Newbie Butt

ChrisVesuvio

Thanks in advance to anyone that has posted before. Your advice is GREEEAT !

I am about to start a 5lb boneless butt at midnight, it is for dinner at 4pm New Years Day. Do you think 10 hours is too long?

Thanks,

CV

IrishDevl

I don't understand the 10 hour part you are mentioning if starting at midnight and eating at 4PM.  I don't think 10 hours is to long, but one can never tell.  I cooked three pulled porks a few weeks ago; one 3lb, one 10lb and one 13lb.  3 lb was done in no time (4-5 hours) and the 13lb took 13-14 hrs.  I would say you are fine cooking a 5lber in 10 hours, just still don't fully understand your timing.  

ChrisVesuvio

My apologies. Again only a 3 week old BGEgger here.

After reading quite a few posts it seems a 250 BGE temp is just right for a slow overnight cook.

I did not know if I might be jumping the gun by starting at midnight. I guess I am a little nervous.

I have already cooked 2 briskets before this and they took about 9 hours. Turned out great.

How long should I wrap the butt w/foil and towel after pulling from BGE?

Thanks again,

Nervous Newbie

IrishDevl

I would think you have a few hours wrapping in foil, towel and cooler (2-3 hours).  So, if you assume 10 hrs cook you can start at 4AM (the joys of slow cooking indeed).

bluegrasstiger

My butt cooks consistently take 2 hours per pound to reach 195 internal.  I usually cook 5-6 lbs butts that take 10-12 hours.

250 is a good dome temp...You can make the end go a little faster by cranking it up to 300 when the internal hits 185.

crouse

I am a little confused, nothing new.  My recipe book, the one that came with the egg, calls for a temp of 230 for 18 hours.  I just read some posts and find 250 and less hours.  My problem is that I put my pork butt on at 8 last night, kept the temp and 230 for about 2 1/2 hours, went to bed and woke up to 0 temp.  What did I do wrong?

2CanQ

Probably didn't have enough air going to the fire.  Where was the bottom opening at and how much was your Daisy Wheel open?

IrishDevl

Did you use enough lump?  Fire burn out?  I would think if it held stable at 230 for 2.5 hrs then the flow was fine.  No issues over this 2.5 hr period?  

And for recipe books they can be tricky to follow, chances are 18 hrs is far to long, I am cooking a 8 lbs butt tonight and I will put it on around 1AM or so for a 4PM dinner - and this assumes I will be able to let it rest for a half-hour or so.    

joe@bge

There are a lot of variables with the timings depending on the cut of meat, moisture content, etc.  I did a 8lb butt yesterday and it took exactly 12 hours at 225 dome to get to 195 degrees...I have done others that took less some that took more.

@crouse - I agree with the other posters - most likely didn't have enough lump.  Don't pay attention the instructions that tell you to fill to the bottom of the holes on the fire ring - fill it all the way up to the top of the fire ring.

crouse

Don't really know what happened.  I did full the lump up to the top of the fire ring.  I had lots left this morning when the temp was at 0.  The daisy and the bottom vent were minimal, but since it had held for 2 1/2 hours, thought that was okay.  Will do the 250 temp from now on.  Thanks for all the info.

BakerMan

Yes cook @ 250.

I cooked a 7.5 lb shoulder two weeks ago and it over 20 hours to get to 195 @ 220-225 dome temp.  What I finally realized was cooking at a dome temp of 220 translates into a grate temp of 185-200.  It is very difficult to get to an internal temp of 195 if your grate is 195  (or less).  I cooked another 8 pounder this week with the benefit of my Maverick ET-732 thermometer.  When the dome temp was 250 I was able to see my grate temp hovered between 200 and 220 most of the cook. 

Also with the lower temp, (<  250) you run the risk of the fire going out due to low air flow.  That happened to me last week.  This week I added charcoal half way up the fire ring, set temp to 250 and it was rock solid from 10:00 PM till 8:00 AM the next morning when I checked on it.  When you get up in the morning, poke something metal ( I use a bent kabob tool) into holes in fire grate to clear overnight ash buildup.

Nashvillehardcase

I have found that there is about a 25 degree difference between the BGE temp gauge on the dome and the cooking surface.   Meaning its showing and yes I am cooking right now.   Dome 260 and at the cooking surface 235