Dry butt

Dennis - I can only think that it just wasn't cooked long enough. Thank God these things are cheap. I say.......try another! Good louck!

It smoked 17 hours to an internal temp of 200. Bone pulled out easily and clean.

I'm sure it was the meat. I'm just wondering how common this is, if other seasoned Q'ers have experienced the same occasionally.

Remember ,these new market hogs are bred to be very lean.

Yes, the butt has a lot of internal moisture and most of it won't boil away at internals under 200�.

We tend to pull our butts out and foil by 195� and maybe even a few degrees earlier,if they will be coolered for several hours.

Sounds overcooked to me.

Its done when its done.

Tom,

I'll buy that. This is the first one I've actually taken all the way to 200--and it's the only one that's been dry. So what do you take your briskets to? And do you ever foil your butt/briskets during the cook?

I foiled my first brisket last week as per Mike Scrutchfield's info and it turned out great. But then so did its non-foiled predecessors.

BTW, I made pizza with the leftovers and it was fantastic!!

The Cookshacks are such moist cookers that we don't foil with them.

Now in competition,there may be some timing issues that are resolved with foil.

Mike's technique has helped a lot of folks out there.