First Butt!

C

chewpac

New member
Alright. I have a 9.5lb butt to try for my first attempt.  I have been reading everything I can find on here and with all of the help and advice I'm feeling pretty confident. 
I have the brine cooling on the stove right now (Tony's brine with minor modifications)  Butt will go in brine at 1:00 pm today.  Early 3:00am wake up call to take it out, rub it down, and drop it in the #2 at 4:00am.  I have about 2.5 oz of cherry and 2.5 oz of peach I am planning on using.  I'm planning on around 12 hrs in the smoker at 225...I'm in Oregon and the temp is in the middle to low 30's, so we will see how the timing goes?
Plan is 195 IT (no matter how long it takes) then 1-2 hrs rest in the cooler.

This forum has been great and I appreciate everyone posting so thought I would contribute too
Advice welcome!

Chris
 
Chris, you should plan on about 2 hours per pound for a but that large. I did one recently that was 9.5 lbs and it took 24 hours. Depends on the meat. Just a suggestion.....
 
First of all....thx for taking the time to help me out!!

So I read Tony's post on his 9.34 lb butt and his was 10.5 hrs total cook time to 199 IT
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1012.0
This morning I read Chris's post on his 9.5 lb butt and his total cook time was 23 hrs!!
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=2496.0

You are saying 18-20 hrs...  Why was Tony's so fast?  I still have time to do an 18-24 hr smoke, but I don't want it done tomorrow morning at 10:00 am if Tony's time is where I land, and obviously I don't want to be looking at an IT of 120 tomorrow night at dinner time.....not as confident anymore

any and all help is appreciated!
 
A big muscle like this can handle more heat with no ill effects on the final product.  Run the smoker at full tilt and you will be closer to somewhere between an 1:15 & 1:30 per pound.  And if you started to go too long in your smoke, foiling is nicknamed, "crutch" for a reason.  It will significantly speed up the cook time.  I've picked up quickly that foiling is frowned upon around here but it is a tool for anyone's arsenal when things start going south on you and everyone is hungry.
 
I agree with Dave, on smoker cook effects with temperature. I did mine at 225 but if you bump the temp, it will help. I would think that you get the benefit of the smoke at pretty much the same time. I would guess that the higher temperature wouldn't allow the collagen to break down as much but for pulled pork, that may not be an issue.
 
I smoke all of my butts at 225 and don't see any reason to change. I have seen others smoking at higher temps and then complaining about dryness. Stick with 225 and allow for at least 1.5 hours per pound, but 2.0 hours is usually safer if you need to make a deadline. If however, you are going to slice the roast instead of pulling, you could smoke at 240-250 and pull at 175. But for pulled pork, I would stick with 225. This is my 2 cents worth anyhow.

I start all of my butts around 11:00pm-12:00am for a following day evening meal. If it gets done early, you can always lower the temp to 140 and hold it in the smoker for a couple of hours. That and a 2 hour rest double-foiled in a cooler with towels on top will allow you to stretch it out to meal time if it gets done early. I have held butts for 3 hours with no detrimental results.

Regarding foiling, yes it is frowned upon here and for good reason. It will inhibit the creation of the bark candy that we all love so much. Plus why hassle with it unless you have too. The only time I would use the crutch, is if I was on a deadline and knew that I was not going to hit it. There is a place for it. But I always plan my smokes out far enough in advance that I have never had to use it.
 
OK...thx for the advice... I will put it on the smoker at 11:00 pm tonight. That's 12 hrs in the brine and gives me room for an 18+ hour smoke if needed.  I will use Gregg's tip if needed and turn it down to 140 if I reach my 195 IT early.  I want to pull it so 195 is my goal.  I would like to hit it early enough that I can rest it for at least an hour, but we will see what happens.  I plan on setting the temp to 225 and only adjusting it down if I am trying to hold it.  If I don't reach temp early enough for dinner tomorrow night then.....oh well it won't be the first time my family has had delivery pizza because my bbq timing was off!
 
If you absolutely needed to speed thing up, wait until after the stall then bring it up to 240 or so.  Too many really good things happening during the stall.  plan accordingly & it wont be necessary. Good luck.
 
Don't stress, Chris!  The butts I buy at Sam's seem to always fall in the 1 to 1.5 hours per pound - not sure why!  Allow 2 hr/lb, and be happy if early.  I disagree with the comments to run it "wide open;" stick with 225 for pulled pork butts, and you'll be happy.  Also disagree with using the F-word!  No foil for me (except to wrap it for the cooler)!

If it's done early, double-wrap in HD foil, put in a cooler with towels on top, close the lid and wait until dinner.  Butts are forgiving, and you'll be fine! 8)
 
That sounds about right for where you were at in the smoking process. By now, I am guessing you are close to eating. I hope you remember to take some pictures. :)
 
Final results:
Butt went on the smoker Thursday night at 11:00 pm with about 5.5 oz of cherry and peach.  Hit 195 IT at 5:30 pm Friday night, double wrap and into cooler for 1 hour.
Best pulled pork ever!! Family and friends agreed it doesn't get any better than this. 
Thank you guys for the great brine recipe, and the advice on the timing.  Without your help I would have been pulling it off the smoker at 10:30 at night :'(
 

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Nicely done Chris! I see that you cross cut the roast to get more area exposed. Nice idea.  Did you find that they were more dry or did they turn out moist as well?
 
That would be my concern about deep scoring like that too, Bob.  Seems like you'd lose a lot of moisture.  Chris?  Any word on that?
 
Thanks for the advice guys, doing a 10lb Boston Butt for tomorrow.
Already brining, I will allow 1 3/4 hours smoke time per lb. & if early the 140* temp hold warm.
Use a #3 & my only complaint so far is it does not fit in any of the storage on the Motor Coach.
Fortunately for longer duration trips, I pull a box trailer with the Spyder inside so there is room.

Y'all would not believe the comments I receive doing a smoke sitting back on a beach watching TV drinking several beers & creating fantastic cooked meat. Generally the envy of the Campers because the rest are fighting cheap travel grills.
 
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