Marathon Butt!

[wiltfore]

Dear Fellow Pitmasters,

I'm still very new to grilling (only 6 months in). I decided that last weekend was going to be my first pork butt. I purchased the beautiful hunk-o-meat from the butcher, and weighed her in at 7 lbs. I trimmed (final weight 6 lbs 9 oz) and dry brined the butt for 24 hours exactly, followed by rubbing her down with a healthy coat of Meathead's Memphis dust. I fired up the Big Green Egg to 225 F, controlled the temperature with the Flame Boss, and placed on the water pan. The butt was placed on the grill at about 1:30 AM, and I thought I was going to have some Perfect Pulled Pork for lunch! When I woke up in the morning, the meat was in the stall at about 151 F (see attached graph of the temperatures). Because I was doing this run for myself as a learning experience, and because I had no one to entertain, I did not wrap the meat and wanted to experience the un-foiled butt. I pressed on. At about 10:30 AM, with an internal meat temperature of about 160 F, the grill gave up, and I had to reload it with another load of charcoal. The water pan was removed for the rest of the cook. For the next 8 hours, the internal temperature only rose another 24 degrees to 184 F (with another stall at 179 F for 1 hour and 45 minutes). This butt was definitely putting up a fight! The grill had to be reloaded a second time. I found the courage to push through a third stall at 188 F. This one lasted a full 2 hours! I pressed on. At around 1:00 AM, the meat finally gave in. The internal meat temperature reached 200 F. I could not muster the courage to reload the charcoal a 3rd time to push the meat to 203 F. The butt came off, and the scapula bone pulled out with essentially zero effort. After ~23 hours of total cook time, this meat was DONE! It was the pulled with the bear claws.

This was an absolutely incredible learning experience! I thank all of the moderators at Amazingribs.com for making this cook possible. Here is what I liked about the cook and what I hope to improve for my next pork butt:

What I enjoyed:
-This meat was very delicious and flavorful. It had a beautiful smoke ring, and the bark was superb.

What I would like to improve:
-Right below the bark, the meat was slightly more dry than I would have liked. It was still tasty, but I wish it to be a bit more moist in the future. Perhaps the long, un-foiled cook was the culprit.

Plan for the future:
Crutch the butt with foil at the first stall in hopes to shorten the cook. Maybe this will make the meat a bit more moist overall. I think a softer bark may be worth the improved cook time, but then again, I'm still a bit naive. I learn something new with every cook!

For you experienced pitmasters, please share any suggestions you might have. There is no need for me to reinvent the wheel. As Isaac Newton once said: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

For reference, I attached pictures from the cook, as well as a graph of the pit and meat temperatures versus time.

Regards,

wiltfore

[Jerod Broussard]

You had me at that first pic and the pulled pic. I'd run a hotter temp before wrapping.

[wiltfore]

Thanks for the advice, Jerod!

[LA Pork Butt]

wiltfore I cook on a Large Big Green Egg and can't count how many Boston Butts I have cooked on it. They are usually 10# and have even cooked 40# for 22 hours without adding charcoal. I almost never wrap useless I am under time constraints. I always wrap after the cook and place the butt in a faux cambro for a couple of hours. I cook at 225 and my target temp is 200.

So, here is my first question. What size egg are you cooking on? Smaller Eggs have smaller fire boxes and shorter burn times. Second question, did you load the firebox fully to the bottom of the fire ring? Go to the the website nakedwhiz.com, find their free cookbook and locate the detailed description for loading the firebox for long cooks by Elder Ward. I always a load the charcoal that way for long cooks.

Every piece of meat is different, the thickness determines the length of cook time. Some can zoom through the stall and hit a second stall. Others will have two stalls, but in my experience most have one stall that last about six hours usually from 160-180. 180-200 usually takes another three hours. A typical 10# butt takes 12-14 unwrapped at 225. I like to serve by noon so I usually put my meat on about 8pm the night before and put it in a faux cambro until I am ready to serve.

I hope this helps.

[Danjohnston949]

wiltfore, I don't Use a BGE, I have never Used a Crutch, but I have cooked more than a couple of Butts! I think your water pan may have had to much Water? Second I think you should have turned the heat up at the stall! On the Positive Side that is one Delicious Looking Plate of Pork!
Eat Well and Prosper! From Fargo ND, Dan

[DeusDingo]

my pork butts used to take close to 24 hours as well, i upped the temp to 275 and it went down to ~13 hours and i haven't noticed any difference in the quality of the meat.

[Bob's BBQ]

Congrats on a nice first butt cook. 12-14 hours for an unwrapped shoulder, overnight, during winter in PA sounds about right. I'm not an egg owner but 3 reloads sounds like a bit much. There are plenty of egg owners on the site that can help you there. Wrapping will surely decrease cook time. I rarely wrap my shoulders as I am a huge bark fan. I'm willing to trade a bit less moisture for bark, but that is personal preference. When wrapping I try to run a little hotter like Jerod mentions and wrap around 180. Pics look awesome - I'd eat that!

[CurlingDog]

Congrats on your first one! You should know that... you did nothing wrong, but here is a few suggestions that I would think will help you seek the results you want in the timeframe you are after.

