14 Hour 5.5lb Boston Butt

Nole_Fan · July 2016

Set out to try my first boston butt Saturday. Started off on a bad note, as I had set my alarm to go off at 5 (wife thinks I am crazy for getting up early on a Saturday to grill) but I accidentally set it for PM, so at 6:35 or so I wake up in a mad dash to go get the egg started.

Everything was going great, and I even left with the wife to go help her set her classroom up for an hour. When I got back, the dome temp was down to 220 or so, when I was trying to keep it at 245-50. Got it back up to where I wanted it and it got to stall temp pretty quick (seemed to be 156 degrees for this butt) so since I was already running behind, I decided to foil to try and catch back up on some time. Got up to 170, and thought great, I will take the foil off. Wrong, the thing started going lower again.

Finally I panicked and just wrapped the thing in foil again and cranked the dome temp to around 260-75 for a bit. It got to 185 and just sat there, and sat there.

Finally at 9 (we had long already done something different for dinner) I walked out to check the meat and the bone pulled right out. I FTC’d it for an hour and pulled it to have for lunch/dinner last night, and froze the rest.

It was great, but what did I do wrong? I have yet to check the accuracy of the probe, and I don’t yet have a quick read digital thermometer to compare it with. I plan on checking the probe accuracy in boiling water.

The grill probe (Ivation Maverick 732 clone) was closer to the dome temp (recently calibrated) than I figured it would be.

Could I possibly have been touching the bone? Where does everyone put the probe in a bone in butt?

lousubcap · July 2016

For a low&slow cook you don't need the quick read thermo. All you need is a means to know when to start checking for the ease of bone removal. Any calibrated el cheapo oven proof thermo will do the job. I would check your dome thermo again in boiling water. With your temperatures it should not have taken 14 hours but sometimes the piggy gets stubborn, especially as the butt size gets smaller. FWIW-
Regarding thermo placement, I just look for a thick section and not in a fat pocket or touching the bone.

gonepostal · July 2016

I generally do all of my butt cooks the night before. I put them on whenever...and aim to keep the dome temp at 250 or lower. Roughly 1.5 hrs per pound. When i wake up i check the temp. If it's done i pull and FTC...if not i let it ride. These things will stay hot for so long in the cooler that you are good to go for either lunch or an early dinner if you do it that way. Just my thoughts...

GregW · July 2016

lousubcap , 14 hrs seems too long for a 5.5 Lb butt.

lousubcap · July 2016

@GregW -My comment from the above post:
"With your temperatures it should not have taken 14 hours but sometimes the piggy gets stubborn, especially as the butt size gets smaller." FWIW-

GregW · July 2016

lousubcap said:

@GregW -My comment from the above post:
"With your temperatures it should not have taken 14 hours but sometimes the piggy gets stubborn, especially as the butt size gets smaller." FWIW-

Sorry, that was not what I meant to post in reply to your post.
I had typed " I agree with @lousubcap"
Somehow the agree part didn't get posted in the message.
I don't have any idea what happened.
Is there any way to delete my post?
I 100% agree with your thoughts.
Again, I'm sorry that this occurred.

lousubcap · July 2016

No worries and since you are past the one-hour edit window, no edit. I just wanted to let you know that we were on the same page with the cook temp vs time.

BikerBob · July 2016

I have always had a fail when I tried to rush a cook with foil. Glad you got some good pork anyway. If the thermometer pushes in easy, it's done. If the temp is about 200 that's even better.

Nole_Fan · July 2016

I have still yet to check my probe in boiling water, will do that soon. Not sure what I was doing wrong.

I had a drip pan with water/apple cider. Could that have hindered me?

Oh well, practice makes perfect. I do need to find a new source though, my local Publix is pretty high per lb on pork butt!

GrateEggspectations · July 2016

@Nole_Fan: I have to admit that I LOLd at your alarm fail. Made me think about the Seinfeld with the runner missing the alarm and getting to the race late. "It was the volume!"

GregW · July 2016

Nole_Fan said:

I have still yet to check my probe in boiling water, will do that soon. Not sure what I was doing wrong.

I had a drip pan with water/apple cider. Could that have hindered me?

Oh well, practice makes perfect. I do need to find a new source though, my local Publix is pretty high per lb on pork butt!

No doubt about Publix being high. They are at least $1.00/Lb higher than other stores in my area, and some of the other places sell higher quality meat for less.
For years I couldn't wait to get a Publix in my town. Now that I have one I'm still driving a distance to Piggly Wiggly for better quality meat at a lower price.

Theophan · July 2016

gonepostal said:

... aim to keep the dome temp at 250 or lower.

I swear I get more smoke and a better cook overall if I smoke at 250 or HIGHER. I find 250-275 a "sweet spot," and if I go 225 or 200, the cook goes well in other ways, but it just isn't as smoky, and for some meats I really like a lot of smoke flavor. I have suspected that the 200-225 temperature range guideline comes from people cooking on stick burners, and got adopted by people on BGEs without really testing it.

But I'm no expert, and am willing to learn. What is it that you like better about 250 or below?

Thanks!

THEBuckeye · July 2016

I probe in multiple spots the thickest point being the most important.

Next time, crank it to 350 to finish it off so you don't have to keep staring at it.

Silly question but did you put it on frozen, semi-frozen?

No way a 5.5er should take that long.

4Runner · July 2016

Way too long for that size butt. Weird.

gonepostal · July 2016

@Theophan my off day schedule is different than most. Sunday and a rotating day. I should have said that i like doing those at night when i'm not working the next day. So putting it on late in the day and locking it at a low temp...i can leave the alarm clock off! My point to the OP was just to give him another option in regards to scheduling and sleeping in a little later on his off day.

As to your question, i think more than anything for me it's just preference. I tend to get my heavier smoke early in the cook. I do start closer to 300 than 250 during the first few hours and slowly but surely i get the vents closed down. Once i get it dialed in at say 225-245 i let it ride. And also, i usually buy butts in the 7-9 lb range so checking on them 10 or 12 hrs later is no big deal. Once done...i do like a long FTC if time allows. And for me...the finished product with this method has received the most compliments from friends and family.

However...lol...i personally haven't been as happy with my level of smoke with recent cooks. I'm constantly tweeking my methods so i'll probably bump the temp up with one of my next cooks...

@Nole_Fan at least you guys were able to eat your first butt! My first brick...i mean butt...ended up in the trash. I remember being so disappointed. I became a serious lurker on this forum after that and watched all the youtube videos i could find. I "practiced" alot those first few months to the point where my wife demanded that i stop cooking them for awhile...

Nole_Fan · July 2016

Yes, my first was definitely an odd duck, but like you said at least it was good to eat. I plan on giving many more a try, as practice makes perfect.

We are having our 2nd child in October, and I may start trying to find some pulled pork on sale, cooking them, and freezing. Would be a tasty, quick warm up meal so we don't have to cook.

The wife is loving the egg so far, one for the taste of the food that is coming off of it, and two, all I want to do is cook and try new things out.

Going to do chicken wings this weekend.

14 Hour 5.5lb Boston Butt

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