Pork Butt Questions

Just Plain Mike

Publix has pork butts on sale for $0.99 per pound but they are picnic shoulders. I've never cooked one of these so I bought one yesterday, trimmed as much fat off as I could and put it on this morning. It's been sitting on 170 internal for at least a couple hours now. I assume this is the temp where everything breaks down and renders. I am trying to get to 195 to 200 as I would like to pull it. My questions: (1)Any estimates as to how much longer it should take to get to 200 internal with a pit temp running 250? (2) What temp should the meat be to pull? (3) Would I be able to wrap it tonight in foil, towels cooler and pull it in the AM or will I be up all night??

Celtic Wolf

Just Plain Mike,[p]It's done when it's done.. [p]Pulled Pork

Big'un

Just Plain Mike,
I loooove picnics! I try to do pulled pork with picnics only! I take off the skin and treat as I would a pork butt. If it's been in the plateau fro a couple of hours, it won't be long before it comes out. Of course you know that every piece of meat is different but I believe you are in good shape. I pull at about 193F, foil, and rest; always juicy. you can crank the heat up slightly and it will finish quicker. Without the weight, it's hard to tell when it will finish but you are doin' fine.
Big'un

Richard

Just Plain Mike,
Hope you have a good supply of adult beverage to keep you company. Perhaps you and Spring Chicken will have a good early am conversation. As Celtic Wolf said, it is done when it is done!

Just Plain Mike

Thanks for the input. Butt is now at 176 and the pit temp is 256 (ET73 sensor on grid near the meat). How long do I need to wait before pulling it? Does it need to be hot or should I let it cool off? By the way, I've gone thru about 20 pounds of lump plus about 5 of chunks on the offset. Next time I do a picnic, it's going on the egg!

SmokinGuitarPlayer

Just Plain Mike,
I pull my butts at 200 , wrap in foil or put in foil pan covered with foil and let rest at least an hour , sometimes more ... the foil pan really catches juices and you can pull the meat right in the same pan and mix back in and it gets outrageous.

Unknown

Just Plain Mike,[p](1) It's hard to say when it will be done as no two pieces of meat are the same. I'd guess that you'll be coming out soon but that's a guess based on past experience and once coming out it'll finish off pretty quick. That being said you could raise the temp which will speed up the process if it get to late.[p](2) I pull my butts at 195 wrap in foil and then in towels into an ICE chest (with no ICE) for a couple of hours. Then unwrap and pull.[p]

Jeeves

Just Plain Mike,[p]I've done about 8 butts so far and I usually pull off around 190-200, the foil/coolerize it for about an hour.[p]The time in depends on the size, temperature...[p]To be honest, even when I've done a small butt (6#), I've seen it take almost 20 hours. If you take a look at the recipe on BGE's site, it says 20 hours. This is what I'm finding - is that no matter what size it is, for some reason, it takes around 20 hours. Now, you can speed things up slightly by increasing the temp after the 'render' perioud if you want, but that temp is only going to get inside the meat so fast, just because of the meat/tissue, etc.[p]When measuring, make sure that the probe is AWAY from the bone (if there is one).[p]-Jeeves