Question about Pork Butt

[Revica]

     Hello everyone, I just asked this in the introduction section, but figured I would also ask here. I went to my local Sam's Club and bought a twin pack labeled "Pork Shoulder and Boston Butt". It has a total weight of about 20lbs. and the two cuts look about equal in size, so about 10lbs. a piece.

     I want to use Ed's recipe for brined pork butt for pulled pork. I am brand new to smoking(never tried before), and I have some questions. 1. Could I/Should I try to smoke both cuts, and will my cook time be considerably longer? 2. even after the brine, should I put a pan in the bottom with apple juice or beer? 3. because of the more meat, should I increase the amount of wood in the box?

     I'm sure I have other questions I'm not thinking of right now, so any other suggestions on top of answers to those questions would be appreciated. Also, for those who didn't see it in the introduction, I am the new owner of a Smokin-It #3. Thanks, Kevin

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[DivotMaker]

Kevin,  I'm re-posting my answer here, since you started a new thread on the pork butt:

Hi Kevin, the brined butt is actually mine (I'm still working on Ed to try one), if this is the post you looked at:

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1012.0

Great choice on the meat - I always get really good quality butts at Sam's.  As to your questions - yes, definitely use a water pan.  I use disposable aluminum "mini-loaf" pans, usually 1/2 full of apple juice or beer.  As far as smoking both at one time:  No, you don't have to use more than 5.5-6 oz of wood.  It will take the same time to cook 2 as it will 1.  The only time 20 lbs of meat would take longer is if it were one big 20 lb piece. 

The brining adds a really unique taste & moisture to the pulled pork; it's the only way I cook them now!  Experiment with different brines, if you like it, and post your results in the new Brine section!

[Revica]

     Hey Tony, thanks! I wasn't sure where to post it, that is why I put it in both places, I was hoping someone would correct that. Thanks for the answers, I will let everyone know what I do and how it turns out.

     On a side note, I must apologize to you, as I realized I was referring to you as "Ed", I got the two names mixed up. It won't happen again!

[DivotMaker]

No worries, Kevin!  We're just glad you're here!

[Revica]

Ok, it is currently 9:30 pm and my two 10lb pork butts have been smoking since 7am. Now once again I am brand new to this. I've read about the "stall", however, I have a question/possible issue. The internal temp on the pork butt right now is 156, it has been that since about 5:30 pm and actually dropped back to 154 a few times. It hasn't moved in four hours, do I have an issue? Also, the temp of the BBQ according to my maverick has been going from 175 to 215, I've had it set at 225 the entire time. Considering the time on a Saturday night I have to assume I won't hear any suggestions any time soon, so I will update on what happens.

[DivotMaker]

Sorry I didn't see your post last night, Kevin!  What happened after that?  Very unusual to be at that temp after 12 hours!  Did you eventually turn the temp up to 250?  When your internal temp dropped, it was definitely in the stall.  Did you verify the meat temp with another thermometer, or move the probe?  Sometimes you can get a "false" reading on the meat probe if it's not in the muscle (like in a fat pocket, or against the bone). 

[swthorpe]

I agree that this is unusual, but the again a 10# butt is pretty big.   Starting the smoker at 7am, I would have expected 156IT stall sometime around noon or 1pm, not 5:30 pm!    The next time you may want to increase your smoker temp to get things rolling sooner.

The temp swings should go above and below your set temp, so I would suggest raising the temp setting in the future if you are not seeing smoker temps above your desired temp.   Sometimes I move my temp setting just above 225F in order to get the higher temps.

[Revica]

     Well, let me start by saying that the pork butt turned out awesome! I would have taken pictures, but with it being the first time doing this, pictures were the last thing on my mind. Next cook will definitely include pics.

     Ok, now to the cook. I was afraid to mess with the smoker during the cook, so I did not open it up to check the probe and confirm with another meat thermometer during that long stall. The Temperature was still at 156 at about midnight, so being 6.5 hours into that stall in temp., I was assuming something was wrong.

      Not knowing what the heck I was doing I just let it go and went to sleep. Well I woke up at 7am and the Temp. was now reading 180, 24 hours into the smoke, so I went out and opened the smoker. I checked the internal temperature on the butt that had the probe in it, and it was dead on with the probe, 180. I then checked the other butt, it was at 200 exactly.

     I took that butt out, foiled it, and placed in the cooler. I left the other butt in the smoker, and at about 10am the temp reached 195, so I took it out, foiled and put in the cooler. So, that butt ended up cooking a marathon 27 hours!!! I know the temp never got into the right range, so I'm guessing that was the reason for the long cook. I'm going to turn it up higher next time, and hope it gets into that 225 range a little better. The amazing thing to me(I thought they were not going to work out) is that they were excellent. I had a bunch of people over to watch football and everyone couldn't get enough of the pork!

     It's funny because I had several people invited for Saturday, but had to cancel when I realized it wasn't going to happen for dinner time Saturday. The same people plus more came over on Sunday and we had a great lunch! Tony, I will use your brine method on every butt I do in the future!

[DivotMaker]

Thanks for the update, Kevin!  I'm just amazed at the time this took!  I'd definitely up the temp next time, and mark your rheostat for 225 (when it shows reasonably stable with your Maverick).  I did a 9.25 lb butt a couple of weeks ago (from Sam's), and it took 10 1/2 hours to hit 225!  The stall didn't occur until 184, where it sat for about 3 1/2 hours.  You've just encountered the unpredictability of our obsession!  That's why I like Boston butts for a first smoke - you really see how it performs, and learn a lot about your smoker!

I'm glad you liked the brined butt.  I, too, will never do one again without it!  I can't believe how long it took me to learn about this!

[Geo]

I usually foil at around 6 hours deep and then reinject the meat.  I typically try to over inject the meat and also add apple cider vinegar to my injection. This seems to do the trick and I usually average about 1 to 1.5 hours/lb.

[DivotMaker]

I usually foil at around 6 hours deep and then reinject the meat.  I typically try to over inject the meat and also add apple cider vinegar to my injection. This seems to do the trick and I usually average about 1 to 1.5 hours/lb.

Hi Geo!  If you get a chance, go over to the Introductions section and tell us about yourself.  If you have a SI smoker, what model?  How long?...  Glad to hear from you.