Even the Naked Whiz has to post about his BUTT!!

The Naked Whiz

Ok, believe it or not, I'm doing only my second overnighter with 2 pork butts. I bought 13.5 pounds of butt from Sam's in a 2 pack cryovac. I'd estimate the larger one is 7.5 pounds and the smaller one is 6 pounds. I've got the thermometer in the big one because that's the one I care most about. I don't have a second probe and I'm not going to switch the thermometer to the smaller butt (I'm gonna be difficult about this) so I'm wondering if anyone has a guess as to what temp on the big butt I should take out the small butt. In theory, I guess using the 1.5 hours/pound rule of thumb, I should expect the smaller one to be done about 2.25 hours before the larger one? Anyway, I'm gonna give the smaller one to my neighbor, so I'd like him to get something worth having, (but I'm dang sure not gonna give him the big one). Any ideas? You'll have to forgive this crazy post. I didn't get the 1 beer I'm allotted until about 8 o'clock, and it is still affecting my judgement.... :-)[p]TNW

smokeypete

The Naked Whiz,seems to me the best thing to do would to put the probe in the smaller... the bigger won't be overdone when ths smaller is ready, then the bigger can be cooked to perfection in it's own time and both you and your neighbor can be equally pleased and mr. butt and mrs. butt can both be perfect. hm.. a brace of butts, sounds too good to be true to me!

djm5x9

Whiz:[p]Direct? Indirect? Regardless, it takes a while for the meat to come close to monitoring. I do not check temperature until the meat starts to shrink up around the bone. Then I will monitor the temperature of the butts. Placing the polder in the meat during the whole cook is just not necessary.[p]You do want to monitor the small one so it does not dry out. Or is this your way of discouraging your neighbor from coming over when you are cooking on the cooker?[p]I have two eight and a half pound butts thawing in the ice box for a cook tomorrow. I am going to take some to work Monday and that evening a gas grill company will not complete a grill sale . . .[p]By the way, I need a new 19" CRT monitor. Any suggestions?

ChefRD

The Naked Whiz,
if the difference is only like one pound and a half, I would'nt even worry about it. Me, I would probly pull it off at somewheres between 195~200 based on the thermometer.
I don't think there will be a big diference. Once u take it off the grill you can poke it and see if it is fork tender and if its not and u are unsure u can put it back for more time. I have had such good luck with pulled pork after hitting 190 and above, now I don't much worry.
HTH .
ChefRD.

The Naked Whiz

smokeypete,
Nope, I'm being difficult. The probe is in the large and that's where it's going to stay. :-)
TNW

The Naked Whiz

djm5x9,
I knew too much beer would make me unintelligible. It's an indirect cook (plate setter and drip pan and grid). I'm actually testing some new charcoal, so if one butt is ok and the other is dry, I'll chuck the dry and be happy. It was $1 a pound at Sams. I'm getting a thermapen in the next few days, so I'd probably use that if I had it to monitor the small. [p]I have a 19" flat monitor that I like pretty much, but I bought it because I have an employee discount, and I'm pretty sure you can buy better cheaper monitors if you consult an expert. But I have an IBM P97. [p]TNW

Unknown

The Naked Whiz,
I don't use probes anymore. They're just too flaky IMHO. I'll start looking at the butts at around the 10-12 hour mark amd use my thermapen to get an accurate temp. If my timings right, I'll probe the meat just before the stall temp. If so, I usually don't check again for another 3 hours or so. If it's still in the stall range, I'll then kick up the temp 50F. or so to push it thru the stall point. I've done 10-12 butts this way....it's a little more time intensive, not having an alarm, but worth it. Oh yeaah, almost forgot.....since I'm looking in on the meat more often, I'll mop it each time I probe it using a cider vinager/rub/hot sauce/apple juice concoction.[p]Good Luck & nite-nite![p]Jeff

Unknown

The Naked Whiz,
I cook Butts regardless of size for 22hrs at a grill temp of 210, no added water, no peeking allowed.
Never been able to tell the difference after everything was pulled and mixed together.
The only failure involved Kroger brand charcoal, made with flour as a binding agent as an experiment.
A ten pound bag would not sustain a 18hr cook and left eight pound of ash! And left a funny twang to the meat. The dog loved it, though.
No more charcoal bricks, logs or donuts for me.
Good luck on the cook!