Will this butt ever finish?


 
E

Erik H.

TVWBB Fan
I put a 6 lbs, 10oz (trimmed) butt on at 12:30 am last evening. It's still going at 8 PM! It hit a plateau at 180. It's quite frustrating. The whole cook I've kept the temp right around 220-225. I know that's a little low, but I didn't think it would hurt much. The last few hours I've gone between 225-250 just to try and get it done.

This better be a good butt!
 
This forum has taught me one thing...it is hard to over plan....these things take time. I usually start my overnights earlier. Before nine pm.
 
Hey eric...

my 6 pounders usually take between 16 and 18 hours. And I'm running at 225-250. 20 hours isn't too much of a surprise if you've been running at 200-225 the whole time.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out...
 
With butts, consider that the magic is going to happen whether you're cooking at 225° or 250°, so why wait? Here's a little butt trick you can do, and still hold your head up high and say you didn't use foil and you didn't finish it in the oven-- not that there's anything wrong with doing either of those things: Shoot for 250° at the grate from the get-go, and, towards the later hours of the cook, don't refill the water pan-- let it almost dry out. The cooker temp will, as a result, increase about another 25° (almost like putting it in a 300° oven, no?). I usually finish 7 lb. butts in just under 12 hours this way.
 
Eric,
Cook time is a function of temperature difference. Initially, if the butt is at 75F and the cooker is at 225F, that's a 150F difference and cooking rate will be fast. When the butt is 180 and the cooker is at 225, the difference is 45F, about a third of the initial rate. Doug's method allows a 120F difference at the end and a high cook rate, and others foil, which speeds the cook up by braising. At 225, the cook will just be long, especially for a spherical cut of meat like a butt.

Loren
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Doug D:
Shoot for 250° at the grate from the get-go, and, towards the later hours of the cook, don't refill the water pan-- let it almost dry out. The cooker temp will, as a result, increase about another 25° (almost like putting it in a 300° oven, no?). I usually finish 7 lb. butts in just under 12 hours this way. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

so... you essentially run it at 275 grill grate toward the end? I hadn't heard that method before. very intriguing...

if you could compare side by side a butt done at 225-250 the entire time, and one done your method, finishing around 275, are there difference? Are they equally moist throughout? What is the outside texture like?

One thing I'm struggling with is my bark. I get lots of it. But it is almost like jerky, and when I pull it, some of it separates from the rest of the meat... I'd like a good bark that doesn't get so dry its like jerky. Does your method affect that at all?

Erik - how did yours turn out?
 
Hi Erik
How did it go ?

About timing:
On Saturday I put a 4 kilo pork shoulder on at 2pm (over here you get the cervical vertebrae and first 3 ribs attached as well as the blade, which is kinda cool). I used 5 kilos of lump and single apple log about the size of a tennis ball can. Also present in the cooker were two racks of spares, a large whole chicken and a tub of beans. The chicken ribs and beans came off at 6pm; Dinner #1. Excellent!
The pork atayed on over night and finally came off at 3pm Sunday. During this time I had gone swimming with my family, gone to a steam-fair (carnival), went shopping, etc. The pork was perfect but probably could've been pulled from the cooker 3 or 4 hours earlier.
The actual point of this post is that you should *always* give yourself plenty of time with big cuts of meat, pork butt will forgive you, and that the WSM can go for 24 hours or more on a single load of lump.
 
I've got a question concerning the actual time it takes to finish pb. When you say it takes between 16-18 hours that does not include resting time?? Am I correct. I'm doing my first butts this weekend. Trying to plan approximate time to be done.<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by adamclyde:
Hey eric...

my 6 pounders usually take between 16 and 18 hours. And I'm running at 225-250. 20 hours isn't too much of a surprise if you've been running at 200-225 the whole time.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
Well, by 8:50 it still hadn't moved off of 181, and my fuel was just about spent, so I ended up doing what I wanted to avoid and finished the butt, foiled, in a 275 degree oven. It took 45 minutes in there before the temp finally started to move! Finally around 10:30 it hit 200, so I took it out, let it rest half an hour, pulled it and went to bed. :)

I tried a few pieces while pulling and it was very good.

This was my first butt, but I've done plenty of briskets before, and this took longer than most of those. Fortunately, it was nice and hot in Lancaster this weekend, so I got a long run out of the cooker using the Minion Method.

