How long to cook two 10 pound pork butt

evan8818

I just bought two 10 pound butts... I have to have them done by Saturday at 7:00 am. I know the rule of thumb(2 hrs per pound) but 20hrs is impossible... Please help! Thanks for any tips!

evan8818

Oh crap!

evan8818

What temp?

QDude

I did 2 10 pound butts about three weeks ago and they were done in 10 hours.  The temp was 250 to 275.  That was a fast cook.  It usually takes me 12-14 hours for butts of this size.

QDude

Another comment - don't be afraid to cook at 300 degrees.  Pork butts are very forgiving.

evan8818

Awesome! Thanks! Put them on about an hour ago and trying to get the temp right... My digital says 333 and BGE is just a tad over 230 which one should I go by... Can't take them out

evan8818

The digital moves up or down depending if I open or close the drafts with a one or two degree flux

evan8818

So I have my 10 pounders going... I put them on around 12:30 -1P it is currently 6p and my meat temp reads 166 but has jumped one degree since writing this post. When should I expect the stall? And my BGE reads 250 but my ET732 is reading 310. I use this thermometer all the time for food and it seem to be on... Should I trust the digital or BGE? And can I turn the temp down so that its not ready at 2-3AM or is it a case of; once it passes the stall it's moving and no stoping?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

evan8818 said:

So I have my 10 pounders going... I put them on around 12:30 -1P it is currently 6p and my meat temp reads 166 but has jumped one degree since writing this post. When should I expect the stall? And my BGE reads 250 but my ET732 is reading 310. I use this thermometer all the time for food and it seem to be on... Should I trust the digital or BGE? And can I turn the temp down so that its not ready at 2-3AM or is it a case of; once it passes the stall it's moving and no stoping?

Trust the digital for now but take your dome thermo out and calibrate it to make sure (Boiling water). The stall is way faster at 310 than it is at 225 but I'm guessing you are still headed for a stall of some sort. You are right in the wheel house of when it would happen

The Cen-Tex Smoker

and yes, you can drop the temp to slow boat the finish. Now worries at all.

evan8818

This forum thing is AWESOME! My temp has rose from 166 to 172 in 23 minutes... What is the top of the "wheel house"

evan8818

This is how I put my temp gauge for the BGE... I've heard about the two types of temp what is usually the difference... Is it 20-30 degrees cooler near the meat? Or the other way around?

Little Steven

Dude,

You aren't gonna see much of a plateau at 300*. I think you will be done in a few hours. Probably too late to drop your temp and make a significant difference. You will likely have to pull it tonight and refrigerate it. Reheat at low temp and pull tomorrow.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

evan8818 said:

This forum thing is AWESOME! My temp has rose from 166 to 172 in 23 minutes... What is the top of the "wheel house"

you are getting close. you should stall out here soon

The Cen-Tex Smoker

evan8818 said:

This is how I put my temp gauge for the BGE... I've heard about the two types of temp what is usually the difference... Is it 20-30 degrees cooler near the meat? Or the other way around?

It's normally a little cooler at the grid level but that does tend to even out as the cook moves along.

Little Steven

By pull it tonight I meant pull it off the egg not pull the pork

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

evan8818 said:

This is how I put my temp gauge for the BGE... I've heard about the two types of temp what is usually the difference... Is it 20-30 degrees cooler near the meat? Or the other way around?

It's normally a little cooler at the grid level but that does tend to even out as the cook moves along.

a-ha. That may be why your temps are so far off. Normally you would clip that too the grid over in an area protected from direct heat and not too close to metal. it could be getting some false readings by hanging in the wrong spot or something like that

QDude

I have put my butts in foil, wrapped in towels and placed in a cooler for 10 hours.  They were still too hot too handle when unwrapped.  Your stall may take a few hours to come thru.

evan8818

So after all of y'all's help I was able to produce 2 amazing pork shoulders! At around 7:30 last night I hit my stall of 179 until about 12 am and then it rose to 195 in a hour. I wrapped them like a top secret mission and this morning... A thermometer is reading 120 degrees inside the package. All in all this was a 12 hour cook(my temp was around 300-320 until 7:30 the dropped it to 260) we tried a piece before wrapping and it had to be the best I've had... Ever! (Sorry Central BBQ) here is a pic! Thanks again to everyone and all your knowledge... My blood pressure is very appreciative as well!