Pork shoulder, 2nd smoke on my WSM.


 
T

Taylor Moseley

TVWBB Member
I wanted to try a brisket tomorrow, so i went out looking for a packer. Wal-mart had two, one looked like some air had got in and the other looked like the flat was much thicker on one side than the other. So I passed on Wal-mart and went to Vons, hoping for a passable flat. None was to be found, but they had single pork butts at .99 cents a pound and bone in cryovacs for .89 cents a pound. I took this as a sign that this was not my weekend to cook brisket, and picked up a two pack of butts at 14.15 pounds for $12.59, which is way cheaper than my previous cooks. I haven't weighed each one yet, but they look pretty even to me. I don't want to do overnight again until I've got my WSM well seasoned. Last time my smoker ran hot all night, like 265 at the top grate, and my pork came out dry on the outside. I'm going to try to inject them this time, and keep my temps lower for most of the cook, despite using lump this time because I don't like the kingsford smell.

Anyways, on to the actual question: I want to eat by 6:30 or so. I'm going to start at 5:30, give or take. What can I do to speed up my cook if need be without drying out my meat, or going to a really high heat method? I know foil can help but I'd like to do it only only enough to get the cook under 11 or 12 hours. Any advice? Any other tips to keep the cook from going long?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Taylor Moseley:

Anyways, on to the actual question: I want to eat by 6:30 or so. I'm going to start at 5:30, give or take. What can I do to speed up my cook if need be without drying out my meat, or going to a really high heat method? I know foil can help but I'd like to do it only only enough to get the cook under 11 or 12 hours. Any advice? Any other tips to keep the cook from going long? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Starting at 5:30am and eating by 6:30pm will be close without foiling. I cook my butts with a dome temp in the 240-260 range and they average about 12-14 hours and finish consistently moist. Sometimes they take longer, sometimes they take less. Generally without foiling you should plan on 2 hours per lb for shoulders.

Now what you want to do since you want to eat by 6:30pm is to check the internal temp of the butts 2pm to see where you're at. I pull my butts between 190-195 or when the meat probe slides in like butter. If you're 10-15* of your target finish temp at 2pm just leave the butts on as is. However if you're still under 180*, at that point I'd foil to speed up the process so you will be able to let the butts rest a bit and eat at 6:30pm.

Good luck
 
You can cook butts with a lid temp of 280-300. As long as you don't overcook the meat (cook them too long), the butts aren't going to dry out. At this higher cook temp, without foil, it's worth flipping the butts a couple times during the cook.

Remember that the butts will continue to cook after they're removed from the cooker. When the meat feels like it's close to getting tender, I pull the butts (I don't temp them). Wrapped immediately and coolered with towels, the butts will continue to cook for a while. If you need them sooner then, instead of going for continued cooking during the rest, cook till tender in the WSM but only rest 30 min, foiled, check for texture; rest another 30-40 minutes only if needed.

If you need to further speed the cook during the cook, you can foil during the cook as you note. If you do need to do this, foil as late as possible, then crank the heat to 325 lid. Don't use an internal to tell you when to pull the meat in this case: test for tender yourself.
 
Ive cooked butts at 325 grate level w/ no problem. You can wrap at 165...easily do at 1 hour/lb. I have also cooked them at 250, just takes longer. I really have not seen any difference as far as moistness, etc.. All that fat rendered down the same as the lower temp.
 
It was raining this morning so I got started late- I didn't get the temp up and the butts on till 7a. So It looks like I'll have to foil or oven finish if the wind gets up to high. Maybe I shoulda paid more attention to the weather before buying the meat yesterday, because while it's calm now, it's supposed to get up to 20mph later in the afternoon. Even if I do have to "cheat" the price was too good to pass up. I'd rather have some real smoke on it for even a few hours than cook it in a crockpot or the oven.
 
I checked the temps at 1:30, and one butt was 160 average and the other 170. So I foiled, added some fuel and a foil pan of beans with sauce. The temps are up to 320 because of all the new fuel, so hopefully that should speed things along a bit. My wife invited a friend over, so here's hoping it gets done enough by then!

It's been really calm all day, I dunno if it will stay that way but it looks like it won't be an issue after all.
 
Just pulled the butts at 198-205. Some places they penetrate really easily, others kind of like butter that isn't soft all the way through. I'm going to move them to new foil then stick them in a cooler in 15 mins or so-there is just too much liquid (mostly Chris's injection recipe) in the current foil and one is leaking since I took it out of the smoker. I'm giving the beans another blast of smoke before calling it a night and eating.
 
It turned out great, everybody liked it. My mom would have liked more chewy bark, but I liked not having anything too tough to eat on the outside. Way better than my last cook.


 
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