What Starting Temp For Boston Butt ?


 
K

kelvin

New member
Hey guys,
I recently purchased a smokenator for my 22.5 OTG and smoked my first butt this past weekend. My dome temps were averaging 240 - 260. I tended the coals and water once an hour and also added hickory chucks as needed. I put the butt on at 10 a.m. At about 7 p. m. it started looking great with a nice bark on it. I checked the internal temp just to see where i was at and i got 154 degrees. I waited 3 more hours and i was only 175. Around midnight i checked it and i got 182. This was only a 7 pound butt. Should it be taking that long to get to the magic 195 ? The only thing i could figure that gave me this problem was that i didn`t let the butt sit on the kitchen counter long enough to get to room temp. So, my question is, how long should i let my butt sit out to get to room temp and still be safe? I just afraid that sitting out too long might spoil the meat. If anyone has some pionters, please feel free to share. Oh, by the way, this site is awesome !
 
When I did my first one, I went from the fridge right to the WSM, with the lid temp around 230. Once you get past around 165, you can kick the heat up to finish faster if you want, since the butt has taken on all the smoke it's going to take. Other than that, some butts are stubborn and they'll get to 195 when the feel like it.
 
Let me start by saying that I truly am no expert, so you're bound to get many other/better answers than mine. I have never left my butts on the counter for any longer than it took me to add more rub before putting it on the smoker. My guess is that for every time you opened the lid, and you say you opened it once an hour, you lost temperature and gained a tremendous amount of cooking time. One of the many things I've learned on this site is to leave the cover on (if you're lookin, it ain't cookin). Most importantly, how was the final product? Welcome and remember, it's all fun!
 
I agree with Jon K. I don't let my butts sit around. Normally they have thawed in the refrigerator, and when I put them on the internal temperature is usually below 40 degrees. This doesn't seem to have hurt the finished product any.
 
Thanks fellas for the timely replies. Since it was getting to be the wee hours i cheated and foiled her up and put her in the oven for 1 hour to finish up. Next time i will start smoking at 3-4 a.m. so i can be done hopefully by dinner lol... The final product was very moist and tasty. I shared some at work and the guys said it was very good. The one thing i will do different next time is find a barbeque sauce that isn`t so sweet. I used sweet baby rays and while it had a good taste, it was just too sweet for my liking. Any suggestions for a tangy sauce that isn`t so sweet ?
 
Some people cut Sweet Baby Ray's with apple cider vinegar to reduce the sweetness.

I make this sauce for ribs, but you might like it for pulled pork:

1 c ketchup
1 c apple cider vinegar
1/2 c dark corn syrup (I substituted ¼ cup light corn syrup plus ¼ cup molasses)
2 ts sugar
1/2 ts salt
1/4 ts garlic powder
1/4 ts Onion powder
1/4 ts Tabasco sauce or your favorite hot sauce.

1. Combine all of the ingredients for the barbecue sauce in a saucepan over high heat. Use a whisk to blend the ingredients until smooth.

2. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered.

3. In 30 to 45 minutes, when the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat. If you want a thicker sauce, heat it longer. If you make the sauce too thick, thin it with more vinegar.
 
Hi Kelvin,

I've got a similar setup to you, a smokenator and 22.5 OTS. The three butts I've done have all been ~ 10 lbs, but and have taken 16-18 hours, with temps similar to yours. I also cheat and spend the last 2-3 hours with the butt in foil.

The biggest problem with the smokenator is that I, like you, open the **** thing every hour or two to check coals and water. I'm thinking of trying something different on the next cook: removing the water pan, filling the space up with coals, and then placing a much bigger water pan directly on the grate, above the smokenator. Should allow me not to futz with it as often.

Before cooking, I mustard and rub my butts, and let them sit for 30 minutes at room temp to let the rub draw some water out of the butt. I don't think that letting the whole butt get to room temp first is a safe idea, since it'd take a LONG time for the centre to warm up. From a scientific standpoint, I'd say the most important thing is the make sure the butt is thawed through, since otherwise you will expend energy (i.e. charcoal) in the process of thawing the frozen water in the butt.

As for a sauce, I used a very simple one - 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup red vinegar, 2 tbsp brown sugar, chilies to taste, stirring until the sugar's dissolved. I've also used Carolina Red, at the bottom of the page here ( http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/pork2.html ), although I personally prefer sauces without ketchup.
 
A pork butt has a lot of fat and connective tissue that has to be broken down (melted) which is where most of the flavor comes from. It's normal for them to hit that plateau in the 150-160 range and sit. Depending on the butt and the amount of connective tissue, it could take 1-4 hours to break through. During that time the moisture being released internally is holding the temp down and steady. Once it's through, it'll rise much quicker.

And as was said above, no need to let it sit out, and actually you shouldn't for the obvious health reasons.

No problem wrapping and finishing in the oven either, although most would rather keep it where it is. After the first 2-3 hours it's not going to take any more smoke flavor. Personally though, I can't bring myself to take it off and cheat (it's not cheating which is probably why it feels so wrong)
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">My dome temps were averaging 240 - 260. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I doubt this, based on your cooking times. It is likely that the temps were much lower.

I also only have my butts out of the fridge long enough to rub before they go in to cook.

Try 25-40? higher next cook.
 
Kelvin, I had a Smokenator and wasn't that impressed, to be honest. Regarding your temp/times issue though, in the little that I used mine, I noticed that vent temps were MUCH higher than actual grate temp, although I don't recall how much. I wouldn't be surprised if it's double the difference that's in a traditional indirect set-up, though. (My kettle vent temp is about 25* higher than the grate at low-n-slow temps.)

As long as your kettle is in good shape and the lid and vent covers close properly, you don't need any gadgets to bbq on it. A Minion burn and a water pan will help moderate temps, but using sheet metal plates and such to enclose the fire will only cut down in efficiency. The ironic thing is that the water pan in the coals is a good thing to add moisture to the dry environment of a kettle. However, the pan is just too darn small.

I guess it's a good gadget for fitting more ribs and chicken on to smoke, but you might need to turn the meat since most of the heat comes across the top, and not from the bottom and around the meat. You're gonna need a lot of charcoal to smoke a butt in a kettle anyway, so I just don't see why we'd want any less efficiency. For pork butts, I'm fine with actual temps anywhere in the 225-275* range, and higher might not hurt either, especially if foiling.
 
My first thought as I read your post was aligned with Mr Kruger's supposition.
I might suggest checking the accuracy of you thermometer.
Weber OE therms are notorious.
 
Mike, therm accuracy MIGHT very well be an issue, but to reitterate, I can GUARANTEE that actual grate cooking temp is MUCH lower than the lid vent temp that the OP measured.

With the SMOKINATOR, the design of the sheet metal enclosing all the coals cuts off efficient heat circulation. The highest cooking heat goes ACROSS the meat, specifically, between the kettle's lid and the top of the meat, and there's not near as much cooking heat rising up and around the meat since the sheet metal acts as a barrier. This is easy to see in how the top surface of meats cook much faster than the bottom using the Smokinator...MUCH moreso than a typical indirect kettle set-up with coals simply banked on one side.
 
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