First Boston Butt

pwshine

4th cook on LBGE...no special set up other than plate setter. Should I wait and get a Vrack or can I put it down on the standard grid with drip pan underneath?

Have BGE fired up with wings going, was hoping to just keep it going and put the BB on overnight at temps I've read about?

Any hep would be appreciated. Thanks!

theyolksonyou

Just put the drip pan on the platesetter with some air gap underneath. Use foil balls or washers or something.

And welcome.

Carolina Q

No v rack needed. Make sure you use enough lump though.

pwshine

Carolina Q said:

No v rack needed. Make sure you use enough lump though.

I plan on putting more lump on top of what is ignited and putting some hickory on top of that...will that work?

theyolksonyou

Yep

badinfluence

Don't use to much hickory or it will have a strong smoke taste. If you have apple wood go that route. And welcome.

stemc33

Welcome to the forum. Make sure it probes like butter if you want to pull it. No big deal if your chopping it.

UrbanForestTurnings

Welcome and all of the above

bluebird66

Good luck.

johnmitchell

+1 on the hickory...Although I think the bull is through the gate by now..I nearly lost my Wife over to much hickory.. Also a big welcome and hope your butt worked out just great..

Carolina Q

Too much hickory? On pork bbq? Not possible. Not in NC anyway. How do you guys think real pit cooked bbq is cooked? They burn hickory and or oak, no charcoal, just smoky wood. I can't say for sure as they use what's available, but I doubt you'll often find apple, cherry, pecan or any other wood. At least that's how they do it in the places that haven't converted to gas or electric.

badinfluence

@Carolina Q‌ and north Carolina pork is chopped pork not pulled. There is a ddifference between n Carolina bbq and other parts of the country. Even oak us a sighted smoke then hickory.

pwshine

As an update...it was probably a 7.5-8 lb. butt and went on about 10 last night. After I thought I had the temp. stabilized right at 250 I went to bed after keeping an eye on it for about 2 hrs...woke up this morning temp. dropped to about 140-50 in the dome. Got it back up and checked internal temp. of the meat around 9:00 AM it was 158, checked before leaving for church at 10:45 and it was up to 167

Now got home and the dome temp was about 100 and meat still at 167. I'm at about 225 dome now and meat is reading in around 158.

Am I losing the battle here and risking the meat? Should I pull it and finish in the oven?

I'm at about 16 hours now and getting a little nervous....seems like a long time

theyolksonyou

As long as the meat temp didn't drop for a long time below 140 you should be fine. If you have a deadline, crank the heat to 350 and power on to the end. You won't hurt a thing.

pwshine

theyolksonyou said:

As long as the meat temp didn't drop for a long time below 140 you should be fine. If you have a deadline, crank the heat to 350 and power on to the end. You won't hurt a thing.

No, it's been 158 and above since I woke up this morning.

Problem was coals were down to nothing. Pulled the meat and put it in oven wrapped in foil on 200 until I could get charcoal and hickory going again. Finishing off the last 15 degrees at about 325 on the Egg before wrapping it in foil and letting it sit for about and hour and a half or so.

Getting the sauces ready...ready to dive in!

theyolksonyou

Gonna be some good eats.

pwshine

The finished product...gotta say for the first time, and not knowing what I was doing, it is pretty dang good

pwshine

And some Fat Johnnys Piedmont Sauce to accompany it...yum

theyolksonyou

And the leftovers freeze well and you can do all kinds of great things from egg roll to taquitos(tonight). Pulled pork is awesome! Greta job!

Jeepster47

Oh yes, it lasts for a long time ... great to thaw out to use as a main meat for a multitude of different meals.  Looks good ... congrats.

stv8r

great cook!  Good job...looks delicious

ummgood

Did you say your dome temp was 140-150?  Did you mean 240-250?  Doesn't anything less than 140 mean you are at risk on the meat?  I am just asking because I don't know and would like to

pwshine

ummgood said:

Did you say your dome temp was 140-150?  Did you mean 240-250?  Doesn't anything less than 140 mean you are at risk on the meat?  I am just asking because I don't know and would like to

Stabilized dome at 250, or at least I thought, before I went to bed. Woke up to it at about 150...tested meat temp after 11 hrs (9:00 AM) and it was at 158...so it had to had to have cooked well during the night

It was a very up and down last 6-7 hrs. to get it back to level

But in the end it's all a learning experience, especially for the first time doing anything like this, and it turned out really good. So all in all, pretty pleased.

ummgood

Ok that makes sense.  I just wasn't sure but it sounds like you are good.  I get nervous about those things so I probably would have thrown the entire roast out.  That is why I don't do overnight cooks yet.  I just am not an all nighter kind of guy (I didn't even do all nighters in college) so I would probably wake up to the same scenario and over react.  When I get my stoker then I'll try an overnighter but my last butt I cooked I started at 9a.m. and it was done at 10:30 and I shredded it and threw it in the fridge and went to bed.

milesvdustin

You'll get the hang of it. Once you really learn the settings for your draft door and daisy wheel, you can set it and forget it for the most part.

I happen to like the overnight cooks, its a great excuse to stay up all night long drinking beer and listening to music. I told my wife I did not want a BBQ guru, it would take my fun time away!

johnkitchens

@milesvdustin I can't stay up all night anymore. Sleep is a good friend. 

ummgood

milesvdustin said:

You'll get the hang of it. Once you really learn the settings for your draft door and daisy wheel, you can set it and forget it for the most part.

I happen to like the overnight cooks, its a great excuse to stay up all night long drinking beer and listening to music. I told my wife I did not want a BBQ guru, it would take my fun time away!

Maybe when I have the kids out of the house.  I could nap the next day but with 3 kids aged 3, 5, and 11 I don't get any naps.  Well the 11 year old doesn't stop naps but the other two do

Mattman3969

Next butt get your "Turbo" on. Egg at 350 straight through no foil and you can do a 7-8lb butt in about 5 1/2-6hrs. No reason to stay up all night. I haven't done an overnighter in a long time because I too like my sleepy time

As for the controllers I strongly suggest to learn how to control your egg manually before adding one just for the rare time that the electronics let you down and you gotz to run your egg without any help.

Last but should have been first that was an excellent looking piece of porky goodness.