Pork Butt Questions

Vandable

Well, I received so much positive feedback and assistance when I did my first brisket, I thought I would reach out to the BGE community again for my first Pork Butt. I have a 13 lb. boneless butt from Costco. I'm going to let it sit for about 8 hours in my rub. I plan on putting it on my XLBGE about 8 AM and cooking it on 350 for about 8-9 hours. Does this sound right? Also, do you FTC a pork butt like you do a brisket? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Grillin' in Texas!

SGH

@Vandable‌
There are numerous ways to cook a butt and get excellent results. That being said there is no way I can cover them all in this writing. It would encompass volumes. However I can give you a few tips and some general advice to help you out a little. First let me say that this is just my opinion and what has worked very well for me. Others may have different thoughts on the subject . There are two schools of thought on cooking a butt. Low and slow and turbo or hot and fast if you will. I like and use them both. That being said and time withstanding I prefer low and slow myself but that's just me. If I read your post correctly you have a 13 pound butt. On one that large I would not recommend running 350 degrees. It is of such mass that at this high of temp you will probably end up scorching the outside trying to hit your desired internal temp. There is a way to combat this if you are determined to cook at 350 degrees. Monitor the butt carefully and when you hit the correct color wrap it. Now let me say that wrapping is not necessary to produce a good butt. If your butt was 8 pounds or less you could cook it at 350 for the duration without wrapping it and produce a excellent product. Why? Because the smaller ones have a much shorter dwell time in the smoker. If you want to avoid wrapping I would recommend a temp of 300-325 degrees. Even then I would monitor the butt very close for color due to its size. If I reached the desired color before it was done I would go ahead and wrap. If color is of no particular importance to you then you should be able to run the 300-325 for the duration without wrapping. It may get a little dark but it will be excellent nonetheless. Now at the other end of the cooking spectrum lies the low and slow method. It is in this arena that wrapping is not necessary at all as long as you don't encroach and pick up to much reflective heat. Any where from 200-275 can and will produce outstanding results with pork butt. Time permitting my go to temp for pork shoulder is 225 degrees. For pork I like to use oak or a 50/50 split of oak and pecan for smoke. In my opinion one would be hard pressed to find anything any better for smoke. Oak as well as pecan are top tier smoke woods in my opinion.
Just to recap a little. A butt can be cooked without wrapping. But one must take into account it's size and the temperature at which it's being cooked to avoid scorching. On butts 8 ponds and less 350 degrees works great without wrapping if color is of no importance. On butts 8 pounds and larger 300-325 degrees is a better choice. If you want to avoid wrapping on the very large butts but still cook it hot and fast 300 degrees is near perfect. I want to add one last thing. Both low and slow and hot and fast produce good results. No question of it. But at the end of the day I feel on the larger cuts such as primals and heavyweight subprimals that low and slow renders the fat out better? Why? Dwell time. Once again please remember that all of the above is just my thoughts and opinions and what has produced good results for me. I hope that I have answered some of your questions and I wish you good luck my friend.

SGH

@Vandable‌
You are probably wondering why I didn't delve into covering cooking times. It's something I try to avoid. Why? Because sometimes people mistakenly take them as an absolute instead of a guide as they are intended to be. There is no way for me to know all the said variables of someone's cook so I usually recommend cooking to the desired internal temp to avoid confusion. If you have any questions feel free to ask and myself or someone else will be more than glad to try and help. Good luck my friend.

Mattman3969

If it is boneless I would cut it in half, throw on egg at 350* and be eating pulled pork in about 4 1/2-5hrs. This will give you more surface area for really good bark. I have turbo'd a 10lb one time and wasn't really happy with the results. The outside was too done while some of the middle parts didn't want to pull just as @sgh described above. I try to limit the size to around 7lbs for the hot n fast cooks.

nealcr1

Since it is boneless you may need to tie it up to keep it together.

Carolina Q

Most likely two butts, not one. I never apply rub until its time to cook. FTC is completely unnecessary for a butt (unless it finished early).

tksmoke

If it's 2 butts you are golden - just rub and throw on at 350.  It will probably take between 5 and 6 hours.  Just monitor the temp - start probing at 200 degrees internal temp.  When it probes very smoothly, you are done.  Normally closer to 205.  No need to FTC, but at the same time, you don't want to cut your time too close.  Butts are not real predictable..  Enjoy!!!