Pulled pork question

Why are you gonna cook them so long? Just smoke them to 205 internal-than cooler them a couple hrs.

I have gone overnight in a cooler and still had them very hot...... but!... they were almost mushy. They basically continued to cook in the foil and tasted fine, but had broken down a lot. I wouldn't cooler them for more than 4 hrs if you pull them out at 200-205. You might want to pull it at 185-190 if you want to leave it in the cooler for 7 hrs.

I agree with this 101%. I've had the same experience. The pork was still good, but it had lost it's normal texture. I could have eaten it without teeth. :)

Actually they aren't going to keep cooking that long. They may rise another 10 degrees or so but then they will start cooling down. They can turn mushy if you smoke them to a high temp for too long and they sit in their own juices. I had 4 of them in the cooler today wrapped and checked the temp regularly to see where they were at. I had one that was at 205 when I put it in and it was down to 176 in a little over 2 hours. I had another one that got wrapped at 195 and it was at 162 in a little over 3 hours. I think your really pushing it trying to keep above 140 for 7 hours. You might do it but I'd be checkin on the temps regularly after 4 or 5 hours. On the smoking..... what Jerry says.... use times as a rough estimate... always smoke by internal temp.

I took the butts I smoked for presents to where they were suppose to go and everybody wanted to know how to smoke meat that tasted like that. For all you that haven't smoke anything yet or are having troubles... start simple.. with everything.

Have a reliable therm at your grate so you know exactly what your smoking temp is...
Have a good therm to check your internal temps....
Keep your smokin temp in the 225 to 250 range....
Leave the door/lid shut....
Go easy on the smoking wood....
Go easy on your seasonings and build up to the taste you like......
Smoke your meat to temp.....
Have fun learning.