Pork Shoulder (Butt) - Temperature

I am by no means an expert - I've just had my CS020 for a couple of months but I've read the forums and took the advice of all of the wise people. I start checking my PB's about 195 degrees. I usually take them out somewhere between 195 and 200 degrees. FTC for about 2 hours and then pull. Sometimes I use Okie's finishing sauce but I usually don't use any. THEY ARE DELICIOUS!!

Guess it would depend on the texture/bite that a person would want. That will be up to you to decide, but I tend to use the temp as a guide and use my Pitmaster skills, which are limited, to tell doneness...ie, probe pushes through like butter and make sure you check more than one place. Heck, if it has a bone in it,I might tug on it to see if it is loose from the meat.

Some that like soft meat might run it up to 205-10* then FTC, to each his own!

Mine has several preprogrammed settings (rare, medium, well done) for a particular type of meat, ie pork or beef. If I want higher than the preprogrammed for pork, which I believe is 170*, I can then manually adjust the alert temperature higher, so I move it to 192* for pork butt. When meat temp hits alert temp, I turn off the remote therm and manually check temp (and of course test it with a probe).

Can you manually adjust your alert temp? I would think the remote therm would have that ability. Check your remote's instructions under "manually adjust the temperature setting or alert".

quote:

Originally posted by jacksmoker:
I usually take them out somewhere between 195 and 200 degrees. FTC for about 2 hours and then pull...THEY ARE DELICIOUS!!

Yup...me too...just the way I like 'em!

SmokinMAINEIAC

Now in the middle (well, the front end) of the cook. After about 45 minutes of things progressing - meat temperature rising, smoke coming out of top (I didn't use much), there was sort of a loudish poof from the Smokette - and I think a puff of smoke out of the top.

Anybody had anything like that happen?

Nope!

Could be a couple things I think...could be that PB taking it's last breath...lol...or could be a boom.

Hard to say,ya think!

If I am making pulled pork and using a finishing sauce, my temp is 185

No more "booms", meat temperature rising, things moving in the right direction - all quiet on the western (OK - Texas, southwestern) front at the moment.

quote:

Originally posted by reevus:
Now in the middle (well, the front end) of the cook. After about 45 minutes of things progressing - meat temperature rising, smoke coming out of top (I didn't use much), there was sort of a loudish poof from the Smokette - and I think a puff of smoke out of the top.

Anybody had anything like that happen?

I have had it happen in another smoker I have. My theory is that it is a flashover, a smoke explosion. I had the lid blown off a smoker once (not a CS smoker). Flashovers are caused by a buildup of smoke in an enclosed area. The combustable gasses reach a point where the embers of smoking wood ignite the gasses and they make a WHOOSH-ing noise. A Cookshack is built strong enough that the whoosh is not a big deal.

That's my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

SmokinMAINEiac

I shoot for 195*, this takes about 11 hours in my 009 for an 8# butt. Very moist and yummy.

As far as the loudish poof and puff of smoke I think most of us have experienced this at one time or another. Just keep the door shut and keep on cookin.

Mac

I'm no expert,but I have cooked with some.

With experience,most folks will notice a difference in not only personal taste but several other factors.

How hot you cooked,how long you held it before pulling,prefrozen?,saltwater pumped?,did you inject,whether you slice any,whether you have whole shoulder[picnic included],size, whether you intend to finish it on direct heat for more bark,whether you butterflied it,etc.

Yep,simple with a little experience and GOOD notes.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom:
I'm no expert

Pay no attention to Tom. He IS an expert

First of all.

Emeril is a great chef, but he doesn't know @#$% about BBQ. Nor for that fact to almost all of the Food Network Guys (well, except Guy).

Ask and listen only to us

Take it to 195 for pulling. Keep in mind the outer part will be more tender and the middle part the last to go soft. So you just need to experiment with what works for you. I do it all sorts of ways.

Oh, and listen to Tom, he knows almost as much about Pork as I do

It's a long story - key factoid, "start early" (which I didn't do needless to say). To keep it short, I learned a lot from this first cook, and the butt came out pretty well in the end - despite some missteps on my end. Thanks for the tips and suggestions.

Steve P.

STOP...you can't do that to us all...speak up... the CS family is in this all together. We learn a little more everyday, so you're not alone!

What happened? Did you forget the 1st lesson? Keep the door shut and not watch the display like a hawk or is there something else that may help another Newbie at a later date?

OK - here are the details. I had a 4 lb. butt rubbed and ready to go first thing in the AM - but figured I had a bit of time given that we normally eat around 7PM. I also was using a Weber preprogrammed remote thermometer for the cook. We had a landscaper come by around 10AM for a short visit - which turned out to be about 1.5 hours - and I didn't get the butt going until he left.

