How's my Plan?

[AlinMA]

Going for Pulled Pork.
I have a 2.5 pound section of Pork Butt rubbed and chilling in the fridge. I'm planning on 8 hours at 230 degrees. Does this seem realistic to achieve 195 Internal temperature? Should I expect a "stall" with a butt this small?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Durangosmoker]

I did one about that size once, and as I recall it took over 13 hours at 225 degrees and still didn't get to 190 degrees IT.  Was great for sliced pork sandwiches, but couldn't pull it. Now I go for much bigger butts, but they still seem to take forever.

 

[JackT]

Going for Pulled Pork.
I have a 2.5 pound section of Pork Butt rubbed and chilling in the fridge. I'm planning on 8 hours at 230 degrees. Does this seem realistic to achieve 195 Internal temperature? Should I expect a "stall" with a butt this small?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

That's a small butt to start with, so your cook time will be less, and you are calculating that into your smoke. First, and this is only my way of doing things, I'd set the butt out and let it start approaching room temp before you start. Secondly, I'd go with at least 235 or a tad higher. With that weight, I'd be checking it at about 6 hours to see where it's at. Most of the butts I cook are 8 to 10 lbs to start, so I'm expecting a long smoke. This is an example of a time that you need to pop open the door for a lookey-see. I'm sure it will turn out great, but you are challenging the "pork butt dynamics" with such a smaller portion and a shorter smoke. Bet it will be great! Happy Smoking

 

[es1025]

8 hours may or may not get to the desired temp. I assume 1.5 per lb. and that seems to be a good indicator.

 

[SconnieQ]

That's a pretty small hunk of meat. I would be afraid it might end up kind of dry, since most of the fat will probably render out in a piece of meat that small. It might not "pull" very well. Smaller butts tend to take more hours per pound. So even at 2-3 hours per pound, it would be 5 to 7.5 hours. So 8 hours will probably be enough time to smoke, wrap and rest. A butt that small is kind of a new one, so I look forward to hearing how it turns out.

 

[AlinMA]

Here is the update.. First things first ..Thanks for all the input!
A bit about the prep.
The Butt was brined, coated with mustard and rubbed with McCormik's Grill Mates Pork Rub then it chilled out over night in the fridge.
Into the SI#1 at 8 AM set at 230 degrees with 3.25 ounces of Sugar Maple. Monitored the smoke with the Maverick 733. Starting temperatures were....Outside 42 and inside the box 45 degrees. I started seeing smoke 20 minutes in.
About 5 hours into the smoke it stalled at around 165 degrees and rose to 170 over the next 1 1/2 ours. At 8 hours in it reached 176 and at 8.5 it was at 180. Hunger and impatience got the best of me so I pulled it, let it rest, sliced it and then the wife and I ate it. The sliced butt was still very moist with good smoke flavor. (wife's assessment)
I could be wrong but my guess is that a butt this size will take 10....11 hours and the brine helped to keep it moist.

 

[SconnieQ]

Holy cow! That's a good example of how the smaller the butt, the more hours per pound they take. Assuming your 2.5 pound butt might have made it to 190 in 10 hours, that's 4 hours per pound! Glad to hear it was moist and a success.

 

[NDKoze]

Small butts are tough. I would only smoke them for slicers and pull them at 175.

 

[DivotMaker]

Small butts are tough. I would only smoke them for slicers and pull them at 175.

+1!  Especially boneless.  175 makes really great sliced pork sammies!  Moist and tender!

 

[AlinMA]

Went for Pulled Again. This time it was a 2.76 pound section. Preparation was the same as previously described. The time was pretty consistent with the exception being that the temperature was set at 225 and the amount of wood was 3.50 ounces.The stall occurred at about the same time and duration. At 10 hours the internal temp. was 188 degrees. I cranked it up 10 degrees and at 11 hours it was at 195.  Removed it and let it rest then pulled it  My taster thought it was better than sliced although I would have preferred it slightly less cooked.
Based on these 2 cooks....I think smoking  smaller butts for pulling is feasible as long as you do not expect them to be done based on time per pound but more so based on taste. The nice thing is that even the miscalculations are enjoyable!

 

[DivotMaker]

Looks great, Al!

 

[AlinMA]

Looks great, Al!

Nice part about these Smokin-It units is that even "playing around" leads to some great eats!

 

[NDKoze]

Try 190 next time. When I first started I smoked to 205, then down to 200, then 195, and now have found that I prefer pulling at 190-192 the best. The meat pulls just as easy and is more moist. Back when I smoked to 200+, the meat would sometimes turn kind of mushy, but at 190 the moisture and texture is awesome.

 

[DivotMaker]

Try 190 next time. When I first started I smoked to 205, then down to 200, then 195, and now have found that I prefer pulling at 190-192 the best. The meat pulls just as easy and is more moist. Back when I smoked to 200+, the meat would sometimes turn kind of mushy, but at 190 the moisture and texture is awesome.

+1!  I've pulled/wrapped at 188, and it's fantastic!