The Mysterious Butt - aka my second attempt with Boston Butts

[ewing1408]

So, I had family coming over for father's day (lunch on Sunday) and I thought pulled pork would be the perfect.  Things started and ended great, but went weird in the middle of the cook.  I am hoping the wise elders of the forum can help decipher what happened along the way.

Here was the plan:  Cook 12 lbs of boston butt purchased from Sam's until an IT of 205* using my OK Joe's 3-in-1 combo smoker.  I used Royal Oak charcoal and small splits of oak.  I use my Maverick 732 and my Thermoworks Thermopop to take all temp readings.  I aimed to keep my cc temps in the 225 - 250 range.  I did this on Saturday to avoid issues of lunch not being ready on Sunday.

Here are my freshly rubbed butts.

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• ewing1408
• Jun 19, 2017

Firebox loaded with RO charcoal and a couple of oak splits to start.  I add heated splits as needed throughout.  I wanted to note the divider that has helped in my ability to use a minion or snake method for a longer cook.

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• ewing1408
• Jun 19, 2017

Finished butts before pulling (forgot to get post pull pics) One butt broke in two when I was pulling it off of the grate.

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• ewing1408
• Jun 19, 2017

So, I started the smoker at 1pm on Saturday and had temps hitting 250 before I put the butts on.  Temps stayed really consistent throughout the day.  I added lit chimneys and splits that were heated on top of the FB throughout the cook.  Approximately at 10 pm (9 hours into the cook), the IT was 180.  By 1 am, the IT was 187.  I decided to get some sleep on the couch with my Maverick by my side with alarms set for the cc if it fell outside of the range of 206-300.  I also had the alarm set for the meat probe when it would hit 199.  I fell asleep and woke up once at 2am and the IT dropped to 185.  I probed with my Thermopop and it read with 2 degrees of the Maverick.  The other butt was reading 4 degrees higher than the one that was probed.  I went back to sleep and woke up again at 3 am to the sound of rain.  The rain knocked the cc temp down to 221.  The meat probe was reading 183.  I decided to pull the butts off of the smoker and put them into an oven at 250.  I left the meat probe in and foiled into a pan and let the butts run.  I woke up at 4 am and the IT was 185.  I decided to give up and turned the oven off with the pan still in and would pull when I was up for good.  

At 7:30, the IT was 144 and I decided to check the butts to see if they were ruined.  The pork was still hot in the middle and the taste was really good.  It all pulled apart easily and was moist not dry.  I refrigerated it until an hour before lunch and reheated in the foil covered pan for an hour or so. It turned out great, but I have a couple of questions.

Why didn't it every get above the 180s?  I have experienced stalls before, but usually in the 160 range.  The butts were 12 lbs total, so about 6 lbs each.  I kept several inches in between them, so it should have cooked seperately and not as one large hunk of meat.  With the final IT of 180s, why wasn't the meat leathery and dry?  I am lucky and the BBQ gods spared me for sure, but I would like to avoid misery in the future.  This ended up being a 15 hour cook for two 6 lbs butts.  The main reason that I ened the cook at 4am was that I figured I ruined the butts and there was no point in beating a dead horse for several more hours.

Advice and feedback is desperately wanted.

 

[noboundaries]

You most likely hit another stall.  I've actually seen stalls as low as the 130s and as high as the 190s.  Usually the higher stalls are just stuck meat temps, but a decrease could happen.  When you see a decrease in meat temps and the chamber temp is solid, the meat is stalling, aka "sweating."   What happens when you personally sweat?  Your temperature goes down.  Same thing with meat.   

I see this is your first post.  Stop in over at roll call and say "hi."  Glad you are here!

 

[ewing1408]

Thanks for the info, Noboundaries. I've lurked here for 6 months or so.

 

[GaryHibbert]

I'd say Ray has you covered.  I've personally never experienced a second stall, but it sure seems that would be the problem.

Gary

 

[b-one]

And if you crank the temp up it can help get you through the stall. Have you ever checked your oven against your Maverick the oven could be off as well. Some cook butts 275-300 maybe even hotter. The first butt I did was supposed to be lunch we ate closer to 9 and my parents almost went home hungry first,butts can take forever at lower temps. Your butts look great by the way!:drool

 

[joe black]

Stalls are funny. Sometimes they have a mind of their own. One of the controlling factors that we can't see is the density of the muscle. This has a way of wreaking havoc on the time and temp of the butt. I have cooked 8# butts from 6 hours to 20 hours. Go figure.

I would try to cook your next butt between 250-275* and wrap as soon as the stall appears.

 

[ewing1408]

And if you crank the temp up it can help get you through the stall. Have you ever checked your oven against your Maverick the oven could be off as well. Some cook butts 275-300 maybe even hotter. The first butt I did was supposed to be lunch we ate closer to 9 and my parents almost went home hungry first,butts can take forever at lower temps. Your butts look great by the way!

Thanks B-One.  I haven't checked my Maverick to my oven.  I probably should. 

 

[ewing1408]

Stalls are funny. Sometimes they have a mind of their own. One of the controlling factors that we can't see is the density of the muscle. This has a way of wreaking havoc on the time and temp of the butt. I have cooked 8# butts from 6 hours to 20 hours. Go figure.

I would try to cook your next butt between 250-275* and wrap as soon as the stall appears.

I'll try to keep the temp a little higher.  The first butt I did, I cooked it close to 275*.  It was about 8.5 lbs and took about 12 hours.  It turned out pretty tasty, I thought results might be even better at a lower temp.  

 

[ewing1408]

For those that cook with charcoal as their heat source, how much charcoal do you go through on a long cook like this (12-16 hrs)?  One reason I went lower was to see if I would use less fuel.  I went through about 30# of charcoal and probably 5-10# of wood splits.  Granted I split the wood pretty small.  I mainly wanted the smoke and not too much extra heat.  I am primarily using oak and it is a heavier smoke flavor.

 

[bigdlu75]

I just did a butt last weekend. About the same size as yours. Based on previous cooks I started it the night before at about 200-225 in hopes that the timing would work perfectly for the next day's supper. My grate temps stayed perfect throughout the cook. Maybe the smoothest overnight I had ever had. However, when I woke up internal was 156, and stayed that way for 3 hours, dropping down to 153. Then again at 184 it stalled for 2.5 hours, and dropped to 181. Stalls are frustrating and unpredictable. Wrapping in tinfoil at first sign of a stall limits a stalls impact. If you aren't doing that already it's something to try, but you won't get the bark that some people desire.