Long time to cook pork butts

the first question that comes to mind is:

how much did each butt weigh??

next: was the oven temp probe on the back on the cabinet free and clear of the meat??

Another option you have is to cook the meat until it looks the way you want it to and then wrap it in foil and continue to cook it until done. You can raise the temp at this time if you wish. One thing is for sure, it needs to be good and done to pull.
JT

I too would ask for the butt weights. Were they bone-in or boneless? I find boneless butts take longer to finish.

I tend to get great results from the following method using the AQ ---
I look for bone-in butts around 8 lbs.

Pull them fridge an hour before smoking, rinse, pat dry and apply rub. Tent with foil and leave at room temp for the remaining hour.

Set the AQ for 236 with 4-6 oz of wood. I like Hickory, Cherry or a combo of both.

Load butts fat side down on the middle rack. Unless using the hold mode, I probe each with a digital themometer and disappear for 8 hrs.

Butts will normally take 1.5-2 hrs @ lb at 236. When they're at the 188 mark I'll probe them with a wooden skewer to gauge tenderness. They're rarely pullable under 192.

I like a crusty bark. Perhaps placing yours too close to the wood box caused the burning? If you're striving for a non-crusty bark, or wanting to reduce overall time, foil them as they come out of plateau...around 170.

Hope that helps.

Couple of questions/comments.

Was it "burnt" or just dry and crusty? Real bark will tend to do that and to get burned it would have to get hotter than the 225 you mention.

For one, I would never rub pork for 20 hours. If there is ANY salt in the rub it will tend to cure the pork and give you a hammy taste.

You don't have to "wrap" your butt fully, but you can tent it like you do a turkey once you get a color in the butt you like. But if you tent fully, it will have the effect of softening the bark and help.

The burnt taste could also be from too much smoke. How many chunks did you put in and when?

have you tested the smoker to see what temp it is running at?

Icubed:
The butts were in the 7-8 pound range. And, yes - the temperature probe on the back of the cabinet was free and clear of the meat.

JT Smokin:
The meat wasn't "dry", so I don't know if foil would have helped. But believe me, I was considering it.

MaxQ:
The butts were bone in. I used regular mustard and "Jeff's" famous rub put on about 14 hours in advance of smoking. They were in the fridge until about an hour and a half before I put them on the smoker. I put a water pan (with two bottles of bock beer) directly under the butts. The butts were on the highest rack setting.

I like a crusty bark also. I recorded time/temp values. At the end of this post, I will try to add that data.

SmokinOkie:
In retrospect, it was "dry and crusty".

I used 4 small (1"x1/2"x2") pieces of mesquite.

I have not tested the temperature in the smoker.

I'm not sure what you mean by "tenting".

Before I try to add the time/temp data, I want to thank all of you that have offered ideas on what I may be doing wrong.

Thanks again for your help!

Time (hrs:min) Temperature (F)
Actual In Smoker Meat Smoker Comments
17:48 00:00 38 Put meat in Smoker @ 225
18:03 00:15 40 173
19:32 01:44 87 225
20:04 02:16 108 225
20:33 02:45 121 225
20:45 02:57 126 224
21:26 03:38 138 225
21:46 03:58 143 225
22:03 04:15 146 224
22:18 04:30 149 224
22:32 04:44 151 224
23:01 05:13 154 224
23:29 05:41 157 224
23:59 06:11 160 224
00:16 06:28 161 224 Opened smoker to add more water to the drip pan
00:45 06:57 162 228
01:11 07:23 162 225
02:19 08:31 162 225
04:17 10:29 165 225
04:44 10:56 165 223
07:36 13:48 169 227
08:16 14:28 170 221
09:38 15:50 173 228 Raised smoker temperature to 240F.
10:07 16:19 174 237
11:10 17:22 179 240 Took out 1 butt for lunch - had to slice this one.
13:46 19:58 191 245
15:43 21:55 196 245 Took out 2nd butt – this one pulled easily

If you like a crusty bark?, that will never be achieved putting a pan of water in the CS, just a thought!

did you verify the oven temp with another probe?? if the probe is reading high, you'd get extended cooking times.

i'd start by getting rid of the water pan and making sure the bottom drain and top vent are clear. really no need for a water pan.

there's also a funky theory that stall is driven by evaporative cooling (which isn't helped by the water pan)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...-bbq-mystery_b_98771

personally, i'm plagued by the butts finishing hours before my predicted time, but that's why i always end up FTCing.

cal:
The beer had all evaporated from the water tray. Nontheless, I probably won't use it anymore.

Icubed:
I checked out the meat probe temperature against the oven temperature. The oven temperature ran about 10 degrees lower than the meat probe temperature - now what?

I had read the about the idea of evaporative cooling being responsible for the "stall". I'm not sure that I buy into it as the water temperature (and therefore the meat temperature no?) would have to reach 212 before any appreciable amount of water would start to evaporate.

I'm no expert on hawgs,but I do cook with a few.{experts]
I haven't had the pleasure of cooking on an AQ ,yet,but hope to soon.

I post this about once a month,and give it to neighbors learning to cook.Smokin's 101 is great and butts are very forgiving.
Ignore all the "experts" that share the "100 super secret tips".Stick with KISS.

Verify the actual temp at the exact cooking spot in the cooker.Verify that the independent therm is correct.

Buy a good quality,hopefully not injected with salt water,not pre-frozen butt.

.Around 8 lbs bonein is a good start.

All cookers have their own sweet spots and cooking temps they like,but we'll say put the butts on the next to the top rack.