1) skip the water pan. it's slowing your cooking time.
2) consider cutting larger butt's in half. it will increase the amount of tasty tasty Mrs. Brown and reduce your cook time too.
3) review where your cooker is. be sure it's not getting hit with snow/rain, which will cool the egg and eat up more fuel. to maintain temperatures, maybe consider alternate insulation options?
4) go easy on yourself and start your cook earlier in the evening (so you can get a good sleep), and plan on using a real or faux cambro to help get the meat on the plate at your desired time
5) Foil is your friend. Once you have your bark set, wrap that rascal and reserve the liquid goodness that it captures.
6) don't be afraid of boosting the heat a bit during the stall to power through it.
7) keep a record of your experiences, combined with ideas mined from the brain trust that is THE PIT!

You are doing good and you are only getting started! Like every good musician, learn your instrument and practice practice practice!

[wiltfore]

Thanks for all of the advice, everyone!

[Breadhead]

wiltfore ...

Having cooked 100's of butts & briskets on a large BGE I've only had to reload my fire box once. That's the day I found the article on the Nakkidwiz website that fuzzydaddy recommended to you above by Elder Ward.

Track that article down and read it. Once you understand how to load your fire box right you will NEVER have to reload it ever again during a cook.

I don't think you need a water pan in a ceramic cooker.

I always cook at 225°. I never wrap during the cook. I've never increased the temp to shorten the stall. The longest I've had a pork butt take to get to 203° on my large BGE is 16 hours.

Reloading numerous times, getting back to a steady temp and the water pan is what slowed your cook down in my humble opinion.

[fuzzydaddy]

Here's a link to the NakedWhiz cookbook that has Elder Ward's instructions. Search for "Part I - The Fire" (it's part of a recipe) and it's on page 48. And here is my short version of loading the lump...

Clean out the Egg.
Separate lump into 3 piles - large, medium, small & dust.
Largest piece at the bottom & dead center
Remaining large pieces like a jigsaw puzzle until it appears as even as you can make it.
Fill in as many holes and cracks with medium pieces until it looks as even as you can make it.
Using the smallest pieces, fill in more of the area.
Take all that dust, for lack of a better term, and level out your bed of coals.
Do not make a mound, just LEVEL.
Fill to the top of the fire box, but not above.

Using this method my fire never goes out on butt cooks and I never open the Egg until the end of the cook when I'm checking if my butts are done. I also have a lot of lump left.

Hope this is helpful.

[wiltfore]

Sounds like a great method to me. Any reason why it is not recommended to go higher than the fire box with the lump? It seems that I could go halfway up the fire ring to get more fuel into the egg. I suppose that brings the heat source closer to the meat, but the plate setter should block the direct radiant energy from coming into direct contact with the meat.

[Breadhead]

wiltfore ...

BGE recommends you don't fill past the fire box, why exactly I don't know.

However... If you load your lump correctly you will get 20 to 24 hours with 1 load of lump at 225°. So there really is no need to over fill your fire box.

[LA Pork Butt]

wiltfore As @ Breadhead said I do't know why either, but I can't imagine why you would need to unless perhaps your egg is smaller than a large.

[dpsphotos]

LA Pork Butt, I'm new to the unwrapped idea and have been experimenting with it during my last two PB's. When you go to the cambro are you wrapping tightly in foil and then in towels? No venting of the foil? Are you finding any carryover temps rising above 200? I ask because mine have been a bit dry and I've had little liquid left in the foil after the cambro time. I recall Harry Soo mentioning venting the foil during the rest, but I'm guessing that would completely negate the cambro idea.

At the same time I've also experimented with Huskee idea of using smaller butts to up the bark service area. Maybe the smaller butts don't do as well unwrapped?

[fzxdoc]

I've smoked a fair number of PBs as well. My TNT (Tried 'n True) method is

1. Split large butts to average around 3 lbs per piece. More yummy pig candy bark that way and the outside doesn't dry out waiting for the inside to get done. Time is dependent on thickness, though, more than size.
2. No wrap. Again, for nice bark.
3. Take meat to 203 or probe tenderness.
4. If necessary, bump the smoker temp up 20-30 degrees (for a short while) after an hour or so of stall to power out of it.
5. No cambro. Not necessary. The pork is pull-apart tender when removing from the smoker.
6. Smoker temp at 250-280. Bone-in sections take about 10 hours; Boneless portions take 7 hours or so.

wiltfore , you sure had a delicious-looking pile of porky heaven at the end of your cook. Congrats!

Kathryn

[LA Pork Butt]

dpsphotos I double wrap tight put a towel or two in the bottom of the ice chest and loose balled up on the top and sides. No venting. I have never checked the temp when preparing to serve unless I am concerned about the temp dropping below 140. It almost always is necessary to use insulated rubber pork pulling gloves because it is still so hot. Because there are various muscles that make up the butt some are leaner than others. There is always a part of the but that is a little on the dry side, but when you shred it and mix the liquid in things are just fine. I have never cooked on a PB, but my BGE seals tight and there isn't much moisture lost during the cook. I cooked my butts in the high humidity area of South Louisiana. I how live in Dallas with significantly lower humidity, so I may find I need to add a water pan during the cook. Also, the size of the butts could be a factor. I routinely cook 10# butts. I hope this helps.