First attempt at Boston butt leads to holding in cooler question?

[Lonzinomaker]

Did my first boneless Boston butt last night/today. (14.5 hour at 220 by dial. Low sodium brine with apple/raspberry juice and 4 tbs Memphis dust mixed in X 14hr. Applied Memphis Dust just before putting in smoker).  I got to thinking about the cooler and whether it needs to be preheated for finish/rest.  Maybe I'm overthinking the process but it seems it would help hold the temp up longer.  This time I preheated the cooler to 160 deg, but would be nice to skip this step.
Question is whether if the meat does better when kept closer to the 190 deg temp (sort of allowing to cook longer) or is a gradual immediate cool down better?
I'm using this Coleman 3 gal cooler, butt fits in it very nicely. It is fully foam lined in body and lid so it holds temps very well.

 

[barelfly]

I’m holding butts ina smaller COLEMAN as we speak and I just double wrap with foil and then a towel. No preheat. Seems to work fine, I just don’t open it until I’m ready to pull or serve.

Enjoy!

 

[old sarge]

I also  double wrap in heavy duty foil and then wrap in heavy bath towels then into a cooler.  I bring the cooler indoors on cool to cold days.

 

[Lonzinomaker]

Thanks.
I waited 2 hours to pull out of the cooler. finger poke test was successful. Taste test was OUTSTANDING.  I did give the meat a couple of sprinkles of Memphis Dust and 1/4 cup of apple juice while shredding.

 

[DivotMaker]

Sounds like a success, Dave!  Yep...keep it simple, and don't over-think this step.  The rest is VERY important, but easy.  Like the guys said, double-wrap in HD foil, towel in the bottom, meat, towel on top...close and rest.  Bet you noticed that after you took it out it was darn-near as hot as when you put it in there!  The rest will achieve some "carry over" cooking, but the main reason is to reverse the flow of the juices back into the meat, so you are not trying to continue cooking.

 

[Lonzinomaker]

Thanks all.
I forgot to express my thanks to all members who have posted in the forum. I felt very confidant that I would be successful after reading through all the posts and gleaning advice from them.
Dave

 

[es1025]

You may want to use a foil pan as added insurance some you have no leakage.

 

[JustChillin]

That is one good looking butt! It made me hungry for some pulled pork.

 

[LarryD]

I got to thinking about the cooler and whether it needs to be preheated for finish/rest.

The only time I've warmed my cooler is when I've kept it outside or in the garage and it was cold enough for the cooler to actually be cold.  Otherwise, I just wrap in foil and then wrap in a towel or two and drop it into the cooler as-is.

 

[Glock_21]

I have "preheated" the towels in the dryer before.  But only on really cold days when the ice chest is coming from the cold garage.

 

[DivotMaker]

When it's cold outside, I keep the cooler in the house until I pull the meat out of the smoker.  Put the meat in, then right back inside!  Brrr!