Wahoo! First overnight pork butt!

cotfessi

Long time lurker, first time poster here... what a great wealth of information in these forums!!

This is my second pork butt on my large egg.  I got up at 4am last time to get everything started and let it go throughout the day.  It turned out well,  but I was a little stressed/obsessed watching the receiver for my maverick 733.  This time I started it a little after 5pm and I'm going to just let it go all night... I've got my receiver in the kitchen, and threshold alarms set, but I'm just letting this one ride!

Particulars of this smoke:  8.5lb pork butt, mustard coating, and a generous amount of Byron's Butt rub.  Left it wrapped in the fridge for about 20 hours before I brought it out and set it on the counter for two hours. Using BGE lump charcoal and apple wood chunks and apple cider vinegar in the drip pan.

I've included pictures of my charcoal and wood setup as well as the pork right before closing the lid.  I'll update tomorrow!!

jcaspary

Can't wait. Looking forward to it.

Zarcon

Awesome and welcome to the forums. Can you provide more detail on your temps? Of course, I can already see you are setup for indirect

tulocay

It depends on what kind of lump you are using and what temp, but that amount should get you through the cook. FYI, I fill my LBGE up to the top of the fire ring and have gone 23 hours before at 250 ish dome temp using Rockwood. And welcome!

cook861

Welcome cant waite to see the end result 

cotfessi

UPDATE:  Around 5:30 the thermometer receiver woke me up telling me that the meat was within 10 degrees of the goal (reported=190 / goal=200)  The grill temp was reporting 230.  When I woke back up at 9, the meat was down to 187 and the grill was down to 203.  I went out and opened the vents up a lot more and by the time I got the dogs out and fed, the grill was reporting 201.  At this point I opened the grill, took the grate off with the meat and set it on my table, took the drip pan and plate setter off and there was still charcoal in there, not a lot, but there was some left.  It really didn't look like it was still lit.  I added a lot more charcoal and nothing happened after 10 mins so I added a bge charcoal starter and more or less started from scratch.  I was able to get the fire going, put everything pack in and now the grill temp is reporting 234 but the meat is reporting 176... Did i do the right thing?  Will the meat be ok?? Has anyone experienced the grill just going out?  tulocay:  you made mention of my charcoal initial level... did I just not put enough in?

lousubcap

You are fine, cook is fine, meat is fine and you definitely did the right thing. For the record, within reason you cannot load too much lump.  For the long duration low&slows fill it to close to the top of the ring and it will get you home without any issues.  Enjoy the eats!

cotfessi

lousubcap said:

You are fine, cook is fine, meat is fine and you definitely did the right thing. For the record, within reason you cannot load too much lump.  For the long duration low&slows fill it to close to the top of the ring and it will get you home without any issues.  Enjoy the eats!

Thanks!  Grill temp is 261 and meat temp is up to 194!  Prepping the cooler now!

DMW

Also, there is no magic finish temp for butt. Once it hits 195* you can start probing the butt to see if it is tender like buttah. If there is any resistance, let it ride and check it again in 45 minutes or so until the probe slides in and out without any resistance. Temp is an indicator, tenderness is the signal.

lousubcap

If bone-in then when the bone pulls clean you are there.  Another indicator for tenderness as noted by @DMW.

cotfessi

UPDATE:  All went well after the refill of charcoal.  I took the meat out of the egg when it hit north of 200.  The probe slide out and back without resistance... thanks DMW!!  Wrapped it in foil and let it sit in a cooler for about 3 hours, took it out and shredded!  Damn... soooo good!

Thanks for all the posts and comments... next up? Smoking some salmon I caught in Alaksa!!

Philly35

@cotfessi‌ Welcome to the forums! No such thing as too much lump. I'll fill it up till the plate setter is touching it. You can go 24hrs+ no problem in a large.