Pork butt - Renowned Mister Brown - Part II


 
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David Funk

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Everyone here convinced me that I should cook pork butt until it reaches about 195 degrees internal, so yesterday I tried the "Renowned Mister Brown" again. I had big problems.

I fired up the WSM and put two 6 pound pork butts on at about 6:30am. I had a lot of trouble keeping the WSM at 250 degrees (lid). I had to run with the bottom vents almost (usually totally) wide open, and even then I was usually running at 230-240 degrees. This puzzled me. Two weeks ago, I had these vents almost completely *closed* the whole time, and had *no* problem maintaining temp. This time, I had to keep feeding it a fresh chimney full of lit briquets every now and then to avoid dropping below 230. Finally after *14 hours* of cooking, I was only at 163 degrees internal. I gave up and put the butts in an oven at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours - that brought them up to 195 degrees internal. I have used the 'standard' method for both of my WSM sessions.

I was also doing some chickens on my Weber kettle, and noticed that they didn't cook very well either. My eyes drifted over to the bag of Kingsford briquets. The bag said "New - longer lasting, quicker starting. Better than gas for BBQ". This was their regular charcoal - not the lighter fluid impregnated stuff. And the bag was nice and dry and in perfect condidtion. The bag of Kingsford I used last week did not have this "New" verbiage on it, and it burned nice and hot. Hmmmm. It seems to me that Kingsford has changed their recipe! If so, it is a BIG mistake!! Arrggghhh!!!!

That brings me to another question. How can I possibly get to 195 degrees internal if I cook at 250 degrees lid temperature? When I start measuring internal (after 6 hours) it is usually 154 degrees. The internal temp then seems to barely move. A nine degree move in 8 hours seems crazy to me. It seems I *must* push the WSM up to 300 degrees lid at the end in order to get the internal temp to rise.

By the way, the pork butts turned out *very* nicely. The additional internal temp was the right thing to do. I am just very frustrated right now. I felt like a total failure for being forced to give up and put the butts in the oven. :-(
 
Wow, that's a pretty odd experience.

Just out of curiosity, what type of chimney do you have? The reason I ask is that some are bigger or smaller than others.

Consider doing a dry run with your WSM and trying the minion method. Works like a charm for me every time (I use Kingsford as well).

Kinda hard to identify what might be causing your problems. Seems like you covered your bases.

Was the exaust on the lid open 100%?

It is normal for the internal temp to barely move, especially in pork butts and briskets. You'll hit a "plateau" at around 160 or 170 where the temp seems to hang forever. This is where the fat starts to render. This phenomenon was frustrating for me as well when I first cooked butts and brisket.

The internal temps that you report don't seem to far off base for the lid temps you gave. The 230 lid temp was probably 20 or 25 degrees lower at the grate level. I find that a 250 lid temp will give me a 225 to 230 grate temp.

No need to push the WSM to 300 to finish. Tinker with your fire management to nail that 250 lid temp. Once you've hit that, you're golden.

Do a dry run. Do it with the minion method, especially for butts. When filling the water pan, try using hot water. Adding cold water during a cook can drag your temp down quite a bit.
 
Ryan,

Thanks for the response.

I use the Weber chimney which works *great*!

Yes, the exhaust was 100% open. And I always fill the water pan with hot tap water (except the very first one).

I understand about plateaus, but a couple of degrees in 6 hours just seemed too long. If I extrapolated that out, it would take another 18 hours (32 hours total). That can't be right. Maybe it speeds up again at some point (which I haven't found yet).

Next time, I'll try your suggestion of no water
in the pan, and the minion method.

Sigh...
 
Sorry. When I said "dry run" I was referring to running the WSM without any meat in it.

Fill the water pan as usual. Then follow the minion method and see how it works for you.

-Ryan
 
David,

Something to consider when the meat temperature rises it will climb fairly steadily to 140-160 and seem to plateau and hold there for several hours. This is the fat breaking down. This period of time is probably the most important of the BBQ process.
 
David,

You are correct - once you get past the plateau, the temperature will start rising at a faster rate. But, by that time, the temperature difference between the cooker and the meat is not very large, so it may not rise as fast as you think it should. Sometimes when the temperature doesn't seem to be getting high enough with all the vents open, I will take off the access door for a short time and let the coals get some oxygen. Be careful not to leave it off very long or you will have a forge! And, like the others have suggested, try the Minion method. Works like a dream.

