It's Ready When It's Ready

You're through the plateau and they won't soak up any more smoke sp if you need to speed 'em up a little, double wrap in foil and place in your home oven at 300 degrees and they'll get up to temperature much quicker and with no loss of moisture or flavor.

I have put many a butt in at 7:00 pm and not had it ready until 11:00 am the next morning. Your time is perfectly normal.

Every butt is different. Many using smokettes average 2 hr per pound. Patience is the key. It will be worth your wait!

Takeit EZ is right is on.

If this is for dinner, set the house oven for -350º,foil the butt and cook in the oven to 200º internal.

let it rest as many minutes as you can,and go after it.

Butts are very forgiving.

It ended up reaching 195º on-time, so I pulled it, and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Not the perfect scenario, but still very good.

It ended up taking a total of 21 hours to get the 8 lb Butt to 195º. I guess this is why y'all are always telling us to take notes, huh?

Hey Heavy...I may have misunderstood your post, but next time try letting it rest and then pulling it.

Pulling it before the juices have redistributed will put a real damper on your moistness!

There was some give and take on this one. Instead of removing it from the smoker at 193º and letting it rest for 30 minutes, I left it in until it reached 195º and let it rest for 20 minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by Heavy Doody:

It ended up taking a total of 21 hours to get the 8 lb Butt to 195º. I guess this is why y'all are always telling us to take notes, huh?

... And that's why our guru of smoke, Bordeaux of butts and tickler of ribs says "It's done when it's done!" I think we all agree

My first one seemed to take longer than everything else I've read too. It was 16 hours to 195º, and it was only 5 lbs.

I wonder if the altitude changes things. I don't hear a lot of others going 3 hours/lb.

It's not a big deal. I don't mind it taking longer. So far it seems consistent, which I'm happy about.

Heavy Doody -- Have you checked your smoker to see if the temp inside is in sync with your temp dial? Poke your probe thru a potato or a ball of aluminum foil and watch it for a few hours to see if the swings average the temp on the dial.

Just a thought.

I haven't, but I will. Thanks.

I just smoked some brats, and they finished lightning fast at 225º. About an hour to bring them up to 160º.

Heavy Doody...Are you leaving the door shut the entire cook?

You can turn it all the way up when it hits the plateau.

Heavy Doody,

My 2 cents to offer on this albeit a little late!!!

I think altitude can definitely make a difference and you may need to do a little research on this issue. Also the time per pound for a smaller piece of meat is often longer than for a larger piece, (i.e. 5 lb. butt might be 2.5 hrs/lb and an 8 lb. but might be 2 hrs/lb.)

Your total time did not seem that far off to me. What was off was planning your times with too tight of a schedule. Next time start earlier to allow yourself more time and plan on wrapping and holding in a cooler for the resting period and to take up any slack time before pulling and serving. Also much less stressful that way.

Where in Salt Lake are you? I'm in Utah Valley at 5200'. I cook butts for 16-20 hours. I put them in the night before, so I don't care how long they take--they're ready by dinner time.