7.5 pound butt - cook time

[nycjayhawk]

First let me say how much I enjoy this forum. Although I seldom post, I read this forum regularly and everything I know about smoking is because of this forum!

I did my first smoke about a year and a half ago and in that time have probably done pulled pork about 15 times. I'm used to the varying cook times, every butt acting differently, etc. but today my 7.5 pound butt cooked to 200 in a little over 7 hours. I maintained a temp between about 225 and 240 the entire time, but it just kept getting closer to done and there was no plateau. I stuck a second thermometer inn to make sure my first wasn't on the fritz (although I had tested it in boiling water earlier) and it confirmed the temp.

So, now the butt is wrapped and sitting in a cooler waiting for my guests to arrive in 6 hours. My question to the experts - have they ever seen a butt cook this quickly or did something somehow go seriously wrong and my guests will want to hang me for not giving them the quality of pulled pork that they're used to??? (disclaimer - their love of my pulled pork has less to do with its quality than the fact that there is pretty much a total lack of decent barbecue in these parts!)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have.

 

[rivet]

You're gonna be fine! No two pieces of meat are the same and sometimes I do not get a plateau on my PPB......witness yesterday's Yucatan Style Pork BBQ. No plateau there either.

So~ relax, enjoy the company, eat well and bask in the well earned glory !

 

[alx]

Ditto on what Rivet said.If i smoke them at 250-275 the times are usualy closer to 1 hour per pound-depending on meat....I always probe meat for internal, but when you do a few hundred you can also tell by the bone-should be able to wiggle the bone and pull it right out of meat.

Like mentioned they will stay warm for many hours when coolered.If i know it will be 4 hours plus before serving i let meat cool a bit(5-10 minutes) before wrapping to reduce chance of it cooking to much more when coolered