Help with smoking 2 butts

[Steve Allison]

Newbie to the forum here. I am also a newbie with smoking. I’ve had success with a single 8lb pork butt, but that one took 20 hours at 225 to get to 195 degrees. It stalled at 145degrees though It was awesome and had a killer bark.

I put 2 x 9lb pork butts in the smoker (MB MES 30) 21 hours ago, @225 degrees, and they have been stalled at 145 for about 3 hours. They were each about 45 degrees when they went into the smoker.

Should I bump the temp up, be patient, wrap them? I’m at a loss here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Co4ch D4ve]

I’d be curious if your smoker is really at 225°. Can you check it with a dependable thermometer?

 

[smokerjim]

I’d be curious if your smoker is really at 225°. Can you check it with a dependable thermometer?

double that, it seems like an awful long time

 

[smokerjim]

I would wrap them and turn up the temp

 

[weedeater]

Ditto on checking the actual temp at grate level. MES is notorious for inaccurate therms.

Weedeater

 

[saltysandman]

butts are pretty forgiving. i do mine at 250 or 275 now. by now, you've got plenty of smoke so you could wrap and go the rest of the way at 250 or 275. i wrap mine when mine gets to 155-165 and add some apple cider/juice/bbqsauce to help braise and the pull at 205, wrap in a beach towel and put in a cooler for a couple hours. honestly you don't have to do the last part. just make sure you keep all the juices that are left over after you pull. i separate the au jus from the fat in my fat separator. has a release on bottom. you won't dry it out by going at a higher temp.

 

[Steve Allison]

I forgot to mention. I have a second external thermometer in the second butt. They are both reading consistent with each other.

 

[Co4ch D4ve]

Check the temp in the smoker. Wondering if the smoker is not at 225° like you think it is.

 

[Steve Allison]

I just took my secondary probe out and set it on the grate. I’ll keep you posted, thanks for the advice, smoker temp makes a lot of sense. I would think a smoker bought Christmas 2018 would be able to keep an accuragpte temp.

 

[Steve Allison]

I took my external meat thermometer and put it on the grate the butt is sitting on. The cooker says it is at 234 degrees internal temp, but the thermometer says 157 degrees. Are you kidding me? Thanks for the advice guys. I think we may have found the problem.

That said, should I wrap these before bumping the heat? Thanks again.

 

[Co4ch D4ve]

You have options. Wrap and bump temp and leave in the smoker. Or you could wrap and move them into your oven. Either way you will not be picking up any more smoke. Sounds like they have been on long enough that they already have plenty.

 

[gmc2003]

FOIL and BUMP the heat up. You won't see any difference in taste or texture.

Chris

 

[Steve Allison]

I wrapped the butt and put it in the oven at 250 to finish it. Internal temp is currently at 165 and climbing. I have family members telling me to crank up the oven to 350-375 to finish it. Would someone please advise whether this is a good idea or not. If not, why not. Everything I’ve read says to bring a pork butt temp up slowly.

 

[Mattyt7]

I would probably turn it up to 300, but I have read recipes before that say you can finish it in the oven at 350. Pork butt is pretty forgiving, so it can handle the higher temp better than most other meats that you would typically cook “low and slow”