Butt Question

Wardster

I'm almost done with my second Butt. 200* held all night. Temp is now 161. Is the plateau always between 175 and 185? Last check was at 7am and it was 157*. It's now 9am and it's 161. Just curious as to when I should open the vents and bring the temp to 200*. BBQ is good, but not really the breakfast of champions.....
Thanks

Tim M

Wardster,[p]I would suggest ignoring the 200 deg cooking - 225 or 250 deg is really what it should be. 200 on the Egg is too hard to hold and too apt to have the fire go out. That hunk of meat can take it without even noticing. Go to 250 now. When the meat temp get through the stall, around 170-180, then bump it up to 275 - 300 deg depending on how much you want to hurry it. Staying at 200 will run you out of lump before its done and takes forever.[p]Tim

Earl

Wardster,
I may be wrong here, but i beleive the plateau will be at about the 150 to 160 mark & will stay there for a few hours.[p]Earl

Razorback

Wardster,
I did a butt yesterday and it stopped for a while at 158, then jumped up to 161. It was probably between 158-161 for 3+ hours. I cooked it around 240-250, then bumped it up to 300 when polder read about 170.

sdbelt

Wardster,[p]This is a day late, so I'm sure you ate some wonderful Q yesterday, but I thought I'd pipe in with a quick answer.[p]I like what Tim M said: Maintain a dome temp from 225-250 until the meat temp is above 170. After that, go ahead and move the dome temp up to 275-300 until the meat is at least 200. Some think that 205 is better than 200. Not sure of this, myself, but I do like 200 over 195. I'm doing a butt right now myself, and will be shooting for 202.[p]I consider the stall temp of the meat to be anything below 170. I see stalls posted from the high 150's to the mid 160's. That's why I like to bump the dome temp once the meat's at 170. Today I bumped it at 174, because I wasn't paying that close attention...plus I had the time to spare.[p]Hope it was good![p]--sdb