7 Lb Butt

Bean Town

Just put it on at 9:30 EST. I have a 205 dome temperature and I think it has stabilized. I do not have a temp guage running inside the egg and do not want to open the lid before it is done. How long might this piece of meat take?

Ryan

Bean Town,[p]If you're going to stay at 205 dome temp, I bet it'll go 16 hours plus before you reach 200 internal...[p]JMO,[p]Ryan[p]

Mike in MN

Ryan,
Or longer. Mine generally go longer, and I maintain 225 with the dome thermometer.[p]Why don't you have a dome thermometer? How do you monitor things? This is a crap shoot at best. How about the meat's internal temp? How are you monitoring that? [p]Timing is not the answer. You can't really predict the amount of time things are going to take. You can "work" the time a bit towards the end to hurry it or slow things down...if you have thermometers to manage the process.[p]Good luck.[p]Mike in MN

bigmikej

Bean Town,
I put on 4 7lb butts last night at 9PM. I have them in an over under setup and the bottom one is at 159, while one of the top ones is at 173. They only went up about 10-15 degrees since I went to bed at 1AM. The egg cranked along through the night at 230-240. Very nice considering about half of my overnight buut cooks go out sometime in the night. Thanks to thos of you who helped with my dilemma. ((See post below-"Chops, then butts...")[p]On your topic, you do need some type of meat thermometer to know when to pull your butt. I shoot for 200 internal. Your timing is different on each one. I always cook 6.5-8 pounders and they have taken anywhere from 17 hours to 23 hours at 220-250 dome. If you get done earlier than you hope, just wrap in HD foil and then a dry, old towel, and place in a clean, dry cooler for up to 5 hours before pulling the meat. Any longer than this and you might want to throw it back on the egg for an hour (in foil) or so at 250-275 to heat it back up to pulling temps.[p]Just a few thoughts...

Unknown

Bean Town,[p]It will take plenty long enough for you to go out and get some kind of thermometer. After about 18 hours I'd check it, and if you stay at 205 I would think the butt would only be around 170 by then. I'd crank up the egg to about 300 for another hour or two.[p]The internal temp is pretty important...I wouldn't want to risk one of my favorite meals by guessing wrong about it. Thermometers aren't that expensive. I use one that just sticks in the meat and points up...I can peek through the chimney at it when I'm curious. I think it was about 3 bucks at Wal-Mart.

nikkig

Bean Town,
I would start checking at 12 hours if you don't have a polder in it. Most of our butts take between 12-15 hours.[p]~nikki

The Naked Whiz

Mike in MN,
I think he has a dome thermometer, he just doesn't have a meat thermometer.[p]TNW

stike

Ryan,
i do mine at 220 and it takes 19 hours or so for an 8 and a half pounder......