first boston butt/pork shoulder on old style BGE

Woogeroo

I am planning on smoking my first boston butt/pork shoulder tomorrow - whether it rains or not.. [p]anyway, I am smoking it in and OLD style Big Green Egg, for those of you who do not know, that means don't take it over 300 degrees. [p]I was planning on smoking it between 225-250 degrees dome temp... [p]anyone see a problem with this plan?[p]Any tips for keeping it moist - thigns to watch for... do I flip it over or let it sit? [p]Do I put it straight on the grill, use the rack... [p]Tips and advice appreciated![p]-W

The Naked Whiz

<p />Woogeroo,
You might like to read about my first butt. Click on the recipes link, then pork, then "Pulled Pork Naked Whiz Style". My first one turned out pretty well.[p]TNW[p]
[ul][li]The Naked Whiz's Website[/ul]

Woogeroo

The Naked Whiz,
ah - the naked whiz site, I have been there b4- cool site. I will go check out the details. Thanks. [p]At what temp is a pork butt 'done' and 'safe to eat' etc.?[p](the above was asked b4 i went to the naked whiz site... maybe it is hiding in there )[p];)[p]-W

[ul][li]Woogeroo's Smoking Page[/ul]

Wise One

Woogeroo, a butt needs to be at least at the 185 mark but is much btter if you can let it go higher - even to 205. A lot of people like to give it the fork test which is to insert a fork and if you can twist it easily, the butt is done. A butt at the lower temeratures may be sliced but when you get one up close to 205 you cannot slice it - but you get heavenly pulled pork. As for safe to eat - you're probably safe at 160 - but a butt at 160 is not that good. It takes the higher temperatures to cook out the collagen and make the meat easy to pull. [p]As for your old style BGE, you're safe up to the 375-400 mark. However. cooking a butt should not take a temperature any higher than 250. I personally think that 240 is about ideal but even if it goes at 275 it turns out great.Trying to keep it less than 240 means that your grill temp is probably in the 200 range which means you're trying to get your meat at 205 with the grill only at 200. Pretty difficult. In any case, enjoy.

Woogeroo

Wise One,[p] Thanks. [p]
-W

Woogeroo

Hiya folks... [p]8:07am - 5:30(or so) pm - 7.5lbs 200 internal temp(all over) nice and juicy-squishy. I wrapped it in tin foil and stuck it in an igloo cooler. [p]I'm going to take it out in a few... [p]thanks for all of the tips everyone! [p]-W [p]

Still Smokin'

Woogeroo,
If you can wait, try to leave in the cooler a minimum of 1 hour. More if you can. The entire time it is resting, it is melting out excess fat. 2 hours is awesome. Good time for a beer. Pull a little bark to tide you over during the wait.

Woogeroo

If ya'll are interested in how it turned out:[p]http://woogeroo.home.mindspring.com/bge/[p]scroll down to: [p]1 - 7.5 lb pork shoulder/boston butt - 07/04/2003[p]it is an ascii text(.txt) file. [p]-W

Woogeroo

Still Smokin',
thanks for the tip. I was waitin' leaving it alone, for at least an hour... but I went in there to think abo peeking at it and the family of vultures had descended upon it. Sheesh... it was still super juicy and yummy... [p]In the future I'm going to take it with me or lock it up somewhere... [p]-W