Pork Butt Question

[TerrapinStation]

Hi everyone! I'll introduce myself in the other board shortly, but.....

I have an 8lb pork butt. Trimmed a bit, injected, and rubbed last night. Threw it on my Char Griller offset at 6:30 am. Trying to go hot and fast, so temps have been between 275-300.

At 10am all 3 of my thermometers (calibrated/checked this morning) were reading around 165, so I pulled and wrapped in foil. After an hour back on, the temps were 195ish, and some spots seemed to temp at 205.

I pulled it, added a little sauce, and put it back on, to get to 205. The bone wasn't budging much. Anyway, it's been back on for almost 45 minutes at 280 degrees, and the butt temp is stuck between 180-184 in multiple spots. It literally hasn't broke 184 in a half hour.

Any ideas wtf is going on? Is there a '2nd' stall? The bone is still tight. I'd like to have this done by 1 or 2, but my IT is going in the opposite direction.

Thanks!

 

[TerrapinStation]

Been over an hour now. Still sitting at 184 and the bone won't budge. Ugh

 

[smokerjim]

Try moving your thermometer a little could be in a fat pocket, other then that crank your heat up some more. Other then that butts are done when they're done I think they have a mind of they're own.

 

[jaxgatorz]

NM

 

[TerrapinStation]

Well I put it in a pan, foiled it, and put it in the oven at 350. It's been in there 30 minutes, and the temp has dropped to 180 (after repositioning the thermometer in several spots.)

Oh well, it was a good attempt. Won't be done for the party, so I'll toss it in a crockpot till morning (or the garbage).

 

[JLeonard]

Smoker Jim has you covered.

Jim

 

[jcam222]

Great suggestions from all. Kind of makes things wonky temp wise if you pulled it from the heat for a period of time. I'd use temp as a guide but just cook until that bone losens up. When it does rest it in cooler for an hour and pull

 

[02ebz06]

IMO 275-300 isn't "hot and fast" and the length of time it was in smoker was not long enough for that temp.
Others have different approaches, but I do 275f overnight for about 12 hours, and IT is 200-203ish.
Bone pulls out easily.

 

[babydocsmoker]

Pork butt is a large hunk of meat. Kinda makes hot and fast difficult.

 

[TerrapinStation]

Thanks for the replies. I just checked and the bone is getting close and the temp is up to 190.

I guess I assumed 300 was 'hot and fast', and read a few '5 hour pork butt' articles that said the same.

But I agree, I probably wrapped and then unwrapped too soon. Hopefully someday I'll be good enough to cook without thermometers, because I can never seem to get accurate temps for some reason.

 

[smokerjim]

Just for future reference if you have a dinner or party where you have a set time to eat you could smoke the butts days ahead of time, shred, then just reheat the day of. It sure helps with stress levels and also in my opinion taste better when it sits a day or three.

 

[jcam222]

IMO 275-300 isn't "hot and fast" and the length of time it was in smoker was not long enough for that temp.
Others have different approaches, but I do 275f overnight for about 12 hours, and IT is 200-203ish.
Bone pulls out easily.

Interesting, I've done a lot of butts in that temp range and have never had them go 12 hours. Usually 6-7 hours max to 203ish and falling apart.

 

[DougE]

Interesting, I've done a lot of butts in that temp range and have never had them go 12 hours. Usually 6-7 hours max to 203ish and falling apart.

Same. 6~7 hours at 275~300° usually has an 8lb butt falling apart.

 

[TerrapinStation]

Thanks for all the replies. It turned out pretty well actually, although some parts seemed overcooked. The money muscle was mush. But other than that it was good.

It just drives me crazy how temping in one spot shows like 190, and 2 inches away it's 170.

 

[mike243]

Never cooked a 8lbs butt, a shoulder yes, I like the big girls lol,

 

[WV_Crusader]

I’ve got a 9 lb I’m doing low and slow starting at midnight going into the 4th. We aren’t eating till 5pm so I’m not worried.

I normally do the 8+ lb range and never wrap. Just slight trim and take to about 208F. Then let rest for for at least 2 hours. Bone falls right out.

 

[Inscrutable]

Every once in a while you get a pig that just won’t go quietly into the night … I once had a rack of ribs that took almost 8 hrs to probe tender.

As smokerjim said, I either precook or try to avoid long potentially unpredictable cooks with a hard out time.

 

[Buckeyedude]

It can be crazy how much the temps and time can fluctuate with big hunks of meat! Ive had really fast cooks with butts(like the 5-6 hour mark) and had them take almost twice that long! Like was mentioned above, do it the day or days before to prevent all that "is it going to be done in time" anxiety! Every smoker is different, weather, region,cooking temps, etc. Finding out what works best for you(and your smoker) is part of the fun!

 

[DougE]

Like was mentioned above, do it the day or days before to prevent all that "is it going to be done in time" anxiety!

Absolutely! With pulled pork, there is no reason cook the same day as the meal, unless you like torturing yourself with all night cooks and the like. Long as it's reheated so that it doesn't dry out, it'll be as good, or better than same day, and nobody will be the wiser that it didn't just come off the smoker.