1st time ever doing pork butt. Looking for advice.

[SmokingSteve]

I am getting ready to smoke a (pre-trimmed weight) 7.1 pound pork butt on my Thermotemp XL propane vertical smoker. I have never smoked a pork butt. I have been looking at "The Best Pulled Pork Ever" recipe and have some questions. My smoker runs hotter the higher I have the food in the smoker. I plan to put it on the same rack as the built-in thermostat. The butt measures approximately 3-5 inches in height/thickness, 12 inches in length and 6-7 inches width. The label indicated it has a 20% solution of water, salt, pepper and other spices. I used mustard as a binder, Pit Boss Championship rub, the rub tasted fairly salty so I did not add any kosher salt as a dry brine, just put the rub on. It is in the refrigerator, unwrapped, since 3:30 pm today. The rub has "Applewood smoke" I plan to use Cherry and Apple for the cook.

1. Should I go fat cap up, or down? Or does it not matter?

2. Would like to have it for dinner tomorrow night around 5 or 6 pm.. Any hints as to how long if I use 225 as a desired chamber temp? Trying to figure out when to start it.

3. Would a higher temp like 275 be okay? Would it speed up the cook, or dry out the meat?

4. Use a water pan? Or not?

I don't know about you, but I can tell I'm nervous about this. LOL!

!!!!!! So how long can I hold the pork butt in cambro? Pulled the butt off the smoker at 11 1/2 hours. One probe was at 206, the other at 199. About 1/2 is melted butter tender, the other has a little pushback still. I placed it in foil and put it in the cambro, with towels. Now I will not be serving it until lunch tomorrow. What is better? keeping it in the cambro that long? Or putting it in the oven at 225 overnight? Or refrigerate and reheat? I am looking at about 16 hours from putting it in the cambro (where it is now). Help!

[SMOG MAN]

I trim most of the fat cap off, there usually is plenty of internal fat. The higher temperature will be fine, I don’t cook on a propane smoker so if the bark starts to get too dry just wrap it. I cook on a pellet cooker, don’t wrap, maybe you will be 8-10 hours cook time but maybe someone else will have a better idea.
maybe yes on the water pan,
YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

[Donw]

It can take 275 or even higher with no problem. I’m one of those who pan my butts after the bark is set and then add back in the collected juices when pulling. On a vertical I would use the waterpan. Relax, it is going to turn out great.

[Mosca]

1) Doesn’t matter.

2) Idk, 10 hours?

3) 275 will be fine. You won’t be able to tell the difference. 275 might even be better; more bark.

4) Use the water pan.

You seem nervous! Don’t be. Pork butt is easy. Any temp from 225 to 300 is fine.

In fact, this is the one meat you can bbq that will make people think you are a rock star, every time. The last one I did, I screwed up about half a dozen things, finally finishing it in the indoor oven at 375. I forgot about it and pulled it late. I didn’t rest it, and guess what? It was great! Everyone raved about it!

So, smoke it like you’ve got this. Tie it, rub it, put it over the heat until it hits 205. Rest it an hour, then pull it and serve it.

[RonB]

It's a pork butt, so it's very forgiving. 275* is fine and will shorten the cook. I don't think you will be able to tell the difference with the fat cap up or down. I don't think it will take any more than 6 hours, but give it 8 so that you can cambro it, and if it runs long, you will still be OK.
If you think it's not cooking fast enough, you can go to 300* without a problem. Some here even cook hotter. Now take a deep breath and relax.

Edit to add that I must be the slowest typer...

[mountainsmoker]

1st take a breath and relax. Trim off any external fat. Forget about the mustard and apply your rub. Forget about 225 that is old day theory. Today with the fat the pork butts we smoke them at close to 300. This provides a nice bark and reduces the cooking time. I never wrap no need to. Take it off at 195 and wrap and let it set till it cools to pulling temp of 160 or so. A 7.1lb butt should take no more than 8-9 hrs at 300.

Good luck and enjoy your pork.

[mrteddyprincess]

Four 8 lb butts today. Nine hours at 275 to 300 F. Glad to hear things cook alike in individual our necks of the woods!

[Spinaker]

When I am letting pork sit, while dry brining, I cover it. Pork fat oxidizes faster and can give some off flavors in the meat. A 12-hour sit is not a big deal, but if you are going to go longer than that, I would cover it.

1. Should I go fat cap up, or down? Or does it not matter?

I really don't think it matters. I usually trim the fat cap off the shoulder anyway. I don't like those pieces of pulled fat in the final product.

2. Would like to have it for dinner tomorrow night around 5 or 6 pm.. Any hints as to how long if I use 225 as a desired chamber temp? Trying to figure out when to start it.

