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URGENT ! Are my butts gonna make it ?

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fairchase
fairchase Posts: 312
edited February 2012 in EggHead Forum
The butts for my sons birthday party went on a stabilized 250 egg at 1 AM. One was 8 lbs. and the other 7.5. Maintained a calibrated dome temp between 250 and 270 until about 3 pm when I upped it to 300. It's 4 pm now and they are only at 172.  Chow time is 6 Pm. Are they gonna make it or should I pull them off , foil and put them in a 350 oven ?
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  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
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    4PM and chow time at 6PM?  I would up the temp of the egg to 350 and forget the oven.  You can always slice the meat and not pull it.  Crazy that after 15hrs you are only at 172.  
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  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
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    Check back in an hour at 350, if not above 180 jack it up to 400 or so.   
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  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
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    That's what I would do anyway
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  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
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    I hope by now you have either upped the Egg, or gone to the oven. After the first 12 hours, the butts are well smoked, and can be finished in the oven. Don't go long above 250 because the sugar in the rub will start to burn.
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  • ChokeOnSmoke
    ChokeOnSmoke Posts: 1,942
    edited February 2012
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    After all this is done, I'd check your thermometer again.  No way it would take nearly that long if you egg temp was really 250-270.  That should have taken 12 hours max.  I'd foil and put in oven at 350.
    Packerland, Wisconsin

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  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
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    I'm thinking you can get the egg to 350 before the oven, just open all vents.
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  • chrisnjenn
    chrisnjenn Posts: 534
    edited February 2012
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    Sometimes my butts go for 2 hours per pound to get to 195-200 degrees.  I usually smoke them at 240-250 and I mentally use the 2 hour per pound time table to be on the safe side (has never failed me yet--I have a Tel Tru temp gauge and I use a Stoker--both are calibrated perfectly).  So I can easily see how your butts are taking as long as they are.

    My solution would be to bring the Egg up to 350-400 and it should finish in time.  Let it rest wrapped in aluminum foil for at least (preferably longer, but you don't have longer) 30 minutes.
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  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
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    Chris - He has two butts at 7-8 lbs each, so I would think after 15 hrs they should be very close to done and not at 172.  I could see if one piece at 15-16lbs, but for two at 7-8 each seems way off.  I agree with your solution though, crank up the egg and let er rip..  
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  • Reagandog
    Reagandog Posts: 2
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    i think your thermomitor needs to be retired to the trash can. your butts should not take that long to get to temp. it is now 6:26 here at my house i hope you are enjoying a good tender butt.so to speak.
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  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
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    Same here, think an hour behind us.   
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  • genwmull
    genwmull Posts: 61
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    What happen?
    Large BGE Dyersburg TN
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  • fairchase
    fairchase Posts: 312
    edited February 2012
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    Well I foiled the butts at 5pm . They were up to 180 , and put them in the 350 oven.
     Brought egg up to 400, put on 10 # of wings along with 34 abt halves over top of the wings.
    We watched the second half of the UK game and at at 6:30. Everything turned at very good ; just not quite as planed.

     Now I have to try and decide what happened here. Was it just a case of honary butts or what ?
    I said this was my first time cooking butts on my egg. It was by no means my first time cooking butts.
    I know thermometers. Both maverick probes as well as the BGE temp gauge were checked in boiling water before the cook . The maverick probes were spot on , and the BGE probe was calibrated.
     After the cook I checked all 3 again , and they were all 3 spot on.

     The only thing I noticed was that the BGE probe held pretty constant at 250- 270 , but the Maverick probe 1" above the cooking grid , and 3" away from the meat fluctuated consideratly  more ; reading 200-250.

     I was using a drip pan with the bge feet between the platesetter with water in it .

     
    So what happened ?
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  • OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO.
    OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO. Posts: 412
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    Sounds like you may need to calibrate your egg thermometer.

     "Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great, Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!"

    Med & XL

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  • BBQMaven
    BBQMaven Posts: 1,041
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     I was using a drip pan with the bge feet between the platesetter with water in it .

    Water in pan causes way too much moisture inside the Egg. Slows the cooking process (removing the moisture from the meat) and causes long cooks. Use the pan to catch drippings, but skip the water.
    Kent Madison MS
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  • fairchase
    fairchase Posts: 312
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    Sounds like you may need to calibrate your egg thermometer.

      I plainly stated that all of the thermometers were calibrated before and after the cook !
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  • fairchase
    fairchase Posts: 312
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     I have been wondering about the water in the pan.  I was concerned about burned dripping imparting an acrid taste on the meat.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    drippings don't truly burn and smoke.  not hot enough. they oxidize, sure, but just like the sugar in the rub (which also turns black) it's not from 'burning' in the way we usually mean. though they both end up as carbon.

    a dry drip pan will have black drippings, but they don't contirbute any real acrid smoke like we think they do.  not the same as fat dripping into fire.

    bump temps a bit more even and you'll be fine.
    i have had them pull (with a little difficulty, but they still pulled) at 185_


    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • ChokeOnSmoke
    ChokeOnSmoke Posts: 1,942
    edited February 2012
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    drippings don't truly burn and smoke.  not hot enough. they oxidize, sure, but just like the sugar in the rub (which also turns black) it's not from 'burning' in the way we usually mean. though they both end up as carbon.

    a dry drip pan will have black drippings, but they don't contirbute any real acrid smoke like we think they do.  not the same as fat dripping into fire.



    OK, good to know.  But it certainly stinks and I assumed that whatever is creating the bad smell is polluting the meat to some degree?  But you're saying no problem letting it drip into a dry pan?  Just trying to understand.
    Packerland, Wisconsin

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  • fairchase
    fairchase Posts: 312
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    I will go dry next time . If that doesn't work I guess I'll go back to crutching them.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    it doesn't stink any mopre than the sugar on the butt which gets just as black.  that sugar (in the rub) doesn't "burn" either.  drippings aren't going to smoke and create any stink, unless you open the lid and any accualted fat catches fire.  i've made foil pans for a few years now (HD foil, rim rolled into a pan, using two pieces), and a couple times i've been stupid enough to move it, allowing the fat to spill, catch fire, etc.  that's bad, but still not an inedible mess.

    i really don't see the drippings being a problem.  again, the black mess that you find is carbon, from sitting there under heat in a low-oxygen environment, just like the black bark on your butt.  just as the bark doesn't smoke and burn, neither will the drippings.

    a drip pan can do other things though. acting as a heat sink, it can keep temps more even, and generally lowr.  it won't boil, which means it won't get over 200 or so. 

    it doesn't ADD moisture to meat, but i'm willing to agree maybe it keeps the meat from drying out any more than it might.

    doubtful that any flavors in the pan make the meat taste any better, but it does smell good.

    try it without anything and see how good it is.  might just save you the trouble next time if you decide it tastes as good without anything in the pan
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • fairchase
    fairchase Posts: 312
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     Will do . Thanks for the pointers.
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  • BBQMaven
    BBQMaven Posts: 1,041
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    Not disagreeing with anything above in each post. Just seems to me you are using your heat of the lump to evaporate water from the pan rather than cook the meat. That's all my comment was above. 

    In other applications a water pan may be needed, but not on cooks like this.
    Kent Madison MS
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