Pork Butt – Cooked in less than 1 hour per pound.

Truck 511

Last night I put on two 8+ lb boston butts at about 10 PM, expecting about 2 hours / lb at 250 dome temp. I went to bed around 1AM satisfied that my dome had settled at 250. I woke up at 5AM with a dome of 260 and both pork butts at about 208 degrees.[p]My first attempt at the boston butt did the same thing. It was 6.5 lbs and cooked for 9 hours at a dome temp of about 250.[p]My setup on both attempts were the same. I filled the egg with lump carefully placing the large pieces in first, etc, etc... I did fill the egg even to the top of the fire ring, but I spatchcocked a chicken before the butts so the egg had been burning for 4 hours before the butts went on. Then I had the main grate with a pizza stone and drip pan on top of it. I had two full sized bricks on their side holding the second grate about 4 inches above the pizza stone. Using my ET-73 I monitored the dome temp and the internal temp of one of the butts, and I monitored the other butt with my other digital thermometer.[p]Last Nights progression of events
1. Lit the egg using a chimney at about 6:00 PM.[p]2. Struggled with maintaining the temp at 350 dome for about an hour.[p]3. Yelled at the dog to stop rolling in the mud. Damn Dog.[p]4. Repeatedly told the wife that “cooking on the egg is really easy,..... once you know how to control the temp”[p]5. At 7PM finally put on the spatchcocked chicken.[p]6. Gave Jack a bath[p]7. Took chicken off at 8PM (should have taken it off 15 min earlier, so a little dry but still good). [p]8. Let the egg cool down to 250 dome.[p]9. Put on the butts for what I thought would be a long sleep. [p]10. About 2 hours into the cook I realized that I forgot the smoke, so I pulled everything off, threw in some hickory, and made sure the egg stayed at 250.[p]11. Woke up way to early to pull pork. Wrapped the butts in foil, put in cooler under some towels.[p]Any suggestions as to why my pork butts cook twice as fast ?[p]-- Matt

Groundfish

Truck 511,[p]have you calibrated your temperature gauge?[p]how did the butts come out?

Smokin Joe

Truck 511,
I experienced 1 turbo cook with a pork butt and it was because my temp crept up to 290-300 without me knowing it (just shortly after I got my egg and before I go the Maverick ET-73). My only thought is that you need to calibrate the thermometer and that it cooked to high - you busted right through the plateau. OR... did you brine in any way. Brined meat goes quicker than not. 250 is a bit high anyway - when I do butts I'm between 220 & 230, briskets I do lower 200 to 210. on a low-n-slow generally you want to creap up on the temp not come back down to it - the ceramic mass of the egg really holds the heat. Just some thoughts. Joe

Smoked Signals

Truck 511,
Could the temp probes have been on bones? Getting pork above 200 takes alot of heat, it really starts to wring the moisture out of the meat. At 208, you were almost boiling the internal juices. I would double check your temperature probes & dome thermometer. At 208 + a rest in the cooler, I am going to guess the meat will be slightly dry and mushy. Hopefully I am wrong. I have never had a butt cook in less then 1.5 hours / lb. [p]After re-reading your setup it appears your butts were higher in the dome then normal grid level. So you were probably cooking close to your dome temp rather then a grid level (-20 to -30 deg). How much charcoal was left? That should give you a good indication if the fire got out of control and burned hotter.[p]Just my 2cents
Doug

Truck 511

Smoked Signals,[p]Once I figure out how to post a picture, I will show you my setup. My cooking grate stands about 2 inches above the top of the lower egg half shell.[p]I'm worried about my grate vs. dome temp. When I did my first butt 2 weeks ago my maverick smoker probe would not fit into the thermometer hole, so I left the standard BGE thermometer in the dome and connected my maverick smoker probe to the grate using the metal grate clip. I was consistently getting grate temps much higher than dome temps. [p]When I pulled of my butts this morning, I decided to keep the egg going and I put my meat probe in the grate clip so that I could compare dome vs. grate temps. Once my temp stabilized at something like 255 dome, I noticed that my grate temp was 95 degreed HIGHER than the dome temp. I've watched this all morning and the grate has always been 65 - 95 degrees higher than the dome temp.[p]Note: My setup for this test is the exact same as my cooking setup except the meat has been removed.[p]I used a lot more charcoal than I expected. It is not only up to half way on the fire box. I had my max and min alarms on the thermometer set at 250 and 230 for the dome so I had no indication if it was burning hotter than it was supposed to.

Truck 511

Groundfish,[p]
I calibrated all my temp probes 2 weeks ago before the first cook and I will recalibrate tonight just to make sure.[p]Pork came out ok. The crust on the bottom was too tough to pull so I had to throw it out. Everything else pulled fine. I'm worried that it will be greasy. Its nothing worth using as an example to show people how great the egg is.

Unknown

Truck 511,[p]The dome thermometer wasn't sticking into the meat was it? That will certainly give you false low dome temp reading.

Citizen Q

Truck 511,
Your dome thermometer is way out of calibration, you were cooking at 315 minimum last night, which explains the turbo cook.[p]Put the tip in boiling water and adjust the nut on the back til it reads approx 212 in the boiling water.[p]Cheers,
C~Q

GrillMeister

scole,[p]If his grate was two inches above the lip, that is a very likely scenario.

Groundfish

Truck 511,[p]i use a maverick as well. i always place the temperature probe on the grate as far as possible from the meat but over the drip pan to measure the temp that the meat is getting and maintain that temp between 210 and 250. the difference between the grate and dome temp on my medium egg ranges from a few degrees to 50 or more.

Smoked Signals

Truck 511,
It appears you were cooking in the 300 range if you used more charcoal then you expected and your mavrick was readin high ... dome is out of calibration or stickin in the meat. I hope the pork is/was tasty. Good advice below. I think we are on track to solving your problem.[p]Good luck with the next cook
Doug

The Virginian

Truck 511,
I agree that your dome thermometer must be out of whack. Grill temperatures are often lower than dome temp, but I have never heard of them being higher especially when cooking indirect. Raclibrate as directed below and you should be good to go. [p]Brett

Wahooegger

Truck 511,
Has anyone experienced a difference in temperature control using a platesetter v. a pizza stone v. a layer of bricks when doing a butt low and slow? I've always used a layer of bricks but I'm wondering if the pizza stone heats up more than the bricks (or a platesetter which is a little lower in the Egg) and causes the grill temp. to stay significantly higher than the dome temp. throughout the cook. Just a theory.[p]FYI, Truck 511 needs all the help he can get - I know his wife and she's been against the Egg from the outset - we've got to get her some perfect pulled pork and convert her ASAP!

BYC39

Wahooegger,[p]I've used all three (with a drip pan and v-rack) and experienced similar results with all three.