Next time, meat goes on at 9!

Erik
 
Im like you, I run at 220-225. Bork Butts 20+ hours are the norm. If I want to speed it up I will crank the pit to 250 after the butt goes through the 160 plateau. When I see it hit 169-170 I turn the heat up and have no ill effects.
 
Doug,

I've used the "ramp" technique you mention with really good success. Takes some careful judgement on when to let it go.

Makes for some messy pan clean-up, but the results are really nice. One cure that helps is after you pull the meat, add some water to the hot pan (carfully, because it will spatter).
 
There has been many a butts put in the oven to get her done. No harm there.
Starting earlier is a good idea, you can keep them wrapped in the cooler for many hours. I've done 5 hours in the cooler and all was well.
 
I did my first overnighter this weekend. I put two butts (Pre-trimmed weight of about 6.5 pounds and 7 pounds) on at around midnight. When I went to bed at 3:00, my lid temp was at 255. When I woke up at 8:00, it was holding strong at 250. When I checked the meat temps at 12:30, most of my readings were around 190 degrees with some around 200.

I was shocked that both butts had cooked in just over 12 hours. I know 250 is on the high side of barbecue temps, but the butts were both moist and tender. Is this abnormal?

As a side, this was just my third cook and I love the WSM. Many thanks to the people on and responsible for this board, as they are making me look good in front of my friends (and that’s not easy)!!!
icon_cool.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by adamclyde:
so... you essentially run it at 275 grill grate toward the end? I hadn't heard that method before. very intriguing...

if you could compare side by side a butt done at 225-250 the entire time, and one done your method, finishing around 275, are there difference? Are they equally moist throughout? What is the outside texture like? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I wouldn't call it so much a method as I would just something I stumbled across one time when I was remiss in tending the water pan, and then continued the practice. The bark doesn't seem any worse for wear, and, if it is any tougher as a result, mixing it with the rest of the pulled meat and its juices softens it back up.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">

I was shocked that both butts had cooked in just over 12 hours. I know 250 is on the high side of barbecue temps, but the butts were both moist and tender. Is this abnormal?

icon_cool.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No, it's not "abnormal". I have done a few that I wanted to get done "sooner" than smoking at 230. I did a few at 250-260 and they came out just fine. I would love to do a side by side to see if anyone could tell the difference between butts done at 225 vs 260. If I had 2 WSM's I'd do it. Second one may be in the near future. Have several parties of 50-60 people to smoke for this summer. Don't think 1 WSM will do it.
Glad your smokes came out well.
 
Guessing about whether or not there is a difference in the product between "short" cooks and long cooks, I think that there will be some difference, the question is how short the time has to be to tell the difference.

I think that, for the most part, the rendering is a function of the internal temp and the time at that temp. The longer that a butt is at an elevated temperature, the longer the grease has to flow out. I have never had greasy chopped Q from the WSM, on the other hand, I have had GREASY chopped Q from butts that were cooked fast (by others) on a gas pig cooker in about 3 hours. The difference between 12 hours and 20 hours is probably insignificant, based on some of my early cooks where I finished in the oven for a cook time around 8-10 hours.
 
hi eric, i did 2 butts this past weekend total weight 16 lbs, thats all the bjs club had and i will do less next time, my cook time was over 22 hours and it was getting dark on sunday night, my temp was stuck at 177 for a long time even though i upped the temp to 250 for the last 3 hours, so i put them in the oven at 240 for 1 hour and they went right to 192, they where still moist and very yummy, this was only my 2nd cook and i was very pleased. ribs this weekend caht wait
 
John

IMO that's not an unreasonable amount to do and I often do 2, sometimes 3 and have done 4. Your temp may have gotten down on you during the night. I use sand for overnighters and seem to have better luck maintaining temps for the long cooks. Remember, you can always start earlier because you have at least 4 hours leeway with the hold time in the cooler at the end.

Paul
 
Heloo everyone

I did my first double a month ago and pulled them at 182 these were twin 7.5lbr's i tested them with a fork and they fell apart so i pulled and wrapped them.You couldn't tell the difference from one cooked to 195. Yes i checked my probe in boiling water and it was spot on, ialso checked the butts in several places.I'm begining to think some of these big butts may be done earlier than we think.Total time was around 12hrs and they pulled like butter. Oh yeah I generally hold temps in the 230-250 range.

Hope this helps
Jeff
 
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