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27 Hour Butt... but why?

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    27 Hour Butt... but why?

    27 hours was not what I had planned for. The Easter on the farm festival turned out to be just as disappointing as the Christmas on the farm for different reasons. The 18 pound pork shoulder (13 pounds after trimming) dry brined for 16 hrs and MMD rub and into the smoker at 17h00 Friday afternoon with the expectation of being ready at around 9h00 Saturday morning at the latest. Oven temp was constant between 225 and 235. Somewhere between 22h00 and 24h00 the meat hit the stall 150f. My next IT temp check was 2 hours later 02h00 and then every hour thereafter. The meat was still at 150f at 06h00. I needed to get home to take a shower freshen up and collect a few items for the day while my son kept an eye on the oven temp. I got back at around 08h00 and checked IT of pork, had moved to 160f and my brisket had overcooked (leave that explanation for another time). With the gates opening at 9hoo I was not near ready to having anything to serve. Pulled pork on a bun topped with an egg was to be my breakfast sell. Long story short we started packing up at the end of the day 16h30 and the meat was still in the cooker IT at 170f. I wrapped and finished at home in the oven leaving a total cook time of around 27 hrs. One of the outer muscles was probe tender 183f before wrapping and delicious.
    Some of my after cook thoughts
    I have not taken temp readings in my vertical oven at different levels namely lower, middle and top areas to determine temp differences. My thermometer reads the temp in the center of cooking chamber. The butt was on the upper grid near to the outlet. I’m thinking maybe the temp in the top area is or was lower than the middle where the thermometer is. The distance from thermometer to where the meat was is about 11 inches.
    Could the size of the butt have been a factor as I have previously smoked butts in the +- 8 pound range and they have taken from 8-12 hours. I have never crutched anything in the past and thinking this was possibly necessary given the butt size.
    Maybe should have cooked at slightly higher temp but dispelled that idea given everything I’ve learnt from AR site.
    Had water trays throughout cook and spritzed. Maybe spritzing as well wasn’t the right thing to do.
    I used drip trays that I formed from foil that allowed 2 or 3 inches of space all round for heat and smoke movement. I placed a drip tray under each of the three racks that the meat was on. In my previous smokes I have only used 1 drip tray on the lowest rack for all the meats above.
    Have decided will not be cooking a Butt of that size again.

    Click image for larger version

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    #2
    Left it waaaaaaay too big and cooked it waaaaaaay too low.

    If you're spritzing with cool liquids you're just extending the cook time.

    Comment


    • holehogg
      holehogg commented
      Editing a comment
      Thought as much we smoke and learn

    • Dale Case
      Dale Case commented
      Editing a comment
      Yep, what Jerod says, I learned from this site that has been a huge help.. I cut the butt's in half and cook em at about 250. I never spritz em. Lots of wonderful bark !!

    #3
    Very ditto....don’t give up. Try again. If the temp is not working with you then crutch. It helps a lot. I cook em in 8 lb range. (More bark that way). If time is a factor for me then I crutch at 160. Don’t be afraid to crank it up to 250-275 range. I never need to spritz. No need to with a water pan (or without for that matter). I always add butter when pulling or add some juice after using a fat seperator if needed. But learn. Don’t give up. You will be well rewarded for it in the long run.
    Click image for larger version

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    no need to spritz if the juice is "pooled" like this one.

    Comment


      #4
      Or this...
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      Click image for larger version

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      The 2 top are chuck roasts but ya get the idea
      Attached Files

      Comment


        #5
        Agree with all here. No spritz, cut down size. But most of all don't give up you will be rewarded!!

        Comment


        • holehogg
          holehogg commented
          Editing a comment
          Never giving up but definitely going smaller

        #6
        Here ar a few thoughts. Meathead says that thickness determines cook time. A typical 10# Boston Butt is about 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 inches thick and I cook them for about 12 hours without wrapping in my ceramic cooker at 225. From the pic of it raw it looks like it could have been seven inches thick. That would make a difference. How thick was this shoulder? At 18# I would guess this was a picnic and a butt or a really thick butt. By chance was it frozen and perhaps not fully thawed when you started? The fact that your brisket finished on time in the same cooker (?) would indicate your thermometers were accurate. Every peice of meat cooks differently, but this is outside of the usual variations. Spritzing as mentioned above or injecting the meat could extend cook time. So, now what is your best guess or is it still a complete mystery? Your answer will help us in future cooks.

        Comment


        • holehogg
          holehogg commented
          Editing a comment
          Was pretty thick and from what i could tell had a small section of picnic. Was not frozen so i'm thinking the low cook temp and spritzing added to cooking time. Going to stick to 8# in future.

