Pork butt - pulled pork help. I'm clueless

[SmokerNovice]

Hey everyone! You all were so helpful in the past, I thought I'd come back and ask another question. So I'm about to put s 8.5lb pork butt in my MES. I plan to make pulled pork tomorrow. I coated it in mustard, and dry rubbed the heck out of it last night. Its been in the fridge with the dry rub/mustard for about 12 hours. So my questions are:

1) Does 1.5 hours per pound @ 225 sound right?
2) Should I spray it once an hour with apple juice and apple cider vinegar?
3) How often should I add wood chips? Once an hour?
4) Is it true that I should wrap it in foil the last hour of cooking?

Thanks SO SO much to anyone that can answer my questions! You guys are the best.

 

[edward36]

Mate, re timing - your best way is the internal temperature... Forget these calculations... You are after 205F internal, that's all you should care about. BTW, I'd go up to 275F and not keep it on 225F... Same results, way less time :)

For spraying - depends on how fatty that pork shoulder is, and whether you want extra layer of taste or not... I sometimes spray, sometimes - not... Can't really say what's better - like'em both.

Wood chips - unfortunately, not my cup of tea... I use pellet smoker now, and used to work with WSM, so no chips for me :)

Foil wrap for pulled pork - matter of personal preference. I never wrap a pork shoulder. But if you decide to do it, that's where you add the liquid - you can go with apple juice, and wrap it after 4 hours of smoke the earliest. Not recommending it though...

 

[BB-que]

Like other poster said, 205 is the magical number. A lot of variables on the timing, at 225 might be 1.5 hours, might be 2. Assume 2, can always rest. I rested one for 3 hours yesterday and was plenty hot. Just insulate the heck out of it while it rests. Whether to Spritz - gonna be good either way. Personally I never wrap. Again, it’s just a timing issue, if you’re crunched for time, wrap, If not no reason. Just for some context, and your cook will absolutely be different. I did a 7lb yesterday at 225, no wrap, hit 205 around 12 hours. Don’t overthink it, plan for it to take longer than you read about and just hold it hot until you eat. My 2 cents.

 

[edward36]

Like other poster said, 205 is the magical number. A lot of variables on the timing, at 225 might be 1.5 hours, might be 2. Assume 2, can always rest. I rested one for 3 hours yesterday and was plenty hot. Just insulate the heck out of it while it rests. Whether to Spritz - gonna be good either way. Personally I never wrap. Again, it’s just a timing issue, if you’re crunched for time, wrap, If not no reason. Just for some context, and your cook will absolutely be different. I did a 7lb yesterday at 225, no wrap, hit 205 around 12 hours. Don’t overthink it, plan for it to take longer than you read about and just hold it hot until you eat. My 2 cents.

Very well said!

 

[D.W.]

Hey everyone! You all were so helpful in the past, I thought I'd come back and ask another question. So I'm about to put s 8.5lb pork butt in my MES. I plan to make pulled pork tomorrow. I coated it in mustard, and dry rubbed the heck out of it last night. Its been in the fridge with the dry rub/mustard for about 12 hours. So my questions are:

1) Does 1.5 hours per pound @ 225 sound right?
Start low to get more smoke on it (200-225), but then I would turn it up to 250-275. I'll probe it after 3hrs to get IT and then work from there. I don't go off of time, just IT of meat and desired coloring/bark.

2) Should I spray it once an hour with apple juice and apple cider vinegar?
I always spray or mop. First one after the first hour, then every 30 minutes to an hour depending on the particular cut and how the cook is going. What you spary with is a matter of preference. I do a mix that uses 2 bases AJ and ACV, then I typically two other liquids depending on flavor profile im looking for.

3) How often should I add wood chips? Once an hour?
I'm not sure since I cook on an offset, hopefully someone can chime in.

4) Is it true that I should wrap it in foil the last hour of cooking?
I wrap in foil once I have desired color. I then cook until what I consider butter soft probe tender. I usually start checking around IT 204 and it can be good, but have had to go as high as 210/212 before.

Thanks SO SO much to anyone that can answer my questions! You guys are the best.

Responses in quote

 

[thirdeye]

Hey everyone! You all were so helpful in the past, I thought I'd come back and ask another question. So I'm about to put s 8.5lb pork butt in my MES. I plan to make pulled pork tomorrow. I coated it in mustard, and dry rubbed the heck out of it last night. Its been in the fridge with the dry rub/mustard for about 12 hours. So my questions are:

1) Does 1.5 hours per pound @ 225 sound right?
2) Should I spray it once an hour with apple juice and apple cider vinegar?
3) How often should I add wood chips? Once an hour?
4) Is it true that I should wrap it in foil the last hour of cooking?

Thanks SO SO much to anyone that can answer my questions! You guys are the best.

1. All butts are different, so at best the 1.5 hours per pound is a guesstimate. When cooking 10 or 15 similar weight butts at the same time, and rotating them in the pit, there can be a 90 minute window as they go into the hot box. Sometimes 2 or 3 might be tendered up at the same time, other times a group might be 15 minutes apart. Trust the feel when you probe them, and don't trust internal temp too much. There are a lot of muscles in a butt, they all cook differently.

2. I don't start spraying until hour 2, and my first couple of rounds are water, or water and a little Wooster. Water will help set the bark. After about hour 4, you can switch to apple juice or any mix you like. Don't go too heavy as juice has sugars in it, and you can over-darken your meat.

3. I'm a charcoal or wood guy, but I can say you want gentle smoke, and is should smell good (not bitter) so add only enough flavor wood to accomplish that.

4. Foil finish is optional, I like the juices that form, and it does help with tenderness. 1 hour might be good, or 3 hours might be needed, it all depends on how soon you wrap, and WHY you are wrapping. The biggest disadvantage is that your bark will soften. The main advantages of wrapping are: your meat is getting too dark, you have problems with your barbecue being too smokey, your meat is being stubborn and plateaus longer than expected (foil can help get you through the stall faster), and lastly you want to cook a roast in less time than usual. For example I cook butts around 240°, and for one your size I allow 12 to 15 hours, plus 2 or 3 hours in the hotbox. If I wanted to shave off some cooking time, I'd wrap about 145° internal and ramp up my pit temp.

 

[SmokerNovice]

Gentlemen.. Thanks SO much for the tips, hints, and advice. I'm on a few forums, and this is always the most helpful. You guys are the best and I sincerely appreciate the help. I'll post pix eventually !

 

[JLeonard]

I just need to print this out! So much good info here!

 

[Inscrutable]

All good advice, albeit you do see different preferences wrt spritzing and wrapping, so here’s mine fwiw ...

If I’m using my electric I don’t spritz often if ever because it takes a while for temp to recover and prolongs the cook. I sometimes spritz if it’s on my BGE.

I wrap to trap the juices so I can separate the fat and return the drippings to the shredded pork. There’s a lot of rub flavor in that. Sometimes I’ll siphon off juices before it’s done and return to unwrapped to firm up the bark a bit.

I do butts at 250-275 now ... I don’t really see much if any difference except a MUCH shorter cook, and I don’t like to do overnights nor eat at 8pm.

So your mileage will vary from some or all of us, which is normal ... As much a journey as a destination ... and it will be good eats anyway!

 

[SmokerNovice]

Snuck a couple QUICK pics when I opened the smoker to spritz. I only plan to spritz maybe every 3 hours. Thanks again to EVERYONE who offered advice!

 

[SmokerNovice]

It's been about 7.5 hours, and the probe is reading 200 degrees already. Temp is between 250-255. Could it be possible that it's really 200 internal already ?