Quick Internal Temp Rise?

Don't worry. It will the plateau in the 150-165 range and stay there for quite a while. In fact, sometimes you may even see the internal temp go down during the plateau.

Thanks for the quick response John! I'm gonna run to the HS Football game. Feels like I'm cheating being able to smoke at home while at a game! My vertical is gonna rust SOON!! Thanks again!

RibDog is the pro, but I'll second it. Your temp will probably fly during the first couple of hours. No worries. It will slow down guaranteed. Just make sure you put your temp probe in deep and make sure you are in meat, not fat or touching a bone.

The cookshack is a great smoker. Stuck a pork butt in at 12:30 PM Friday, hoping to have it done early Saturday morning for a 11am kickoff for friends and family. By around 11pm on Friday night internal temp was moving thru the plateau and moving along a little quicker than I was hoping, so I lowered the smoker temp down to 200 from 225 in hopes that the lower temp would delay the arrival to the 195 internal temp I was shooting for until early Saturday morning. Like clock work the remote transmitter awoke me this morning at 7am and the pork butt is now double-wrapped in foil, surrounded by newspaper and towels in the ice-chest to be pulled in a few hours for what I know is going to be great pulled pork sandwiches.

The cookshack is the "best invention" ever! So experiment with it, it's hard not to make great BBQ with it. Proud former owner of a 55 and current owner of an Elite.

Thanks for all the great info. It's now 7 am and I'm at 13.5 hours. My question is regarding temps. I'm showing 174 on the polder therm and 194 on the AQ's meat therm. Polder is in the shoulder and AQ is in the butt. At what point should I open her up and test various points? Looking for lunch, should I pull at 195 and FTC or take to 200 and FTC? Thanks!!

I take my pork butt to 205* then pull it from the smoker. I think you'll be OK at 200*.

Test it in several locations when the higher therm hits 200*. If not done, move the therm with the higher reading to a different location (careful. It will be hot). Check the calibration of both your therms to make sure both are accurate.

Thanks Pags! Checked it with a Thermapen and had 200 in the butt but only 175 in the shoulder. So much for bones acting as heat conductors! Not sure which direction to take from here. Don't tell Smokin' but I'm considering foiling this guy and putting it back in at 200 for another couple of hours. What do ya think?

I never foil pork butt until it's done and ready for the cooler. I don't believe it serves a purpose cause it'll turn out nice and moist without the foil. Afterall, you don't want to soften the bark.

I think you have to take the shoulder to at least 195*. You can take it to 185* but you won't be able to pull it, slicing required.

Well, Pags, hope I didn't botch this one. Prior to getting your post I decided to ftc when the butt was at 200 and shoulder at 175. After 30 minutes, I began to doubt myself and decided to unwrap and put back in the smoker. Running at 240 now hoping to get temps back up. Showing 163 in shoulder and 174 in butt. When in doubt, follow rule #1! Patience!! Thanks for your advice and feel free to keep it coming! Thanks!

Same problem again. Butt has reached 200 and shoulder is at 180. Any ideas? Running the AQ at 225. Thanks!

Take them both up 10* and check to see if the probe slides through like butter. You're going to be close at these temps. Good luck.

I'm no expert,but I'm having trouble figuring out this butt from shoulder thing.

I always thought the butt was the part of the shoulder that contained the blade bone?

Experts that I cook with,figure when the deep part of the butt hits 195*,run the probe thru a few places ,until it feels like soft butter.

If it don't, cook another 1/2 hr.

If it does, foil and cooler 3-4 hrs.

Eazy-peazy?

Tom, that was probably a poor choice of words on my part. I started with a bone in pork shoulder. The half that has the bone I was referring to as a shoulder. The opposite half, I was referring to as a butt. I apologize if I confused you, but I'm unfamiliar with the proper term for (the boneless half of the shoulder). Thanks!
BTW, I ended up keeping it on to 205. As the temps were approaching 200, the temperature split began to decrease. Butt came out fantastic! Was a huge hit and WAYYY too EASY!!

I'm not familiar with a "boneless" portion of a shoulder, as the bone runs from the small end where the foot would have been, to the shoulder area where the blade bone is found.

Terminology seems to differ somewhat from area to area, but around here the lower section is usually referred to as a "picnic" or picnic shoulder when sold separately from the butt.

Yep,like Todd says.

Except, wallyworld and some of the marketers,keep trying for "new" cuts and its hard to figure out what they are doing.

quote:

Originally posted by ImHungry:
Same problem again. Butt has reached 200 and shoulder is at 180. Any ideas? Running the AQ at 225. Thanks!

I'm not sure of the issue? They are two different cuts and won't finish at the same time.

Pull the butt and let the shoulder rise to 195 or so?

Terminology is important, how much does the shoulder weigh? It sounds like a picnic, not a shoulder.

Also saw where your therm and the AQ weren't registering the same. Where they in the same spot? Test them one day and verify if they're both accurate.

Guess I'm thoroughly confused now! It was a 8.6 lb hunk of pork that the butcher labeled as a butt. There was no foreleg and no skin. After cooking, I pulled one blade bone out of it. I was under the impression that was a shoulder blade bone. Assuming I purchased a "whole butt", the bone was only in half of the cut. What do you gents refer to the other half? Sorry to cause so much confusion over pig parts! Regardless, it came out incredible. Three chunks of hickory, and total cook time was just under 18 hours. Can't wait to try something else!

What you're describing is a "butt", or sometimes called a Boston butt. The lower leg portion is usually called a picnic around here, or sometimes a picnic shoulder, but they are sort of conical shaped and usually have skin.

Butt


Picnic

The bone indeed is a shoulder blade but has nothing to do with what it's known as.

It was a bone in pork butt.

You confused me when you said ...200 in the butt but only 175 in the shoulder

Now I'm lost, don't know what you were cooking so were you cooking two PB's?

No sir. Only one PB. I was monitoring temps on both halves of the cut. My temps were around 10-15 cooler near the bone for most of the cook. That's why I was having a hard time trying to decide when to pull it. Where I caused this mass confusion was calling the area around the bone the "shoulder". Amazing what incorrect terminology will do! On a side note, as temps reached near 200, the split between temps began to decrease, and it was pulled at 205. Perfect!! Sorry for a 20 response thread over a silly question, but I'm squared away now!!

No worries here then, glad you have it fixed.

Now, what are you cooking next?

I'm thinking brisket. Local butcher has a great selection of Harris Ranch Beef, including whole packer briskets. Gonna try tomorrow!! Still finishing the PB from the weekend, though.

Edit: Just found a 12 lb choice packer that should do nicely! Will report back!