Pork butt - when is it done?


 
A

Adrian-Intfxdx

New member
Just got my first real Weber and this is the first time I'm smoking/long cooking anything. It's been about 9 hours at 275 steady and the internal temperature reads 190. Should I be getting this out? Wait a little longer?

I'm about 1.5 hours away from dinner time. I've heard about resting times, but not sure how long. Also, I hear about take out temps between 190 and 210.

Anybody online that can give a hint?

My 3.5 year old never saw what went in, but she keeps walking past the grill saying "hmm... smells good! Something delicious is in there"

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You want to rest it at least an hour, I’d try and crank the heat for 1/2 hour and pull it. Maybe go 45 minutes if you can get it to 200. It seems to be the magic number for me.
Looks fantastic so far.
 
I go 205 to 210, because pork butt is very forgiving. Once it hits 205, I probe it for tenderness. I put the probe in the non bone end and check different directions. It needs to feel like a bag of melted butter, no resistance, and the meat does not grab the probe when you pull it out.
 
You guys rock!

When I get it out, do I cover it with foil, wrap it, put it in the oven?

I read up on all the steps except the last parts.
 
Adrian-Intfxdx said:
Just got my first real Weber and this is the first time I'm smoking/long cooking anything. It's been about 9 hours at 275 steady and the internal temperature reads 190. Should I be getting this out? Wait a little longer?

I'm about 1.5 hours away from dinner time. I've heard about resting times, but not sure how long. Also, I hear about take out temps between 190 and 210.

Anybody online that can give a hint?

My 3.5 year old never saw what went in, but she keeps walking past the grill saying "hmm... smells good! Something delicious is in there"

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Looks great! I usually take it off somewhere between 200-205 or so, but it's really a matter of tenderness. When that probe slides through like nothing, it's done.
 
It is crunch time. So time to move on from the smoker and get ready to land the dinner plane.

I'd wrap it in foil right now and put it in a hot oven (300-325F). Probe it until it feels like poking into a jar of peanut butter.

Then turn the oven off, crack the door to take the temp down a bit, and hold wrapped in the oven until dinner time.
 
MartinB said:
I usually pull them about 193-198
You don't want to turn them to mush, and they will if overcook
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I ran one butt to 205 last Saturday, and another to 208 ............. they weren't mush.

Butts are very forgiving, its better to run over , than to pull early. Pork butt has a large done window

If you pull early, then pulling the meat becomes a real job. If ya make sure its done, the meat will pull with a pair of tongs. .
 
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I have felt that it pulls much easier over 200 than below but that's just in my experience. I'm with everyone else I pull it out once it gets to 205. I have never actually let a pork butt rest I just put it in a crockpot and pull it immediately and turn the crockpot on warm. But I may have to do one for labor day and let it rest for an hour to see if I can tell if there is a difference.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
I ran one butt to 205 last Saturday, and another to 208 ............. they weren't mush.

Butts are very forgiving, its better to run over , than to pull early. Pork butt has a large done window

If you pull early, then pulling the meat becomes a real job. If ya make sure its done, the meat will pull with a pair of tongs. .
Click to expand...
I’ve cooked to and at different temperatures and never had a problem with a butt. I unintentionally cooked 3 butts at 325’ Labor Day and they were as good as any low and slow I’ve cooked.
 
Probe tender. I've never seen a butt turn to mush either.

In my personal experience, the "magic number" seems to be around 198 degrees, but if it's probe tender, (aka like buttah), I take it off the smoker, regardless of the temp. I start checking for probe tenderness at 193. I used to take it up to 203, (based on Meathead's Amazing Ribs advice), but found that's never been necessary, for me anyway.

If it will fit, I stick it in a disposable foil pan, and tightly cover it with a couple pieces of aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 1/2 hour.

This makes it easy to pull, serve and cleanup, because I pull the pork and leave it in the pan that it rested in. If dinner is going to be more than an hour, then I stick the foil-covered pan in a cooler.
 
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I take butts out at 195 average temp after taking several readings from several points on each butt. That means one end might be 190 or 191 and another muscle may be 200+. By the time it rests, it will even out. If the range across the meat is too big (under 190 anywhere) I wait for that floor to be hit at least.

I am usually smoking two to four at a time, and there is inevitably one that is ready sooner than expected and one that wants to sleep in for an extra hour. 195 plus a rest has always resulted in easy hand picking and great tender meat. The only complaint I have ever heard is that the aroma while the butts are resting makes people's stomachs rumble.
 
I tend to agree with Mike above in that when you remove the shoulder depends on when you need to eat. If you are against the clock crank it up and shorten the rest to 30 minutes or so. If you have the time pull it off about 195 or when mostly probe tender and give it a long rest wrapped and in a cooler with towels, like three hours or even more. The long rest has given me the juiciest meat.
 
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