15 Hour Pork Butt

Slabotnick

Yesterday I decided to smoke a small pork butt, I think it was 5lbs picked up at Aldi's. I wanted to try to do it unwrapped the whole time which I haven't done yet. 

Definitely took a lot longer than I expected compared to previous wrapped cooks, but I like how it wasn't as greasy and there was a really good bark. 

Used applewood and cherry for smoke and tried out Lane's BBQ Sweet Heat seasoning. 

Used my my CyberQ to keep it at 250 through the night, really pleased with how well it and my Rockwood lump did. Kept waking up to check the temp from bed and it just kept slowly rising. 

bhedges1987

lookin good.  I feel unwrapped butts turn out a bid more dry than others.

Slabotnick

bhedges1987 said:

lookin good.  I feel unwrapped butts turn out a bid more dry than others.

There was definitely a lot less grease left over but I was pleased with the texture, and it wasn't too dry for my liking. Figured I'd give it a shot and I was pleased. 

Next time im going to wrap in butcher paper and see how I like that. 

TideEggHead

Looks good! I need to get my hands on some Lanes bbq rubs!

YukonRon

Never wrap my butts. Leave on the BGE until the bone is easily removed, and remove the but with a pizza peel. Very juicy, little or no effort to pull. Smoke with peach, and use peach preserves for the cook. Awesome every time.
Your cook looks astounding. Great job, and thank you for posting.

beatarmy

big fan of not wrapping.  i wrapped some pork spare ribs the other day and they turned out super moist, but way too much grease for my liking.

JohnnyTarheel

Great looking butt... I am not a wrapper

Slabotnick

YukonRon said:

Never wrap my butts. Leave on the BGE until the bone is easily removed, and remove the but with a pizza peel. Very juicy, little or no effort to pull. Smoke with peach, and use peach preserves for the cook. Awesome every time.
Your cook looks astounding. Great job, and thank you for posting.

Do you ever wrap in butcher paper? Curious to what your thoughts on it compared to completely unwrapped. Foil was too greasy for my liking in the past. Still great, but I liked this better. 

Thanks for the kind words. That was my longest cook to date. Was impressed with how the Rockwood held up. It's my first bag, I had always used Royal Oak in the past and had it burn shorter but it was the end of a bag and smaller pieces. 

Slabotnick

beatarmy said:

big fan of not wrapping.  i wrapped some pork spare ribs the other day and they turned out super moist, but way too much grease for my liking.

I like wrapping ribs for about two hours after two hours uncovered, but finishing for a half hour uncovered. Been my favorite texture so far. 

Ive been a 2-2-.5 guy. 

Slabotnick

TideEggHead said:

Looks good! I need to get my hands on some Lanes bbq rubs!

It was my first try of Lanes, I have several others to try. I really enjoyed its flavor and would recommend. 

nolaegghead

That's unusually long for a 5 pound butt.  I suspect you had your grate probe on the part of the grate that was not shielded by the drip pan. 

The drip pan, esp if it has tall walls, can divert the indirect heat from away from the bottom of the butt and make it take longer.   Think how convection in ovens speeds the cook time.

Slabotnick

nolaegghead said:

That's unusually long for a 5 pound butt.  I suspect you had your grate probe on the part of the grate that was not shielded by the drip pan. 

The drip pan, esp if it has tall walls, can divert the indirect heat from away from the bottom of the butt and make it take longer.   Think how convection in ovens speeds the cook time.

It was really long but the temp I believe was accurate. I went out and the thermometer on the egg matched the cyberq display. I always clip my grate thermometer to be blocked by the placesetter but it wasn't covered by the drip pan. 

The pork butt did start very cool. It had previously been frozen and it's starting temp was in the mid 30's. So my guess is that would be a big contributor. 

nolaegghead

I'm sure it was accurate.  I'm just saying that baking pan could be shielding the bottom of the butt from hot air.  That would help explain why it took 3 hours a pound.  A shallow pan, more like a baking sheet, could catch any drippings and it would probably cook a lot faster (and more even).

Slabotnick

nolaegghead said:

I'm sure it was accurate.  I'm just saying that baking pan could be shielding the bottom of the butt from hot air.  That would help explain why it took 3 hours a pound.  A shallow pan, more like a baking sheet, could catch any drippings and it would probably cook a lot faster (and more even).

I'll try a more shallow pan next time and see how it does. I definitely wasn't expecting 3 hours a pound. Thanks for the idea.