The amazing cooling butt

[scott hares]

Hi all, need a little help here.

I had my 6lb butt on for 14 hours and pit at 245. Internal reached 172. Then 171, 170, evntually 168 before I gave up and called it done. Almost 5 degree drop over about an hour.

What in the world could have been going on? I can understand small fluctuations, but almost 5 degree drop?

Both probes were spot-on in the boil test.

Thanks

 

[Doug D]

If the probe tip is situated in a spot where internal fat is rendering and melting, a cooling effect can occur. 14 hours at 245° would seem unusually long, but it depends on where that 245 was being measured in the cooker-- the meat may have been at a somewhat lower temp. Still, I would expect a higher internal, given that amount of time and an accurate thermometer. Typical butt cooks include a plateau where the temp may not rise for a few hours, usually starting when the meat reaches the mid-160s. During that time small temp drops, as you observed, can also occur. Best check, if faced with such a paradox in future, is give the bone a wiggle and a tug-- if it pulls out with little effort, it's done.

 

[Keri C]

Scott, I've had that kind of drop happen quite often. It's enough to make you swear that your thermometer is broken. You want that plateau to happen for a few hours, though - that's when the magic is happening. That's when the tough connective tissues are melting into collagen (dropping the temp) thus making the meat more tender. The liquidified collagen then evaporates from the heat, causing a slight rise in temp. More melts, causing a slight drop, etc, until the point where the connective tissues have melted all they're going to melt - that's when your temps start climbing again, as the source of continually renewed moisture has now played out.

Sometimes, though, enough is enough, and a bit more heat will take you on through. As Doug said, though, use the bone as your pop-up timer. If the butt looks like it's falling in on itself, and if the bone is loose and the meat wants to literally fall away from it, then you're done no matter what the temp says.

Keri C, still smokin' on Tulsa Time
Hot Wire BBQ