How long to cook pork butts?

critty

Hello everyone,  I'm a new BGE owner and would like to ask those of you who have  eggsperience your tips on smoking pork butts.  I plan to smoke two 6 pound butts.   How long should I plan to cook two butts this size (225 to 250 temp)?  Also, any tips on dry rubs or preparing the butts before smoking would be appreciated.  Thanks.

tnbarbq

I would plan on 10-12 hours. But I go more by meat temp than time.

OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO.

General rule of thumb is 1.5 hours per lbs. I like Bad Byron's Butt Rub and use yellow mustard as a base. Pecan wood is by far my favorite. I try to maintain 235* throughout my cook. The pecan wood gave me a gorgeous pink smoke ring and wasn't overpowering at all. See pic:
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r626/jpeterman1979/5f0c7f43.jpg

NightwingXP

Eeee Gads that looks good!! Gonna do two butts myself this weekend so hopefully they turn out as good as that!

JTugwell

let er go at 235-275 ubtil you get to 195-200 internal.  wrap it up and throw in a cooler for a few hours, pull and enjoy.  its easy, youll love it.  as far as rub goes, pick what you like.  grill mates makes a good apple rub if you need something quick.  rub it in olive oil, or mustard to help the rub stick.  hit it liberally with the rub, let it sit overnight,  i usually dont let sit for more than 12 hrs.  12hrs seems to work for me well.  no need to open the lid and screw with it until its done.

stike

no need to let it sit in the cooler unless it's done early.  you might wanna let it hang out an hour on the counter to cool if you pull by hand.  that 200 degree meat is hot if you just use forks (like i do)

JeffM

My first couple of butts were 12-14 hour marathons at 225.   My last half dozen have been 6-7 hours at 300.   I followed advice I got here and my wife and I both agree even though the cook time is much reduced, they are juicier and better.  Cook 2-3 hours until temp is 160.  Wrap in double foil and cook to 200.  Inject 50-50 apple juice and apple cider vinegar  and use a little of your favorite rub.  Enjoy a good night's sleep.

Little Steven

@JeffM,

I do them at 250* and get a good night's sleep. Really about when you put them on. That said, I haven't done a high temp one for comparison but several folks that I respect are doing them that way now.

Ragtop99

Cook at a little under 300* and the time will drop to about an hour per pound.  No foil needed.

OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO.

Below is what the chopped came from :
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r626/jpeterman1979/043814ab.jpg
15 hr cook . 11 lbs whole shoulder. Amazing result. Huge fan of low and slow. The turbo butt seems a little gimmicky.

gerhardk

We cooked a shoulder on Sunday it was just over 8 lb and cooked almost 14 hours to 200º, it was one of the best shoulders we have made.  In the past I always foiled when it reached 160º this time I left it and we thought the flavour and texture were better and it was no less moist.

Gerhard

OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO.

We cooked a shoulder on Sunday it was just over 8 lb and cooked almost 14 hours to 200º, it was one of the best shoulders we have made.  In the past I always foiled when it reached 160º this time I left it and we thought the flavour and texture were better and it was no less moist.

Gerhard

No drip pan?

Flamethrower

I see a platesetter,Ouch!!!!!

gerhardk

Not planning to make gravy so I don't see the need, I just give it a good scrape before the next cook.  I don't get any weird smoke off the plate setter so all is good.

Gerhard

Mighty_Quinn

Gerhard- you can cover your plate setter with heavy duty foil too...just throw the whole mess away when done....no scraping.

stike

+! re: MQ's idea.

i tak two sheets of foil, crimp them together with some tight folds on one edge, and then crimp it into a circle folding the extra foil into a crumpled rim.  when it's cool, toss it.

BOWHUNR

My last ones were two seven pounders done at 250* dome with a combo of apple and cherry wood.  The cook took 14 hours to get them to 195*.







Mike

critty

Thanks everyone for all the tips.  I'll let you know how they turn out.   Wish me luck!

Chubbs

Bow, is your pics look great. I need to throw a Rutland gasket on my egg.  

Eggbertsdad

BOW,

That looks awesome! Nice job.

Hammond1

I see a platesetter,Ouch!!!!!

Why do you guys cover it? I have never covered mine....

KingRover

Easier cleanup? - I took the plate setter out after it cooled, pulled up the foil wrap, chucked it out in the garbage. I have used disposable aluminum pan before, but foil is cheaper.

Mighty_Quinn

Easier cleanup? - I took the plate setter out after it cooled, pulled up the foil wrap, chucked it out in the garbage. I have used disposable aluminum pan before, but foil is cheaper.

Bingo!

evan8818

What if it is two butts that way a total of 19 pounds... can I have them done in 14 hours? I need to have them done by saturday at 7am

guyupnorth

evan8818 said:

What if it is two butts that way a total of 19 pounds... can I have them done in 14 hours? I need to have them done by saturday at 7am

I did two butts this past Sunday and sort of tried the turbo method.  They weighed almost 19 pounds and turned out to be my best yet. Here is what I did this time around.

On the Egg at 250-275 dome temp for the first 3-4 hours.  After that I opened it up and had temps stay around 325-375 for the remainder of the cook.  The smaller of the two surprisingly took longest....go figure, but finished inside of 9 hours.  The larger was done in around 7.5 but let it go 8 hours total.

I read somewhere that at a certain point, there is no more smoke flavour being absorbed by the pork, so it is just cooking, and if so, why not cook at higher temps?  There is enough fat in there to keep things juicy and tender IMO.  I didn't foil this time around either.

Here are a couple pics if I can attach them correctly.

Little Steven

"The smoke ring stops forming at 140* but the smoke will continue to flavour the meat throughout the entire cook"

Not me

SmokinDAWG82

I've tried several different rubs but the best butts I ever cooked were just kosher salt and blk pepper