Hey Deetwood.........

Wardster

What time did your butt finish? How was it?

Deetwood

Wardster,[p]Well it started out well, my fire stayed lit well, but I could never get it to 200 degrees. I had cooked it for 12 hours by 10:30. I ended up falling asleep and woke up at 3:30 and it was at 192.[p]I pulled it and it's a little on the dry side but eatable. I'm not sure why it would get up to temperature.[p]I do have confidence I can build a good fire now because it stayed lit a good 18 hours.

Bob V

Deetwood,[p]This gets into one of those "judgement calls" on time & temperature. I've found that the most important thing is breaking down the collagen in the plateau, but depending on the particular grade and piece of meat, the time you spend getting from 185 up to 200 may - in fact - dry the meat out.[p]The compromise on this is to wrap the meat in foil when it gets to 165 or so, remove it when it hits 190, then let it rest to reabsorb all the juices for a couple of hours.[p]Other folks just rely on the educated fork (or practiced thumb) to say, "It's done!"[p]All this is to say that the final done temperature is not set in concrete. The meat tells you when it is done.[p]Bob V

Wardster

Deetwood,
Yeah, I did one on Thurs and she hovered around 154 for HOURS.....
I decided to crank her up to bring it to temp and she gave in. It was a tad dry, but still tasty as all get out.
I think each butt has their own personality and they will allow themselves to be cooked as they desire!
It sure is fun trying.

Wise One

Deetwood, you should review drbbq's little tutorial he gave us recently. According to the good doctor, it's more of a question of ho wlong you spend in the plateau region rather than the final temp that determines how well the butt is cooked. You may have spent plenty of time in the plateau so that it could have been pulled a little earlier.