Maybe the third time is the charm.

[broncorckcrwlr]

Put 2 butts in the smoker this morning. Hoping they turn out better than my previous attempts. Yeah, I know everyone says that butts are the easiest thing to smoke there is and hard to screw up. I may need to give away my smoker. lol I have done 2 previously and neither turned out to suit me. They had lots of smoke and great flavor and the bone slid right out but were very hard to shred into pulled pork. I pulled the first one at 195 and the second one at 205 inside temp but neither were as tender as I would have liked. Practice practice practice. Good thing everyone in the family loves pulled pork.

 

[indaswamp]

After taking the butts to 195*F +, Try wrapping the butts with foil and put them in a cooler with a lot of towels for insulation. Leave the temp. probe in and monitor. let them sit for a couple hours and I guarantee you they will pull like butta!

 

[gmc2003]

How are you shredding them? Bear-claws, two forks, your fingers or something else?

Chris

 

[SmokinAl]

I take mine to around 205, and the bone slides right out, then I pull it with gloved hands after about a half hour rest on the counter. We like big chunks & if you pull it by hand you can also pull out any chunks of fat that haven’t rendered. If you took it to 205, then it should have pulled quite easily. Maybe you just got a tough piece of meat.
Al

 

[chopsaw]

What did you smoke them on ? I don't wrap butts . If I do them in my MES , I have to spin them at some point so both halves spend some time in the hotter part of the smoker .
Make sure you temp / probe more than one spot .

 

[JLeonard]

The few buts I've done I cooked to 195 degrees and then started probing all over. Some were ready at that temp and some took longer.

 

[Chasdev]

"Holding" after removing from the cooker will make it more tender for sure.
You can hold at 160 for hours and hours and all it does is improve tenderness.
If you try this, pull the meat at 195 so it won't continue to cook too much while resting.

 

[tallbm]

Put 2 butts in the smoker this morning. Hoping they turn out better than my previous attempts. Yeah, I know everyone says that butts are the easiest thing to smoke there is and hard to screw up. I may need to give away my smoker. lol I have done 2 previously and neither turned out to suit me. They had lots of smoke and great flavor and the bone slid right out but were very hard to shred into pulled pork. I pulled the first one at 195 and the second one at 205 inside temp but neither were as tender as I would have liked. Practice practice practice. Good thing everyone in the family loves pulled pork.

Hi there and welcome!

Pork butts (and briskets) are done when they are tender never by time or temp :)
Often the meat probes can be misleading as it is way more difficult to get the probe in the right spot than it appears.

So use the meat internal temp (IT) as an indicator to check for tenderness. Get some wooden kabob skewers. When the meat IT is 205F take a kabob skewer stab one ALL OVER.
If it goes in all over with no resistance then it is tender and therefore done. If you get some resistence, wait a couple more degree increase of IT and try again.
Pull when tender.

It is hard to over cook a pork butt which is why people say it is the easiest cut to smoke because as long as it shreds and its not burnt to a crisp than it is a success!!

I do mine very simply. I season, put in my MES and smoke naked to about a 205F IT and check for tenderness. I keep letting em go until they pass the tenderness tests. Simple as that :)

Let us know how it turns out with all this info :)

 

[kruizer]

I have had shoulders that really didn't get probe tender until 210-212. You just have t have patience.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Yep. What they said.
BTW have you boil tested your meat probe and adjusted for your elevation?
Gary

 

[broncorckcrwlr]

Success! At least this time. The butts were different sizes so the smaller one got done first. I smoked these using my Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker. The larger of the two took 17 hrs but it was worth it. I let the smaller one rest for about 1.5 hours before taking it out of the cooler but since I took the larger one off at 1;30 am I just wrapped it good and put it in the cooler until this morning. It was still steaming and fell apart. I don't cover my butts while smoking and by the time they reach an inside temp of around 195 or so they have a really nice hard bark that is hard to probe thru. I need to get a sharper probe. Thanks for all the suggestions I appreciate them all.

 

[mneeley490]

Congrats! You're now on your way to addiction. ; )

 

[uncle eddie]

Wrapping does wonders. I wrap for like the last hour - 195F and up. Be careful when you remove it because, if you use foil (I do) there will be some amazing juices that pool in it. Save this! It is a great finishing sauce. Dump it all in after you pull it.

Also, I start my PP the night before and pull them when done...anywhere from noon to 3 PM the next day. Once I had one get done way early - at noon with an IT of 202F. So I rested it until 5PM and it was still 167F when I pulled it. It just falls apart.