Pulled Pork

Unknown

Oh dear, oh dear. Try as I may, I never seem to be able to build Elder Ward's 20 hour fire. So I try for a 12 hour one starting about 5-6 pm and restoked the morning after.
I put the Boston butt on yesterday at 6 pm, 200 degrees dome. This morning at 6 I still had 200 degrees and 194 on the polder. I decided to leave it while I wasted a couple of hours on the internet. Just checked it a minute -150 dome and 184 on polder. What do I do now? Rebuild fire and reheat to 200 polder? Take it out and pull it? Help.[p]Larry

sprinter

Larry,[p]Each Butt is different, and it may well be that this one is done. At 194 on the polder I'd take it out anyway. By the time you get the fire rebuilt it will take another 3-4 hours to makeup that 6 degrees to 200. Stick a fork in it, can you turn it relatively easily? Then its done. If not, its close enough for government work as they say. Put it in foil for awhile and it will continue to cook/baste itself for awhile, then pull it and enjoy. This is just MHO, I like my PP a little bit on the rarer side anyway, usually take mine off at about 185-195. However, by this time they are good with the fork test and thats what I go by anyway. Good luck.[p]Troy

KennyG

Larry,[p]You came ever so close to that magic 200*. You might be just fine. My suggestion would be to wrap the butt tightly in foil and toss in a 300* oven to get the internal back toward 200. Try doing a little pulling right now, the oven might not be necessary. If your Egg is a large one, filling up with lump to the very top of the firebox just below the ring should have given you at least 20 hrs at dome 200*[p]K~G

Unknown

sprinter,
Thanks. I rebuilt the fire and put the pig back on. The temp had sagged to 162 and in the last hour has only recouped 6 degrees. I think I'll do what you said. Pull it and fork it. Should have thrown on a little more lump at 0600.[p]L[p]

Unknown

KennyG,[p]Thanks for the advice. I had already rebuilt the fire and replaced the pig in its cradle. You're right, I probably just ought to fork it and see how it looks. Don't know how it got to 194 in a 200 dome in just 16 hours. It was a 6# boston butt.[p]L

sprinter

Larry,[p]I have a medium BGE and seems like no matter how hard I try, I'm not able to get a 20 hour fire in it. I've gone as long as 15 on a FULL load of lump at 200 but thats the longest I've ever gone. What I usually do is put the temp up to about 220-240 and let it go for about 12 hours, thats usually enough for the internal to be at least 200. Keep checking it if you do it this way. I figure that by 12 hours on the BGE, if it isn't smokey enough for me it aaint gonna get there. Good luck with the PP, it will be great regardless.[p]Troy

Unknown

sprinter,
I have the big green egg. Still have trouble with the 20 hour fire. I guess if the pig got up to 194 @ 200 dome, it wouldn't make any difference if it did it in 12 hours or 20.
Thanks again.[p]L

Nature Boy

Larry,
Yeah, maybe a bit quick, but every butt is different. Is your dome thermometer calibrated? [p]194 internal could definitely be good pulled pork.
Glad it worked out for you anyway. I just picked up a Boston Butt today. Good stuff, and the kids love it.[p]NB

Mr Beer

Larry,
Just did 9# of butt in my large BGE Saturday night/Sunday. This time I did not follow Elder Ward's procedure for building the fire. I just dumped in a large quantity of limp - to the top of the fire box in a level pile. Cooked the butt for 21 hours at 200 degrees and then raised the temp to 300 degrees for 2.5 more hours. No problems at all maintaining the temps for that period of time. In fact it looks like I have enough unburned lump to last 3-4 more hours.[p]The last pulled pork that I did I built the fire according to Elder's procedure and it only burned for 16 hours before giving out. [p]I can only guess that the type of lump used plays an important factor in the length of the burn.