Butt and Pool party Sunday at 5

dsmith

It is now Saturday at 10:30am and I am hosting a pool party tomorrow afternoon. I am planning on cooking 2 5.5lb butts. I've had my egg since last fall but have only done one other low-n-slow. Here are a few questions for you pros out there...

1. About what time do you estimate I should put my meat on if I am planning a dome temp of 250F?

2. Any rub suggestions? (and as I recall there is no brining for the butt according to most posts I read, but there is some other opinions on this subject I guess)

Thanks for the info.

Rascal

As far as a rub goes, like many here, I use John Henry's Pecan Rub. Also, no mustard is my preference.

2Fategghead

dsmith, If you have time to smoke your butts today you will be that much ahead of the game plan. Then simply reheat when ready.

I smoke my butts at 250F dome. I have found butts are somewhat unique and some cook in 1.5 hours per pound and some cook in 2 hours per pound. About a week ago I had a 10 pound butt cook in 10 hours. Small butts will surprise you sometimes because their cook time will sometimes go a lot longer and it may be difficult to plan.

In your case you may want to decide what time you want to eat and factor in a rest time after the cook. A rest time can be 20 or 30 min's double wrapped in heave duty foil and wrapped in a towel in a cooler. When resting in the cooler the rest can go as long as the meat temp stays above 140F. I have gone as long as 3 hours and have read some going as long as 4 and maybe as long a 5 hours. Usually when you go to unwrap the meat from being in the cooler it will be just as hot as when you put it in. So now you have that factor to think about plus how long will the actual cook last. Like I said 1.5 to 2 hours per pound then in the cooler you go.

Hope this helps. Tim

2Fategghead

I take my butts straight out of the refrigerator at the last min. I usually drizzle evoo and my favorite sweet rub. I have never brined a butt yet.

dsmith

Ok, here is the rub I just put on:

Organic brown mustard
Bone Suckin' rub (liberally applied)
Brown Sugar (lightly applied)
Garlic and Bay Leaves (one clove of garlic and bay leaf together in a stab-incision x2 on each butt)

I put both butts in a roasting pan, covered in foil and put back in my fridge. I am going to a shrimp boil tonight and will be gone for about 5-6 hours so I don't feel comfortable cooking it today and then reheating tomorrow.

How good are the eats I'm getting this weekend!

Shrimp boil tonight, pulled pork tomorrow...YUM!

2Fategghead

Lucky you eating all the shrimp you want. :P

Your butt cook will be fine as long as you cook to internal meat temp I pull the butt off when the internal temp reaches between 195F to 205F internal. The bone will wiggle in the meat when done. I use a Maverick ET-73 and a thermapen for the final say.

Seasoning the butt ahead of time is fine as long as there is not a lot of salt in the rub because that can give you a curing effect.

Have a great cook tomorrow.

Desert Oasis Woman

I'd get up and light the Egg about 5am and put the butts on about 6am

dsmith

The rub I used might have a little salt in it, but I did not add any additional salt. Thanks for the info on the possible curing effect as I was not aware of that.

I'll try to post some pix tomorrow as I get ramped up.

dsmith

Ok, it is now 5:15AM and I got off to a little late start. Lot's of shrimp and a few beers caused me to oversleep a little. Here is what I've done thus far...

- filled coal to top of firing ring
- fired it up with my propane weed torch
- temp quickly hit about 375F
- put in soaked apple chips (only soaked them about 10 minutes due to the shrimp and beers having me forget to do so earlier)
- put on chips, plate setter, grate and the meat

The temp dropped down really quickly but is starting to come back up. You can see by pix below I'm getting a lot of nice smoke.

I'll keep the updates coming throughout the day.

dsmith

30 minutes later. My temp is up starting to stabilize (I overshot a little and have brought my damper down and daisy wheel adjusted). You can see from the pix that the smoke is a lot less you can hardly see any in the shot but it is down to a steady, mild stream of smoke vs. the chimney of smoke when I first through the chips on.

Due to time constraints, I did not have the luxury of stabilizing my fire before I put on my meat, so I'm guessing I'll be making some adjustments as I go for the next while.

Also, as you can see from my set up, my temp probe is simply the cheap thermoworks one I purchased when I got my pen. It has served me faithfully but does make me step outside a lot to check the dome temp. I've thought about getting a BBQ Guru to help with my temp control, but I'm too cheap. Can anyone say Father's Day Gift? (Yes, I know, I'm still actually buying it but it FEELS like a gift.

2Fategghead

Have a great cook.

dsmith

Thanks. My temp had creeped up to about 285F but I have it down to about 260F at the moment. Wonderful time simply sitting outside on my deck with a cup of coffee, a book, my rooster crowing and a comfortable east TN morning!

dsmith

It is now 8:30 AM. I have not touched my daisy wheel in about an hour and a half and dome temp is cruising at 245F. Gonna get ready for church and make any adjustment if needed at around 9:15 before leaving until about 12:30.

dsmith

Not that anyone is looking at this, but I'm back from church and it is now 12:15. Three hours unattended and my dome temp is a sweet, steady 245F. Meat temp is up to about 165F. Looks like my timing on this is gonna work out very nice.

I'll post pix when I pull.

hornhonk

Oh, boy. sounds like it's just getting into the plateau. Good luck.

dsmith

Done. Here it is. Pulled at 6pm.

Tasted GREAT!

2Fategghead

Very good. How many hours was that cook? Was it 12 hours. :huh:

Did it come off when you planed it to. :huh:

Glad you enjoyed. :P

Consider wrapping your drip pan in foil because it helps in the clean up.

I like to smoke big butts so when I go the the store I have made friends with all the butchers in this little town. I will inquire about the price and if they have any full size butts. They usually get them in a cryo two pack and they let me pick out the cryo pack I want. What can I say I love big butts. :woohoo:

dsmith

The cook took 13 hours exactly but I had to bump up my temp to 350-375F for a little over an hour to get finished and feed my guests on time. I don't think there were any repercussions as it was some of the best tasting meat I've had. Many of the guests said so as well. My wife made an awesome homemade sauce which I'm sure didn't hurt either.

Thanks for the help.

2Fategghead

Glad it all worked out.

It just goes to show you those small butts will fool you. Tim