Boston Butt Question

Spring Chicken

My neighbor is going to marinade two butts totaling about 14# and he wants me to cook them so they can be ready to eat at noon on Sunday. He got the recipe for the marinade from Alton Brown and it sounds pretty good, although a bit complex. I haven't done a butt in a marinade before. Any suggestions would be deeply depreciated.[p]Spring "Cyclops" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

GrillMeister

Spring Chicken,[p]The closest thing I've ever done to marinading a butt, was sitting in the jacuzzi. Heee[p]Actually, I would take that marinade and inject it into the butt rather than marinade it. I'd use one them there Cabelas's injectors too.[p]Otherwise, I would get a 2 gallon zip lock bag if the butt would fit in it.[p]Just my two cents.[p]Cheers,[p]GM

Spring Chicken

GrillMeister,
After talking to you last night he decided to marinade the butts in 2-gallon bags. I also mentioned injecting them but the marinade has chunks in it.[p]I'm more concerned about the set-up. I'm thinking indirect, 225 degrees for approximately 11 hours until an internal temp of 200 degrees. Then wrap and rest for at least an hour before pulling. I will be using a combination of hickory and some other smoking wood. Suggestions there would also help.[p]Spring "Evil Eye" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

egghead2004

Spring Chicken,
Nothing like a butt on a holiday weekend. I plan on cooking a picnic shoulder for Sunday afternoon. One thing I noticed in your last post, you say 225 dome temp for 11 hours will get two 7 pound butts up to 200 degrees? I have to tell you that it may take longer. Most of the 7-9 pound pieces of pork I've cooked have been at 220-230 dome temp and have taken at least 18 hours, usually 20-22. In fact one of the ones I cooked sat at 170-175 for over 8 hours before it finally broke out of the plateau.
Now I have seen some fellow eggers cook these butts at higher temps, say 275 dome, and if I remember those were done in 8-10 hours. Hopefully one of those guys will chime in and tell us the details. [p]Have a great weekend!!

ShortRib

Spring Chicken,
14#'s! I would be thinking more along the lines of 16 to 20 hours at 225. If I were you, I would put those on about 5 o'clock on Saturday and set plan on getting up 2 or 3 times overnight to check temp. I strongly recommend elder ward's recipe and really pay attention to lump loading section. I once just dumped a bunch of lump in the firebox with out being particlular. I ended up spending alot of the night trying to stabilize the temp. Consider it a lesson learned!!![p]I, too, saw that butt by alton on food tv. You can brine (not marinade) a butt, but that is up to you. I find that a good rub will do the trick just fine.

Mark Backer

ShortRib,[p]I would think that a 14 pound butt is different in its cooking time than two seven pound butts.[p]However, I could be wrong. I doubt it...but I could be.

ShortRib

Mark Backer,[p]You are right, but I still think it will take 16 to 20 hours at 225 for two 7 pounders.

Mark Backer

ShortRib,[p]You're probably right if 225 is the dome temp. I've found that, for my liking, I do them at 250. They finish in about 15 hours and the fire takes less of my eyeballing. Now, I set it at 250, put the meat on at 6pm, put a therm in at 9am the next day, find it at 195, wait an hour, pull off the Egg, foil for a few hours, then pull at 1pm for the best eatin' ever.[p]Easy as pie.

fishlessman

Spring Chicken,
ive marinaded in wdans mojo marinade and cooked at 250 dome inderect and it went more like 18 hours. didnt see what alton had for a marinade and dont know how that may effect cook times

Groundfish

Spring Chicken,[p]I did a 7lb picnic in 12 hours by accident. I didn't record my exact cook since I didn't plan on repeating it but the shoulder pulled perfectly. Here is my recollection: Marinated in mustard and rub in 2 a gallon ziplock for 24 hours. I used 3 chuncks of hickory in the fire. Placed on egg at 7pm. Temp was 220 - 240 at the grate. Around 1 am the temp was approaching 200. I kicked on the fan to bring the fire up. Here is where i messed up and dozed off without turning off the fan. I woke up around 4:30 and the temp was up around 380. I turned off the fan and went back to sleep. The temp was back down around 220 at 7 am and the picnic hit 200 around then. I wrapped it in foil and towels and put it in an igloo until noon. It pulled perfectly and got great reviews. So, it is possible to cook them faster.[p]regards

GrillMeister

Spring Chicken,[p]With the plate setter set up for indirect, you'll need at least 18 hours with a dome temp of 240 for the butts to reach 200 internal. That's my experince with the last 10 butts I've cooked and I always cook at least two at a time.[p]Keep your head down!

locolongball

Spring Chicken,[p]I did 4 butts, total about 28 pounds. I injected Appple Juice in the middle...thought I would give it a try. Anyway, I didn't see any longer cook times. It took right @ 24 hours to reach 195. Had to pull them off, because Ribs had to be on by 8am... However, the butts turned out awesome.