First Butt....not perfect.....thoughts on what I did wrong

Lowcountry

Alright guys....cooked my first butt on Sat....it was good but wasn't as juicy as I thought it should have been. 

Here is what I did...

-Took the butt out of the freezer on Monday
-Friday night put the rub on and put it back into fridge
-Sat morning got the egg dialed in at 240 and put the butt on. (Before putting the butt on I injected it with apple juice and apple code vinegar)
-After 15 hrs of cooking it reached an internal temp of 195.  Due to the time we dug into right away.  The pork was good but it was a little dry and it didn't just fall apart like it should.

I think I know where I went wrong but I wanted to get everyones input here.

DMW

You didn't FTC for at least 1 hr. Important step.

billyray

Might have needed to go to 205 or so, if it didn't pull well it wasn't done enough.

Ragtop99

I dig in right after it comes off the egg, so that is not the issue.  How many places did you test the internal temp?  I've had butts where part of it were 10* cooler than other parts.  This has required me to cook it so that some parts to be over 200* before pulling it.

henapple

195 while a guideline doesn't mean it's done. I go by tenderness... Fork test. I agree on the ftc... At least an hour.

Lowcountry

Yeah....it had a bone and it didn't come out too easily...that's when I knew things weren't right.

I had the probe in the middle of the butt....i didn't check multiple spots.

plumbfir01

but temp doesnt mean that its right, no matter where the probe is placed... gotta go by the meat test... next time leave more time to rest.... get it to 170 IT and foil it, keep on egg until 205 IT and pull and foil, towel and cooler. let it rest 2-3 hours if you can... It works everytime. BTW where you from? 

Eggcelsior

FTC can assist with the meat rising to temp by virtue of the AF reflecting heat back into the butt. However, it is not the root cause. That is due to the meat being underdone. I almost never FTC BBQ(only if it finished early. In my ex, there is no difference between foiling and not foiling. My butts are off the egg for around 20 minutes while they cool off enough to pull.

lousubcap

+1 for not done-if bone-in then the best finish indicator regardless of temp is how easily the bone pulls.  Any resistance  and you are not yet there.  FWIW-

Lowcountry

lousubcap said:

+1 for not done-if bone-in then the best finish indicator regardless of temp is how easily the bone pulls.  Any resistance  and you are not yet there. 

That's what it was.  There was some resistance when I pulled it out.  It should just about slide out on it's own right?

 

Plumbfir01....I'm in Charleston.

 

 

ricktee

What's FTC.  I cook butts all the time, 6-12 hours and I agree that the temp ain't always the gage you may want to use for testing the doneness of the meat.  Tenderness and how easily the bone comes out of the butt is the key.  As for wrapping in foil, has worked very well for me in the past but I don't use it every time.

     This is my first experience with the forum and I am looking forward to learning what you guys wish to impart.  I have and use 6 different grills, smokers, etc, cooking everything from hot dogs for the neighborhood kids to whole pigs for large groups.  My go to cooker of course is the BGE and the one that I would keep if I had to let the others go. Thanks for allowing me to add my 2 cents worth.  Very curious about FTC.  Ricktee in eastern NC.

lousubcap

FTC is Foil, Towels and Cooler to hold anything for several hours; the cheap faux cambrio.  Given we all cook to temp or some other parameter besides time, FTC can take the worry out of trying to time a long cook. 

six_egg

Lowcountry said:

Yeah....it had a bone and it didn't come out too easily...that's when I knew things weren't right.

I had the probe in the middle of the butt....i didn't check multiple spots.

I have never had that happen. I do mine to 200 but IMHO it is all about the FTC time. I do 1 hour even after it hits 200 int temp. I also do Mickey's Turbo method. I do not low and slow my butt cooks.

double_ds

Did you wrap it at all?   I wrap mine about half way through the cook and never had it dry out.  

Ragtop99

Eggcelsior said:

FTC can assist with the meat rising to temp by virtue of the AF reflecting heat back into the butt. 

I can see that FTC will help by allowing the heat to distribute from hotter parts of the butt to cooler parts, but I don't see how it can not raise the overall temp since there is no heat source to add any more thermal energy than it had the moment it came off the grill. 

Griffin

Lowcountry said:

Yeah....it had a bone and it didn't come out too easily...that's when I knew things weren't right.

 

That's all the sign you needed. Should have put it back on for awhile longer. Should slide out easy and clean.

Eggcelsior

@Ragtop99, You defined my thought process with your comment. The outer parts of the butt will be hotter than the middle(since meat cooks out to in) so the foil traps that heat allowing the cooler part of the butt to continue to rise instead of dissipating out of the butt.

If it is cooked thoroughly this is a non-issue since the internal temps don't have to rise anymore; it's already there. 

Lowcountry

Thanks for all the input guys.  I'm thinking it wasn't cooked enough.  Thanks again!

warwoman

BTW, Lowcountry, welcome!

Tjcoley

Welcome. I know I'm late to the party here, however if you follow the forum for a while, about 90% of the time (keeping in mind that 87% of all statistics are made up on the spot) the answer to 'My butt didn't turn out right' is 'You didn't cook it long enough'. Lots of great advice above, especially about the bone sliding right out.