I shoot for about 275 F on the temp. Start it early. I would start at about 6-7 am. If you are done early, you always have the cambro to help you with time. You can hold the shoulder in the cambro for hours. You want to make sure to get at least an hour. I shoot for at least two. Remember to wrap the shoulder in foil or butcher paper, then towels to take up the excess space in the cooler. It will help the meat conserve the heat. You don't want it to cool down to much before pulling. You want the meat to retain that heat until you eat. Plus, once you pull it, it will start to loose heat and you want to make sure you are serving the meat at or above 165 F. If you pull right at 165 F, then you have very little time before the meat starts to enter that danger zone. Throwing the wrapped meat in a 180 F oven, also works as well.

3. Would a higher temp like 275 be okay? Would it speed up the cook, or dry out the meat?
275 F will not dry out the meat. You will be just fine. Pork butts have plenty of fat and they are forgiving.

4. Use a water pan? Or not?
Skip the water pan. IMHO, the are really only needed for units with a ton of airflow, like an offset or a pellet smoker.

[LA Pork Butt]

All good advice above. The only things I would add are: 1) if you need to speed things wrapping during the stall (internal temp of 160-180) cuts the stall time about in half. The stall time is typically 6 hours +. 2) I find that finishing early and letting the butt rest wrapped in and ice chest for 2-4 hours helps the fat to separate when you pull it.

I think to hit your serving time I would start about 6 am, wrap at 160 and place it in an ice chest with old towels to fill the dead space when it reaches an internal temp of 200. It will easily keep 4 hours in the ice chest before serving, so I wouldn’t worry about finishing too early.

[tbob4]

Everything you read is right on - you are going to knock this out. I have vertical (wood) smokers and did a really big cook a couple of weeks ago. I did the pork butts in the unit that has a water pan and the tri-tips in the unit that does not. I have done them equally well in the unit without the water pan. The difference is wrapping. In the unit with the water pan I don't typically wrap unless, as LA Pork Butt points out, the stall would effect serving time. I am guessing you are nervous because you are serving for people. A trick that you might like - if serving is staggered, pull a little at a time and serve while it is hot. Otherwise, put juices from a pan in a crock pot and put it on low. If serving is not staggered, make sure not to pull until all of the other food is out and people are ready to eat. Pulled pork cools off really fast and really is best hot.

[mountainsmoker]

SmokingSteve are there any other questions we can answer or clarify for you?

[SmokingSteve]

Thank you all very much! I got it smoking at 9:30 am, spritzed every 2-3 hours, using a water pan, started at 300 to get good smoke, then went to 275. It fluctuated anywhere from 260 to 310, not sure why. I only opened it to spritz, plus added a second probe to the butt from the other direction. (both have registered within 1-2 degrees of each other. Hit the stall after 4 hours (161), did not wrap but increased temp to 290ish. 2 1/2 hours later now at 180 degrees in the pork butt. So was that the stall? I think it took 2 hours to go from 161 to 170. Or did I pretty much power through the stall because of higher cook temp? Now just waiting to get to 200-205 meat temp before cambro, right?

I will add pics of the cook later, when it is done. Thanks again to everyone who responded! You were a great help.

[Ahumadora]

Yep. Powered through the stall. Hot n fast...

[mountainsmoker]

Yep cooking it at 275-300 you power right through the stall.

[mrteddyprincess]

I was cooking pork butt today today too, and I almost posted a new thread asking if anyone had ever "over cooked" a pork butt. In twenty plus years of cooking pork butt the only mistakes I made were in not cooking it long enough. I have never over cooked a pork butt as far as I know. The ones I made today fell apart when I picked them up. The best way to learn how to do pork butt is to cook pork butt. But I guess that's true for anything in BBQ :-) Hope things went well!

[SmokingSteve]

So how long can I hold the pork butt in cambro? Pulled the butt off the smoker at 11 1/2 hours. One probe was at 206, the other at 199. About 1/2 is melted butter tender, the other has a little pushback still. I placed it in foil and put it in the cambro, with towels. Now I will not be serving it until lunch tomorrow. What is better? keeping it in the cambro that long? Or putting it in the oven at 225 overnight? Or refrigerate and reheat? I am looking at about 16 hours from putting it in the cambro (where it is now). Help!

[Spinaker]

Shock and refrigerate. Then re-heat. Safer and it will keep the meat. Put it in a vac seal bag or a ziplock, then put in a 50/50 ice water mix. That will get the temp down quick. Then refrigerate. Or you can throw it in the fridge, but it will raise to temp in your fridge.

[Spinaker]

More on that process under "The Big Chill: How It Works" in this article.

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/big-chill-trick-making-perfect-sous-vide-que-steak

[tbob4]

My Cambro will hold meat at safe temps for 10hrs when it is fully loaded with hot meat. Otherwise, 6 hrs. I agree with Mosca. Keep it whole when refrigerating and I would put it in the crock pot, whole, until pulling or in the oven at a very low temp until pulling.

[mountainsmoker]

My oven will hold at its lowest temp at about 170 if yours will that is what I would do. Douse it with the juices that you collected or with a Carolina vinegar BBQ sauce that will not over power the meat to keep it moist. Wrap it with lots of foil to keep it moist.