Help

Jim R.

Left the "butt" at 171 and dome at 250,got delayed and have found the "butt" at 158 fire out and dome registering a little over 100.Total time was about three hours away.What next?
Dug out a little sample and it seemed to not to be tough but not the same texture from previous cooks.

Fireball

Jim R,
REstart the fire and go on with it. How long were you delayed. The internal is @ 158 (still in the safe zone) everything should work out fine.
Fireball

Unknown

Jim R,
I agree with fireball. In fact, the first time I tried cooking a Butt this happened to me and I took the butt off, put my electric starter on and as soon as flames started coming out, I put the butt back on again. The only thing I would recommend is to go ahead and raise the dome temp to around 275.

Unknown

MasterQnot,
One more thing, may not be a bad Idea to put some new lump in to make sure you can finish her off.

Nature Boy

Jim R,
not to disagree with the previous posters, but I say it is about done. You were already past the plateau (at 171)....so the breakdown of connective tissue is as about far as it will get. See if you can twist a fork in it, and dig in!
HTH. Enjoy it.
NB

Jim R.

Fireball,
Thanks to all you folks!!What a bunch.

Stogie

Nature Boy,[p]Hi Chris![p]Actually, the connective tissue continues to break down and is fully rendered at around 205-210º. That is the difference between slicing...around 175-185º, when the meat will still hold together...and the pulled stage...around 205-210º.[p]Matter of fact, the internal temp should reach 210º and then cook an additional hour! This according to tests run by Cook's Illustrated. This is why my 22 hour pork butt came out so tender and moist with very little fat.....all the connective tissue and fat was totally rendered out.[p]Don't get me wrong, I think his butt could very well be done, it just won't pull very easily.[p][p]

Nature Boy

Stogie,
Yeah. I wasn't sure how long he was gone. But I have found, like Cat has mentioned, that it really depends how long it was in that 170 range. I have had butts that pulled nicely that never reached 180.[p]Beers onya.
NB