all night long.

-Matt

Of course, last night I did a smoke overnight and had to get up 5 different times. Outdoor temps were about 35-40 degrees, but at about 3am a nice cool rain starting falling and it really played havoc with my temps....Rain made temps go down. I'd adjust. Rain would stop. Temps went up. Now I'm tired..
icon_wink.gif
Good thing I get to eat the results.
 
I wouldnt worry, Alot of stickburners use 250 as their optimum temp and their betts seem to come out ok. I agree that when you start it you really only need 10-20 briquets. I used 16 and had no problem in zero weather. A pitminder helps that but you should be fine with 20-30 without one. Let us know how it works out.
 
Scott -- as full as you can get it. Why run out of fire 90% of the way? I can always reuse charcoal that I did not burn.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scott Greenia:
Matt,

30 in the chimney? How much in the ring? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As Vernon said, you fill the ring as full as you can get it. What I do is put in a little charcoal to cover the bottom, spread around my wood chunks, then fill it up with charcoal. The goal is to fill it 100% of it's capacity MINUS the amount you start in the chimney. That way, you will get the longest possible burn out of your fuel before having to add more.

This is only for long cooks of course, pork butts and brisket.

Today, even with my lousy 3am rain shower, my fuel lasted about 13-14 hours before I had to add a little.

-Matt
 
Thanks everyone. I'm doing a brisket in a couple days and will take all this into account!. I have a craving to mimmick the Z-Man Sandwich from Oklahoma Joe's!
 
To finish the thread ....

It was around 11:30 pm and had an internal temp of 173. I would've let it finish, but I was tired and wanted to get to bed. I wasn't able to start it as early as I wanted to (whole family has a nasty flu .... caused due to a lack of smoked meat I think ... it had been more than 2 days so I'm pretty sure. )
icon_wink.gif
icon_biggrin.gif

Anyway, I foiled it and finished it the oven to 190. The only discernable note was that parts of the meat were a little more dark grey like they were cooked instead of the normal white/pink. Still a relatively good butt though. Nice flavor, bark, moist, nice smoke, nice ring. I would've taken pics, but all I wanted to do was eat and go to bed.
Thanks again and lesson learned.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scott Greenia:
The only discernable note was that parts of the meat were a little more dark grey like they were cooked instead of the normal white/pink. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
That is not unusual. Many muscles come together to form the pork shoulder, and some-- like light and dark poultry-- appear different colors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top