First Pulled Pork Butt Roast

WoodworkerBED · June 29

Hello Friends, I will be doing my first pork butt for the 4'th. I plan to go low and slow at 250 F with the plate setter, Kick Ash Drip pan, and Thermoworks Billows to control temp. The butt roast I bought weighs 7.8 lbs. I plan to wrap in pink butcher between 160 - 170 F and finish at 200-205 F. My question is how long will it take? I have looked at a number of U-Tube videos and the total time is all over the map.
Tks for any suggestions. Bruce Dimick

StillH2OEgger · June 29

It's done when it probes tender, and that temp can vary. Wrap if you want, but I have never felt the need to do so (foil or butcher paper) on the BGE unless you need to speed it up. Wrapping might be more necessary on some other types of smokers, I don't know. Like most things, you'll get a lot of different answers. For what it's worth, I've found the input from this forum to be far more reliable than what can be found on YouTube and/or social media. Either way, good luck, I'm sure it will be great.

alaskanassasin · June 29

Give yourself plenty of time you can ftc for hours. You are in for a treat if this is your first butt!!!

calracefan · June 29

Each piece of meat is or can be different. Usually figure 1.5 -2 hrs per pound as a rough guide .

unoriginalusername · June 29

I prefer boat vs wrap in kamados as the bark is not as far along at 160 ish vs things like offsets

lousubcap · June 29

As you have found, the guidance and estimates are all over the place as that is reality. As said by @alaskanassasin figure out when you want to pull and serve, then back up that time by around 4 hours and that's your guesstimated finish time. Running at 250*F (on a calibrated dome thermo) figure about 1.5 hours per pound and have at it. The FTC (foil, towel, cooler ) hold is your friend and the means to hold until ready to pull.

If running long on cook time, then you can dial up the temperature to bring it home. Foiling the butt itself with get you around 15*F/ hour temperature rise itself. Go until it probes smooth as noted above.
Pork butt is a very forgiving cook. Enjoy the event.

bluebird66 · June 29

When it's probe tender.

logchief · June 29

If I have a fairly large butt I like to cut it in half. Cuts the cooking time and gives you a little more bark. Again as said above it should probe like soft butter. FTC works like a champ on pork. Show some pics when it's done

danhoo · June 30

To make the FTC stage easier I use 9x13 aluminum steamer pans. A large butts fits well and I wrap the top. These usually don't leak going into the cooler, but they are super hot and flimsy, so I set the steamer pan on a quarter sheet pan that is also 9x13 which makes it easy to get in and out of the cooler.
Pics are better than words so here's a couple

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/pf/tdrq2xrki1rw.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/fn/f4vts1w1ohs9.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/li/6s9gx8w82cu3.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/pf/wqwcnl8d5r36.jpg

WoodworkerBED · June 29

Thanks for all the help so far, especially the comments from lousubcap.
Bruce

caliking · June 30

Are you planning for lunch, or dinner?

If planning for lunch, start it up before going to bed. If its done early, you can FTC for several hrs. Let the butt rest for 30mins-ish before FTC. Pull/shred prior to service.

If planning for dinner service, start early in the morning. Firing up your cooker, with coffee in hand, is a wonderful way to start a day. The aroma of the charcoal, and wood, lighting up before the rest of the house wakes up, is magical. Make sure the cook is well-marinated through the day

As mentioned above, plan to be done early, and stick it in the cooler. Pack the cooler to eliminate as much air space as you can.

Lastly, pulled pork is awesome with King's Hawaiian Rolls.

First Pulled Pork Butt Roast

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