Boston Butt

Eggspert

I cooked a boston butt this weekend for approx. 24 hours on BGE temp of 320o (indirect heat) with the plate setter. The butt turned out pretty dry but, bbq sauce cured that. Does anyone have any suggestion/comment on what i did incorrect?

Fidel

At 320*, without knowing how big the butt was, 24 hours was likely way too long.

I cook butts at a dome temp of 240-260 and they usually take about 2 hrs per pound. I have had some go 22-23 hrs, but that was at 240.

Cook to an internal temperature of 195-200* and don't worry about time. If you don't have a good meat thermometer I highly recommend one to improve all your cooks.

And I like to wrap my butts in foil and rest them for at least an hour before pulling to allow juices to redistribute.

Jeffersonian

Oh my, you don't mention what size the butt was, but that's far too hot and far too long. If it's a typical butt (~8 lbs), it should take 16 hours, tops, at 250* dome.

Did you check internal temp on it at all?

Eggspert

i have a meat thermoter but i guess the excitement of getting my bge got the best of me.

crghc98

Already said but I think the idea is low and slow to get it right. I would suggest following these directions. It worked well for me on my first long cook.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm

Meatatarian

On the bright side, you cooked for 24 hours at 320. That's pretty impressive.

Meat

Trailblazer1229

Yeah. WOW. How did you not open that thing for 24 hrs? Anyway, your weak link is always the meat thermometer. Make sure that bad boy didn't loose clibration. Throw it is some boiling water and make sure it is close to 212 deress F. It should be able to be adjusted in the back with a nut. If you want to be anal, get 2 meat thermo probes and make sure they are reading the same temp. be careful about placement. Too close to a bone or fat can throw your readings off. Your dome temp looked way too high for that long. More like 220-250 for 16 hours (8 lbs butt). Once internal hits 200, I pull. Good luck.