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Rookie needing advice. Overnight pork butt problems

Hey All,  This weekend I wanted to get a pork butt, and slow cook it on the egg overnight for the first time.  So I picked it up along with some Bad Byron's rub and some yellow mustard suggested by some of the fellas on here.  I got it lathered and rubbed up and let it sit in the fridge last night while I was prepping the egg.  I filled the ring up to the top with BGE brand lump. Got my fire started and situated about 9 PM and started. My plan was to cook the 7.5 LB. butt @ 285 degrees from 9PM until I got up at 5:30 or 6AM.  I used a placesetter with a drip pan sitting on top of it, and laid the butt on the grate.  Everything got off to a great start, my temp. pegged at 285 for the first few hours, and lowered about 10 degrees around midnight.  I compensated for the loss of heat by opening the bottom vent about a quarter of an inch and it rose to 295 a while later.  Around 1AM I felt comfortable enough to get some sleep since I had work and a very long commute this morning so I left it alone. Woke up around 5:30 and got out to the egg to find out I had lost my fire through the night.  The pork looked and smelled amazing, but after a tug on the bone to see if it would slide out and a temp check I could tell it was a few hours shy from being ready to eat.  I had to get ready for work so I wrapped it in foil and laid it in my cooler because I wasn't sure what else to do.  My most important question to yall is... is it possible to finish the cook once I get home, and what could I do to preserve the meat so it won't spoil until I get home to finish the cook @ 6PM?  My wife is at home to throw it in the fridge or throw a bag of ice in the cooler with it if she needs to.  My second question is how do I keep my fire going all night?  Since I bought this new bag at Eggtoberfest it seems like I have been going thru lump a lot faster than the last bag.  When I start it up I normally use a small piece of a fire starter in 3 different areas of the lump.  Do i need to just fire up one part of the lump instead?  Thanks in advance for all your help, I listen to all your advice and im very grateful for it. 

I attached a pic of the butt this morning around 5:30am

Charles Champion

Spartanburg, SC

Comments

  • Do you know what the IT was when you pulled it off the egg this morning?

    If it were me, I'd probably wrap it in foil and go ahead and let it finish in the oven. You could get your wife to pull it and FTC when it is done.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • Yeah, you can't leave underdone meat in a cooler all day long.  Especially Pork.  Haven't you been watching the Walking Dead this season?
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    If it is still over 140*(surface temp) I would so as Texan of the North says. Put it in a low oven around 190* or 200*. It can sit there the rest of the day and be safe.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Thanks for your advice.  And of course I've been watching Walking Dead  williamadamsesq.  Those poor diseased pigglets got fed to the walkers..
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    Do you have the stock charcoal grate? I've heard of people having to wiggle the holes clear of ash with a wiggle rod through the intake. The temp dropping may have been the clue. Wiggle rods are a few bucks to make, or you could try a HighQue grate. 

    More pricey options include a wireless thermometer (maverick et732) so that an alarm goes off  to wake you up if the egg temp falls too low or a BBQ Guru system that lets you dial a temp in and forget it since it controls the air going in to the egg.

    If you are going to do a lot of overnight cooks, I recommend the maverick et732 at the minimum. A new model (et-733?) will be out soon if it isn't already available and has some nice improvements. The first night of sleep will be worth the cost.

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    If you don't have one get a thermapen. If you knew the butt hit 170-175 you could slice it. Not pulled but still good. Some do, some don't.. I do better with a clean egg, large lump on the bottom then the smaller pieces.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • Yeah agreed on the oven method.  I had the same thing happen to me once during an overnight cook. I had to restart the coals in the morning.  Good luck!

    LRG BGE

    Columbia, SC

  • Also, for long overnight low and slows, just start the fire in one place.  You are running such a low oxygen flow to keep the temp low, if it has to be distributed over 3 burn sites, you run the risk of none of them ever really burning good, whereas with one concentrated area, the I usually feel like there is less of a chance of it going out.
    Pentwater, MI
  • Tjcoley
    Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
    caliking said:
    Do you have the stock charcoal grate? I've heard of people having to wiggle the holes clear of ash with a wiggle rod through the intake. The temp dropping may have been the clue. Wiggle rods are a few bucks to make, or you could try a HighQue grate. 

    More pricey options include a wireless thermometer (maverick et732) so that an alarm goes off  to wake you up if the egg temp falls too low or a BBQ Guru system that lets you dial a temp in and forget it since it controls the air going in to the egg.

    If you are going to do a lot of overnight cooks, I recommend the maverick et732 at the minimum. A new model (et-733?) will be out soon if it isn't already available and has some nice improvements. The first night of sleep will be worth the cost.

    I've never 'wiggled my ash' but it sounds like fun. +1 on starting in one place, and make sure you don't have a lot of small pieces on the grate that can clog the holes. For slow overnights, it's the one time I don't dump and light. A few big pieces on the grate, after cleaning out most of the ash, then dump and light.
    __________________________________________
    It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
    - Camp Hill, PA