Now,while getting the cooker set up and the cooker is pre-heating[we won't discuss smokerings,smoke absorption,etc here] to 235º.Naturally you sprayed the rack with a nonstick spray before starting.Use whatever good wood you have but nut woods seem to be popular, fruit woods are lighter and acceptable.Mesquite is usually avoided ,because it becomes bitter on long cooks.6-8 oz should work.

Pack as much rub[any popular commercial rub] in and around the butts as they will hold.Personally,I've found butts will develop their own moisture,so I save mustard for bologna sandwiches.

You can probe the butts now with your accurate probe and don't hit bone or fat pockets,or wait until they have cooked 8-10 hrs.

If you waited to probe them until later,you can flip them-to keep them from sticking to the rack.

If they were probed,before going into the cooker,don't open the door until close to 190º.Check with your instaread in several places ,just for your notes.The probe should go thru several spots like butter.If not close up and cook another hr-at least 5 º.

When the probe does go thru easily,double wrap tightly in HD foil and go to a dry cooler for at least three hrs.

It should pull easily as you discard bones and any minor membranes and fat.Toss with a little of your rub and a little of a vinegar sauce like Smokin'Okies to taste.

This won't give you a perfect butt/pulled pork,but along with your notes it should get you on the road.

Nice Tom.

Thanks.
We keep saying a butt is the most forgiving thing we will ever cook.

,Open door on Cookshack,insert butt,close door and turn on.
Take butt out when done.

Let CS does its job and stay out of the way.
Oh well,we all have to learn and we want to do it well.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with tom on this. I get a 7-8 lb butt inject with a apple juice mixture then rub about 2 hours prior to ccoking. set the 025 to 230 degrees and put in 2 probes. close door and dont open until 190. ftc for 1 hour, finishing sauce and you have the best damn pulled pork ever. KISS rules

Yep. That's what I do without the injection, and I get raves and requests for more smokes.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Yep. That's what I do without the injection, and I get raves and requests for more smokes.

Yup...me too...all you gotta do is stir it with a couple of forks and it falls apart. Smokin's finishing sauce adds depth and a little tang.

Tom,
Thank you for the reply. Thanks to the rest of you also. A few questions:

How do you verify which temperature is correct? My meat probe temperature was running about 10 degrees higher than my "in box" probe temperature. My meat probe may have been touching the inside of the smoker in addition to touching the "in box" probe.

I can tell when I hit a bone with the probe, but how do you tell if you are in a "fat pocket"?

What is a "dry cooker"? Is this when the meat is wrapped in foil and in either the smoker or an oven?

Thanks again!
Jim

Place the probe into boiling water and ice water. Temp should read 212* and 32* respectively.

I can't tell when I've hit a fat pocker, but if you're concerned with length of cook, temp or whatever, move the probe to another location and see what it tells you.

Can't help you with the "dry cooker" cause I couldn't find what it refers to in any of the previous posts. But you're Amerique cooks in a moist environment...small hole at the top to allow little heat and moisture to escape.

The other thing to do is learn to "feel' the doneness when you're moving the probe.

Just feel for resistence and less resistence is better.

I use all my senses when cooking and I'm pretty critical. I look at the bark, I'm smelling the smoke, I'm drinking a beer... oh wait

The good cooks above hit most of what you asked.

One example of a dry cooker could be when the oil fields went bust in TX and there was unlimited sections of large pipe everywhere.

Cooks took a 6-7 ft section and welded a firebox on one end and an exhaust stack off an old semi on the other end.If they could find post oak they would throw it in one end,if not they scrounged up some mesquite,took their weedburner torch and fired 'er up.

Could be smoke,fire,whatever and it got sucked belching down that long pipe like a house afire.
Lots of folks had to resort to the TX crutch to slow it down,stop the creosote,stop drying it to a puff.

Now,that's dry.

Think about the difference a glob of fat might feel to the probe.Like the guys say try it a couple places.Some of us started cooking a long time before they thought of using therms.

Smokin' and I were around here when the discussion came up about whether to place probes in the cookers,since they had become a little more popular and new cooks kept asking where to get one.

I felt let us all go to our local box store and buy one,and we gave the methods to check them.If a problem came up someday,throw it away and spend $15 for a new one.

Most cooks out there still don't know about therms,or care.They stick a two prong meat fork or a metal skewer all the way thru it,and pretend it is the prong from the therm.

What we are saying is meat is inconsistent and therms go bad.Thus,be skeptical,check things,and recheck if your instinct signals something might be amiss.

Given a choice on the therm to accept,go with the one you have very recently checked ,personally.

On a pork butt jab the therm thru it in several places,and if one feels to firm,cook it some more.Wiggle the bone for looseness,squeeze the butt for tender.

You'll learn after 3 or 4.

Just cook and enjoy.

Picked up a 12 lb boneless pork shoulder from Cosco. Came in two pieces like the Forum said. Smothered it with mustard, used the CS pork and spicy chicken rub on both. Put them in the 025 at 7:30 last night and took them out about 7:30 this morning. Smoked them at 225. FTC'd for about an hour then pulled them. I think I ate too much. Delicious.

did you use the top shelf or bottom one? no pictures?

Pulled pork for breakfast?

Sorry about the lack of pictures. Haven't figured out how to do that yet. I used the bottom rack but moved the side rails up a notch. Both parts of the shoulder fit on the one rack. Used the CS probe on one and Maverick ET-732 on the other.

quote:

Originally posted by John kiley:
... Haven't figured out how to do that yet...

Take the photos, then email me the originals. I'll load them on the CS server.

Check out this "feature" topic at the top of the Open Forum.

How to Post Pictures

Hey SmokinOkie, I also made up your virgin mustard sauce. Loved it but what a kick. Hope it stays for a while in the fridge. And I will work on the pictures next time. Thanks