I still figured I might be OK given that it was only 4 lbs. Early in the cook (see above), the Smokette let out with sort of a noise ("explosion" per my wife) - and I did open the cooker just to make sure nothing was goofy inside (which there wasn't). It didn't appear that it cost me much in temperature, and the butt went up smoothly to 158* at around 3:30PM when I had to run out for an appointment.

When I got home at 5:30PM or so - the temperature was 160*, where it stayed for probably another hour. While all this was going on, the thermometer (my first time using) was doing all sorts of odd things (beeps, loss of signal/temp., etc.) which didn't help my mental set. As a result, I opened it again just to make sure that I didn't have the thermometer against the bone or some other oddity like that (it wasn't).

We ended up eating something else - and had a couple of nice glasses of wine. By 10:30PM the butt (according to the goofy thermometer) had only moved up to around 175*. I decided to turn the cooker down to 165*, and leave the butt in overnight.

When I got up around 6:15AM - I turned the cooker up to 225*. The thermometer at this point was registering nothing - no signal (great tool). I concluded to leave the butt in until 8:00AM - then take it out whatever was going on because - well, I had a round of golf to play mid-morning.

I pulled the butt out at 8:00AM and it looked great, and the temperature was a bit over 190*. The pork fell off the bone, and my wife was eating it before I had my first bite.

It had great flavor but I think since it had been in so long slightly overcooked in consistency (still good though). But as for producing dinner the night before - not even close. I should have put it in first thing in the AM, and then foiled it if done early (I don't think I needed to start the night before - but who knows).

As for the thermometer, I have a new one that I just got in today - hopefully it will not act so weird during the next cook.

I'll continue to read up on the Forums here to improve things. It was/is tasty, but I think a little tweaking will enhance it some.

Steve P.

Sounds like you got one of those stubborn butts. I've had them go close to 3 hrs/lb before like yours did.

If you had thrown it in a 7:00 AM and it took 3 hrs/lb, it would have been done at 7:00 pm. At 2 hrs/lb it would have been done at 3:00 (FTC). Faster then FTC or lower the smoker temp (like you did overnight) for awhile.

Remember, you can always turn the smoker temp up. That'll move it along a little faster.

I'm with you Pags, sounds like it could have been one of those awful "enhanced" PBs. I know they are to keep the meat fresh?, but all that saltwater and junk that they put in them...not for me.

Yep, those PBs can be forgiving if you need to turn up the heat in a pinch, but I can live with slow and low,and the 2hrs or so a lb it takes me to cook them.

Steve, glad to hear that you didn't have a big crowd and was trying to show off the new toy, that's a MISTAKE that a lot of newbies make.

Reading,practice, and good notes will shorten the small learning curve, but hey that wine sipping could help me also!

Periodically,I try to explain that there is NOTHING linear about pork weight/temp/time.

Think about your butcher slicing a 1/2 in steak across the toughest part of a 12 lb butt from a 10 yr old sausage sow.The steak weighs about 1/2 lb.

You heat up your good old black iron skillet to 375º,fry it 3 mins on a side to 200º internal.

Now the pork is cooked done,safe,and to government standards.

Has it rendered all the fat and broken down all the collagen?

Could you pull the pork apart with two forks,or is it falling off the bone for a sandwich?

Probably not.

MAYBE,the two hrs at slow and low is applied to a 16 lb two pack of butts.

MAYBE the eight lbs X two hrs at slow and low gives pullable pork?

MAYBE each bite takes the full time?

Now,I know that Smokin' has taught our experienced cooks that its "done when its done" and the reason we take good notes is so we have the experience to plan our day's cook/meals.

Just a couple thoughts for folks that like to cook by time.

I have had issues with two different Weber preprogrammed remote thermometers acting just as you described.
I have a Taylor now which seems to be working well.

What was the "("explosion" per my wife)"

quote:

What was the "("explosion" per my wife)"

Sort of a "poof" kind of noise, and puff of smoke out of the vent. There are some threads on the forums here about it - apparently it happens occasionally. I wrote to Cookshack about it and they indicated it was not something to worry about.

Other than that, thanks folks for the ideas and thoughts. My wife has said a few times: "You know, that pork was really pretty good." So the end product turned out fairly well for the first effort.

Steve P.

quote:

Originally posted by Chef-Boy-Arnie:
What was the "("explosion" per my wife)"

The is known affectionately here in the Forum as the Big Bang Theory (well know before Physicits and CBS knew about it).

It has to do with wood and expanding gasses.

Nothing to worry about, it's a known occurance.

For more details search on "big bang"