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Contemplating first BBQ Butt

acertain
acertain Posts: 24
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
So I've done three normal grilling events (fish, steak, brats), and they've mostly come out great, so I'm starting to think about doing a Boston Butt. I've got a couple of questions, though, so I'm hoping you guys can help me out.

I've got an XL Egg, and I was thinking of letting it cook overnight (rather than getting up at 4AM). With the BGE lump, do I need to worry about running out of fuel? Once I get the temp dialed in, how likely is it to stay that way overnight? Would I be crazy to try without a monitor with alarm?

Thanks for your advice.

Andrew

Comments

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,665
    i like the et73 alarms for overnights but its not needed. what is needed is to check on things once every three to four hours and you wont be asking if its safe to eat because your fire went out sometime during the night. elder wards method in the recipe section (all 4 parts) is the best way to start out and use a dome temp of 250 for the cook. even with the alarm i get up to check to see if its working right
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    I haven't cooked on an XL.

    However, if you have your lump light in several places and it is 'good and stable' at 250° dome you should have no problems. Your egg is going to stay cooking longer than you are going to want to cook the meat.

    I cooked a lot of butts without thermometers. My lump burnt vertical and the fire went out sometime during the night. I didn't trust how long the fire was out so I tossed that butt.

    The others came out fine. I ended up sleeping through the night on most of the cooks.

    Now I use the DigiQ2 or the Stoker it is just a lot easier on the restless sleep.

    GG
  • Frank from Houma
    Frank from Houma Posts: 5,755
    I fill the XL up past midway on the fire ring, put in the platesetter legs up (wrap in HDAF) stabilize at 250, drop in a couple chunks of pecan, check it every 3-4 hours. No way you are going to run out of lump if you load up the XL and cook at 250, in fact put another couple chunks of pecan and put on some ribs on when you take off the butt and it will easily go another 5-6 hours.

    Grip it and rip it.
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    It doesn't hurt to put extra in. Go half way up the fire ring for good measure. You may only use 1/3 of that, but no harm done. Occasionally, I've had the fire burn to the center and then straight down, and had to push the lump together later in the cooking session.

    More often than not, my fires have been quite stable for most of the cook. But there have been a few times when the temp either dropped way down, or up too high. So its nice to have a remote and just take a peek at the read-out every 4 hours. Its easier than actually hauling oneself out of bed and peering at dome dome thermometer by flashlight.

    Depending on the size of the piece you put on, starting fairly early in the evening and making sure the temperature is really stable before sleep can make the process easier. I've been able to keep a butt that was at 200 well wrapped in a cooler with a jar of hot water above 150 for 7 hours. Getting done early is not much of a problem that way.
  • Dan in StL
    Dan in StL Posts: 254
    Here are a couple of EXCELLENT sources for advice on what you're about to do:

    http://www.celticspiritbbq.com/methods/pulledpork.html
    http://nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm

    Follow the advice here and you can't go wrong.
  • acertain
    acertain Posts: 24
    Thanks for all the responses. I had read the links mentioned, but it's always nice to hear whether other people are as laid back about it (I guess I'm the type A mentioned in the essay).

    One more question, what's HDAF (as in "put in the platesetter legs up (wrap in HDAF)")?

    Thanks.

    Andrew
  • eafo
    eafo Posts: 96
    Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,665
    heavey duty tin aluminum foil, just to keep it clean. even with the remote temp gage i set the low alarm for about 195 and the high around 285 with the plan of cooking between 225 and 250, cooking a butt is an easy forgiving cook, it just takes a long time
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Dan in StL
    Dan in StL Posts: 254
    Good answer. . . I thought it was High Density Aardvark Feeces.
  • eafo
    eafo Posts: 96
    Dan in StL wrote:
    Good answer. . . I thought it was High Density Aardvark Feeces.
    that sounds like ABT v2.0