George
 
David,

You weren't lifting the lid to peek at the meat, were you? You will have better results if you keep the atmosphere stable, which means resisting the urge to peek.

If you use the Minion method, you should be able to do long cooks without adding coals. The way I do it is to dump only about a dozen or so lit coals on top of the unlit coals, totally open all vents, then choke the bottom vents down some as the temp rises. I did an overnighter of a 6 pound butt a couple of nights ago. It hit 190? internal after about 14 hours. After shutting down, I still had unburnt coals.

You can figure anywhere from 12-16 hours for a 6 pound butt. That's why I always do them overnight.

You might also want to check the accuracy of your thermometer, if you haven't already done so.

Steve
 
Hi David,
Here's another thing to consider when reading the dome temp. I'm guessing you stuck a thermometer through the top vent. If you stick it too far down, your probe will be too close to the meat, and the temp you are measuring is not what you think you are measuring. Your probe could be "shaded" by the cold meat, giving you a false indication that the dome temp is not coming up to your 250? target temp.

The best measurement you can take while you are learning the temperments of your cooker should be taken at the grate, right along side of the meat. Then, compare those readings with your dome thermometer. I'm sure you've heard this, but you can slice a chunk off a potato and insert the probe through the potato, so it's protruding about 2 inches out the other side, and resting just above the cooking grate. You can also use a cork, or piece of wood with a hole drilled through.

You've gotten some great advice from other posters, especially not trying to speed up the bbq cook. It must be done slowly, and those delays are the colagen breaking down, and the fat rendering. It's not always the same time with each piece of meat, but it's always worth the wait!

The Minion Method is the only way to go for a predictable, dependable long cook. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the good advice, everybody.

I should clarify a few things (and answer some questions).

No, I did not "peek" at my butt :) while cooking. I only opened it up to turn and mop.

I used a candy thermometer clipped through the top vent to measure lid temperature. The probe sticks straight down (4" or so) into the cooking space. I checked the accuracy of the themometer by immersing it in boiling water. It was fine.

I am still puzzled why I never seemed to get past the plateau. After 14 hours, I was still only at 163 degrees internal. I doubt if I am going to get a 32 degree rise in the next two hours. I was cooking two 6 pounders which will obviously cook a little slower than one six pounder, but it shouldn't be all that much longer. Should it?

Next time, I will do just 1 6 pounder and use the Minion method (perhaps overnight). Can I use wet wet chunks with the Minion method? I am concerned that I might put out the coals with all that "wet...

Is it appropriate to do a rough guesstimate of the cooking time based on the size of the meat? I figured on about 2 hours per pound to get to 195 degrees internal. If I had been correct, the butts would have been done at about 12 hours. At *14 hours*, I was only at 163 degrees. I guess I could just do a $20 experiment and see how long it takes at 250 degrees lid. And then eat the experiment, of course! :)
 
David,

When this happens, try checking the internal temp in another part of the butt. The butt is a bunch of different muscles that come together at the shoulder, and you can get different readings depending on where you measure. I've seen differences of 10*F or more. I sometimes check the temp in several locations and take the average.

I would use dry wood chunks with the Minion Method. That little bit of water won't hurt anything, but it's not necessary, either.

Regards,
Chris
 
David,

You might be interested in a BBQ class by Paul Kirk being given on June 29th in Los Altos. I've taken one of his classes before, and you will learn a lot of techniques that would usually take much trial and error to learn on your own.

I'll be there with my WSM; the whole class is a hands-on cooking event. It's also a great way to meet and talk to people with the same equipment you have and "pick their brains".

For more information go to www.cbbqa.com.

Good luck,

Rick
 
David,
You didn't mention if the butts, had been previously frozen or not. Or if they had been frozen. Are you completely confident they were fully defrosted. Extremely cold meat, and especially a couple of butts at the same time, can play havoc with temperatures.
I let butts stay out of the fridge for an hour or two, to let them stabilize, before putting them on the cooker.
You could have tried to take one butt out of the cooker for a while, to see if this solved your dilemma.

Jim
 
Some more clarification...

I did not stick the temperature probe in other parts of the meat, but I was pretty confident that I had the probe in the center, thick part away from the bone.

And the butts were fresh, not frozen. And I let them sit out on the counter for 1.5 hours before putting them in the WSM.
 
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