        #7
        You need at least two leave in probes - one for the meat, and one for the pit. I'm sure you lost enough in sales to pay for a Thermoworks Smoke at least.
        I suggest cutting large hunks of meat into at least two pieces. That way they will cook faster and have more bark. That's a win - win for me.
        When the cook is going too slow, you can raise the temp. Pork butts are very forgiving and some here cook them at 300* F - or higher.
        Spritzing with something cold, or applying cold bbq sauce can lower the temp of the protein. With a large butt like you had, only the surface may have dropped in temp, but then it still has to heat back up.

        Comment


        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          No I think what he's saying is crank the friggin' heat up, not slightly higher. Professional bbq restaurants here in the States can't afford to wait 12-14 hours (much less 27!) for product. They cook hot and fast, anywhere from 275* on up to 325*, especially when powering through a stall.

        • holehogg
          holehogg commented
          Editing a comment
          Troutman That's what I plan on doing for my next butt for experiment / experience. Cranking up the heat and Wrapping.

        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          holehogg if you crank up the heat you may not need to wrap to get through the stall. Experiment and find out.

        #8
        I’ve done a few butts now, all of them around 8 lbs took 14-16 hours at 225 AT, it doesn’t surprise me your 18 pounder took longer, I like the idea of cutting into two, more bark, faster cook! Also, I like to plan on finishing early and putting in faux cambro until serving time. Now that you have a ton of pork on your hands, put servings in food saver and freeze. Toss in simmering water for 15 minutes and serve!

        Comment


        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          Shrink wrap and sous vide re-heat, even better !!! Oh that's right smokenoob, you're not SVeedish !!!

        • smokenoob
          smokenoob commented
          Editing a comment
          poor mans sous vide.....

        • smokenoob
          smokenoob commented
          Editing a comment
          or maybe "faux sous vide", yeah, that's the ticket!

        #9
        Sorry to hear about your issues, I think everyone else has pointed out the obvious, but what I saw myself in reading your post:

        1. Really big shoulder. The bigger and thicker it is, the longer it will typically take. 13 pounder will take longer than the typical 8 pounder. Longest butt cook I've had was around 18-19 hours.

        2. You don't need to spritz pork shoulders. There is so much fat in that meat, and I cook it fat side up, that it is self basting. Spritzing cools the surface down, probably extending the cook.

        3. On my grills and smokers, I can see 75 degree variation in 10-11 inches. Usually its hotter at the top, but your cooker may run different, due to the exhaust configuration. You really need a temp probe at that grate.

        4. Cook hotter next time. I *accidentally* had a 12 pound butt get done hours sooner than expected this past weekend, I went to bed with the grill temperature at 225 and the meat at 130F, woke up 5 hours later and the Weber temp was 327 and the meat temp was 199. The butt was great. I won't make a habit of that, but have intentionally run them at 250 and 275 without notable differences.

        5. Crutch if you are on a tight schedule. I hate doing this, but I had 3 butts smoking one day a while back, and knew someone was coming to pick 2 of the up at 5:30PM. I went ahead and wrapped hers in foil once they got to around 160F, so that I knew I could get them done in time - they were done and in cambro before 5pm. It's amazing how much that helps push through the stall. The butt for me did not come off the pit until 8PM or so.

        Just my 2 cents, take it for what its worth.

        Comment


        • holehogg
          holehogg commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks, pretty much confirms everything I thought might have been the possible reasons. Thats because everything I have learnt about smoking is from this site and once again great advice and observations from everyone.

        #10
        no spritz, crutch at 165, and at that point raise temp to 300.

        Comment


          #11
          Just another vote here for higher temp, no spritzing and cutting in two if very large. There's just no upside to leaving a huge pork butt in one piece. Everyone I've ever known who has tried them right off the smoker goes bananas over that sweet, salty, chewy bark - cutting them in half (or quarters!) gives you more surface area, more bark, chunks that aren't 7" thick, so they cook quicker. It's all a win/win. The spritzing or basting doesn't really do anything on a pork butt, from my experience, except slow it down. Unless you're spraying on heavily-spiced liquid - which again, you can just go thick on your rub, maybe rub/dry brine it the night before and achieve the same or better results.

          I've had them really vary from 8-13 hours on a butt, with no explanation of any reason for the variance - but as mentioned above, pork butts are VERY forgiving, just make sure you've got a probe in it. And I don't wrap unless absolutely and completely necessary.
          Last edited by DogFaced PonySoldier; March 31, 2018, 04:46 AM.

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