Pork Butt today -- updated w/ a question

[tsonka]

Finally a weekend off without frigid temp


Firing up the Yoder today. Ill put up some pics as it goes, but likely not a whole pictoral, lotta things to do

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks like a good start, just snap as many pics as you can!
But I know what you mean by having a lot to do.
I end up with the face of my phone full of rub or sauce or just dirt from the wood or charcoal. And it's a pain to have your phone in one hand doing something else with your other hand, and trying to take a photo too.
Al

 

[Fade2Blacc]

Pay someone with food to follow you around all day taking pictures of everything you do regarding the process lol

 

[oddegan]

Frigid temps persist here in the mitten. -7 when I got up this morning. No smoking for me. Can't stand to be outside for more than five minutes. Dog had to go out and when I opened the slider he took two step out and looked back at me with an expression of disgust. Post pics and I can live vicariously through you.

 

[Hollywood1977]

Frigid temps persist here in the mitten. -7 when I got up this morning. No smoking for me. Can't stand to be outside for more than five minutes. Dog had to go out and when I opened the slider he took two step out and looked back at me with an expression of disgust. Post pics and I can live vicariously through you.

Awe common man, the suns out now. I’m just getting ready to fire mine up. I think it warmed up to 2 degrees here.

 

[gmc2003]

We're still experiencing the tail end of the bomb cyclone here. No more snow, but -5 and high wind gusts. My dog usually lives outside, however today not so much. Let's see some butt pictures.

Chris

 

[srkays]

Have a quick question regarding how long to smoke a pork butt. Everything I read says 225F - 240F and 1.5 to 2.5 hours per pound. Placed three 5-pound pork butts in my MasterBuilt 30" Elec Smoker. I assume it would take around 7 hours keeping the smoker temp at 230F. After almost 12 hours, internal temp of butts averaged 170F. Is there a rule of thumb regarding the more butts you put in the smoker, the longer it takes? Anyway, finishing the butts off in the oven at 275F with butts double wrapped in aluminum foil. Plugged in a 'steam dial' thermometer in one of them so I can tell when they get around 200F - 205F. Any help greatly appreciated for future planning. And the butts looked great coming out of the smoker BTW.

 

[gmc2003]

Time is used for guidance purposes only. Each hunk of meat is different and will cook differently. Some may take longer some shorter. You temps are fine, however still a little on the low side(for me personally at least). I like to cook in the 250-260 range. When you reach around 160* you can foil to push through the stall. Don't worry to much about temp fluctuations as the butt is very forgiving and can handle it. Go ahead and load up the smoker it's not going to change your cooking times. Except maybe in the beginning when your smoker is stabilizing. Start checking for tenderness around 190 - pull them when their probe tender(meaning probe slides into the meat easily). Also make sure your probes are accurate.

Chris

 

[tsonka]

OK. Question for you guys.

Became ill yesterday, nothing bad, just the bug that has been going around

I cooked the butt in the Yoder till 178deg, then finished it in the oven where I could sleep and not have to worry about heat.

I removed the butt at 200deg, let rest an hour or so, wrapped the whole thing in foil and went back to bed.

I now have this cooked whole pork butt wrapped in foil. What is the best way to address it?

 

[oddegan]

As Mr. Butt. Always keep it formal until you get to know it better.

 

[motolife313]

Looks good and nice to see a stick burner on here finally lol

 

[mcokevin]

Have a quick question regarding how long to smoke a pork butt. Everything I read says 225F - 240F and 1.5 to 2.5 hours per pound. Placed three 5-pound pork butts in my MasterBuilt 30" Elec Smoker. I assume it would take around 7 hours keeping the smoker temp at 230F. After almost 12 hours, internal temp of butts averaged 170F.

I did three shoulders yesterday, two were about 7.5lb and one was a touch over 8b. The smaller two were done at 12 hrs 15 min and the bigger one 13 hrs 45 min, which gave me a cook time of 1.63 hrs / lb for the smaller ones and 1.66 hrs / lb on the bigger one, and that was running the smoker at an average temp of 250.8 deg (I log cook temp readings every 15 min then averaged those out over the 13+ hours). At a CT of 230 you'll likely be close to the 2-2.5 hrs / lb. Not necessarily a bad thing, especially with an electric smoker that doesn't require monitoring.

I have done the last couple of shoulders at 250-260 based on advice I read here, namely that there is not a noticeable drop in tenderness or quality when compared to running at a lower temp. I now prefer doing it at the higher temp for time reasons. I have a charcoal smoker, so getting it in the 12-14 hr range per shoulder means I can smoke it, let it rest, and pull it in the same day without running it overnight.

Is there a rule of thumb regarding the more butts you put in the smoker, the longer it takes? Anyway, finishing the butts off in the oven at 275F with butts double wrapped in aluminum foil. Plugged in a 'steam dial' thermometer in one of them so I can tell when they get around 200F - 205F. Any help greatly appreciated for future planning. And the butts looked great coming out of the smoker BTW.

In my extremely limited experience I found this not to be the case, others here would probably be better suited to answer as I'm still certainly in the "novice" smoker category. I did find though that my smoker wanted some additional fuel a bit earlier than usual.

Numbers below - the two big C Temp spikes are when I added fuel and removed 2/3 shoulders (apparently taking 15 lb of meat out of a small smoker spikes the temp :D). The drop in I Temp at 19:15 is from moving the probe to a different shoulder.