crisping up a boston butt?

Give us more details on that first smoke - times, temp, wood, rub, etc. What smoker are you using? The more details the better!

I have never had a problem with getting bark on a butt. Sounds to me like time was your enemy. Always allow ample time for your smoke. If you get done too early you can always wrap it in a few towels or newspaper and toss it in a cooler and get at least four hours holding time. I start my butts the night before at a lower temp - 190-200 and crank it up in the morning. Almost guaranteed to be done by noon.

Do give us more details on the smoke and several will jump in with a little help and advice!

bbqnj,
You may have been at the plateau on that butt.
When the fat really starts to render it will actually cool the meat off. I have smoked butts at 225 to 250 and the temp has stopped at a certain level and just stayed there for a long time. Once it breaks through that "plateau" the temp has started to rise again and usually it rises very fast.
The meat has been around 160 to 180 with just an hour or so left by my estimates and I've thought that it wasn't going to finish in time.
Then it start to rise and rise quickly. You just gotta be willing to hang in there and give it a chance.

If you are getting a good crust and just want to have more, a nice trick to do is score the butt with a knife in a diamond pattern.
about 1" to 1 1/2" deep and then work some rub down in those cuts. It will expose more of a surface to the heat and smoke. Good Luck

nj,

I haven't said this in a week or so...

It's done when it's done

All that says is that it will be ready when it's ready. 175 is not ready (well almost, for slicing only).

Yes you can use foil, but the outside will soften up quite a bit. And when you foil, it will finish faster, but can't give you a set time for that.

After foiling is when it's good to throw it on the grill if you want a crisp outside.

You've got to take it to at least 190, maybe more. If it's a bone in butt, just wiggle the bone.

I did a butt last weekend with a very crispy bark. I put it in Fri night at 220 deg. By around 4:00pm it was at 195 internal, so I just turned off the CS and left it in there to rest. At 6:30 I took it out of the CS and it had a great bark on the outside, tender on the inside.

I pulled the meat, chopped the bark, and mixed it all together. It had rendered all its fat so whatever was left I just mixed in for flavor and moisture.

touchdown! well almost...

it was awesome, this time i left plenty of time for the cooking. i put the butt in at 7am @ 250 degrees after rubbing it down with some cookshack rub and some of my own. the butt was kind of cold from being in the fridge, but i was kind of tired, so i just threw that bad boy in the cookshack. internal temp read at 40 degrees for a ~6.5-7 pd butt. the butt took close to 16 hours to hit 200 degrees.

the main problem i encountered was when pulling the butt out of the cookshack. it was so tender that a little bit of the butt was sticking to the grate, and as i was pulling it out, it ripped in half.

i guess next time i should put some olive oil on the grate or something?

because of this, i think i lost some precious juices and therefore the butt was a little more drier than when i used to cook it in the wsm followed by allum wrap and in the oven.

my second favorite part about the boston butt cooked in the cookshack was that i was out and about! man, i dont think i can tend the wsm ever again. seems like alot of precious time watching a fire. lol

You can always filp real large butts about half way through,and they tend to not stick.

A pizza peel will also usually slide them out without a problem.

I, too, had to get some "education" on pork butts. Once I learned to give it enough time, things worked out fine. So, I allow at least 18 hours, sometimes it takes an extra hour or so.

Once it gets past the "plateau," it's magic. It pulls so easily, and has bark, and tastes wonderful.

Nowadays, I never pull it out of the Smokette until 195 degrees. Plenty of good eats, and some pulled pork for my favorite chili recipe, and, the leftovers are great in burritos.

I need to try Tom's idea of flipping the butts, because mine to tend to fall apart upon removal.

Glad to see that all turned out well!

Even if you spray, they'll stick. The problem is they get so soft near the end, the meat tends to form around the metal grates. Just flip it like Tom said. And use a big spatula when necessary.

Cook enough of them and you'll know the first rule is that the darn thing will be so tender (like that's a problem) it will fall apart when you take it out.

Good problem to have.

The parts of the butt that stick to the rack are my favorite parts! Butt candy.

When I have a butt sticking, I just put a pan over the butt, remove the rack-butt-pan and flip. Then when it falls apart, it's already in the pan.
Thanks, Bob

hey guys, thx for all the responses.

btw, the cookshack sauce is awesome..


...so whats the recipe? =)