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Help with Pork Butt mishap?

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zeus26
zeus26 Posts: 4
in EggHead Forum
Hello, 

I'm in need of some advice. Smoked my 2nd pork butt (Boston butt) last night/this morning. The 1st time I did one, I used more of a turbo approach. This time, I had the time to try a more low and slow approach. 

Here's the condensed version of what happened:

Carefully selected big pieces of RO lump and arranged in egg with pecan and hickory chunks. 

Lit at 1:45am

Got temp settled in at 250°.

Put 7.75# butt on at 2:30am with drip pan with some apple juice and beer in it. 

Figured about 13 hours, so planned to remove from egg at about 3:30-4pm.

Monitored temp overnight, but at some point it snuck up to 290° overnight (I caught it at 6:15am). I backed it off and it slowly cooled to 250°.

Checked temp with thermopen at 9:30am and it was already 205°?!?

I triple wrapped it heavy duty foil. Then towels, and it's now resting in a Yeti Roadie cooler with an additional heated blanket to fill space. 

Dinner with guests is at 5:30pm. I figure it can safely sit in cooler until 2:30pm, but then what??? 

Refrigerate? If so, how do I reheat for meal time? Pull before or after refrigeration?? 

Advice? Thanks! 

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Comments

  • theyolksonyou
    theyolksonyou Posts: 18,458
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    I'd check calibration on the dome thermometer

    you can put it in the oven on the lowest setting (mine is 170) and hold with no ill effects until time to pull. 

    Alternatively, pull then refrigerate and reheat with a little apple juice. 
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  • theyolksonyou
    theyolksonyou Posts: 18,458
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    If you go the oven route, put it on a sheet pan or you can make a mess in the oven. Don't ask how I know...
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  • RollTideRob
    RollTideRob Posts: 139
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    Temp probably went up when drip pan went dry.
    Large, Medium

    Heflin, AL
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  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367
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    I'm not exactly a huge expert - i've only done maybe a dozen pork butts, but.....

    This sounds pretty familiar haha!  exact same thing's happened to me multiple times now.  My advice is as follows:

    Pour some Bailey's in your coffee, kick your feet up a bit, and relax. 

    I'd be pretty confident that your tripple wrapping/well packed cooler will stay quite hot right till your guests arrive (heck - find a way to plug that blanket in around 4:00 if you're really worried).
    [Insert clever signature line here]
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  • stemc33
    stemc33 Posts: 3,567
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    I've held a butt about over 6 hours in a cheap cooler and temp was in 160° range. 
    Steven
    Mini Max with Woo stone combo, LBGE, iGrill 2, Plate Setter, 
    two cotton pot holders to handle PS
    Banner, Wyoming
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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    edited August 2015
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    An 8 hour ftc is not necessarily out of the question. I'm pretty sure I've read where some have gone that long.

    Another option I've seen is to put it in your oven at 170* for a few hours and then ftc.

    Either way, not sure you need to refrigerate.

    Hopefully others who have been in your situation before will come along with more advice.

    Edit: Looks like others had come along while I was typing the above.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,898
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    theyolksonyou said:
    If you go the oven route, put it on a sheet pan or you can make a mess in the oven. Don't ask how I know...
    True, or for those times you forget that precaution put one of those cheap disposable aluminum foil oven floor covers in and just leave it!
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
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  • piney
    piney Posts: 1,478
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    I really think with a Yeti, triple foil, hot towels, you will be fine. I would leave the lid closed set in sun if at all possible, kick back and enjoy the ride! Send pics!
    Lenoir, N.C.
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  • zeus26
    zeus26 Posts: 4
    edited August 2015
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    Thanks for the advice thus far. 

    To address some suggestions made:

    It's not an electric blanket, so no plugging it later :-(. I warmed it in the clothes dryer. 

    The evaporated liquid in the drip pan theory makes sense as to why the temp spike. 

    The Egg's dome thermometer was calibrated about 4 months ago, but I suppose it's possible it's off a little. 

    I guess I will leave the cooler closed until 3pm, and reassess and that point. I wish I had been able to plan ahead and pre-heat cooler with hot water before. 

    Plan B is to leave it triple foil wrapped and put it in a 190° oven on a cookie sheet until it's time to hit it with the claws.

    I'll post pics later. It looked (and smelled) great when that thermopen slid through it like it was a hunk of Jell-O! 

    Man, the embarrassment of premature porkulation. 
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  • GATraveller
    GATraveller Posts: 8,207
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    You will be fine allowing to rest in cooler until dinner time.  I highly discourage opening the cooler @ 3pm - that will only serve to release the heat that remains inside.  Keep cooler closed until ready to pull.  You're golden!

    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community [...] but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots."
                                                                                  -Umberto Eco

    2 Large
    Peachtree Corners, GA
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  • zeus26
    zeus26 Posts: 4
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    GATraveller said:
    You will be fine allowing to rest in cooler until dinner time.  I highly discourage opening the cooler @ 3pm - that will only serve to release the heat that remains inside.  Keep cooler closed until ready to pull.  You're golden!
    No worries of surface of the meat dipping below the 140° danger zone? 
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  • GATraveller
    GATraveller Posts: 8,207
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    Not in the Yeti.

    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community [...] but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots."
                                                                                  -Umberto Eco

    2 Large
    Peachtree Corners, GA
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,776
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    zeus26 said:
    GATraveller said:
    You will be fine allowing to rest in cooler until dinner time.  I highly discourage opening the cooler @ 3pm - that will only serve to release the heat that remains inside.  Keep cooler closed until ready to pull.  You're golden!
    No worries of surface of the meat dipping below the 140° danger zone? 
    its been brought to 205 degrees, salted, smoked, then wrapped in clean foil so it doesnt touch anything, its pretty safe already, i would not worry about it for your time duration
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • piney
    piney Posts: 1,478
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    Relax my friend! I've had this to happen a lot. You are fine, it will turn out great, trust me on this one! Been there done that!
    Lenoir, N.C.
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  • Hotch
    Hotch Posts: 3,564
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    I had a situation last year that we had 2 butts cooked for Tacos. Pulled the first one and then went to the grand opening to setup and serve Tacos at 9:00am. About the time we were out of all of out Taco fix'ns the second shift came in around 3:30pm. The host had a lot of slider buns so we got the 2nd butt out of the cooler for Pulled Pork Sliders and it was still to hot to touch. So you will be fine. Pop a top or pour a glass and get the other stuff ready.
    Large BGE, MiniMAX BGE, 2 Mini BGE's, R&V Fryer, 36" Blackstone Griddle, Camp Chef Dual Burner 40K BTU Stove
    BGE Chiminea
    Prosper, TX
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  • DaveRichardson
    DaveRichardson Posts: 2,324
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    That's a long time to be in a cooler, but you've taken the best steps to preserve your temps with the 3xfoil, towels, and killer cooler.  You might drop down into the 150's range, but I doubt it.  I'll guess 164 when you pull it from the cooler at feeding time!

    LBGE #19 from North GA Eggfest, 2014

    Stockbridge, GA - just south of Atlanta where we are covered up in Zombies!  #TheWalkingDead films practically next door!

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