Can't get Boston Butt above 160?

Unknown · May 2007

This is my first time using the egg. I decided to smoke a 7.5 pound Boston Butt. I've done 5 to 10 pound BBs in a regular metal smoker with great success. My wife bought me a Large egg for my birthday after I had mentioned reading about it a few times. I was pretty excited to roll it out and get it going.[p]I think my first mistake was not adding the smoking wood in advance. I added the proscribed amount of BGE charcoal and heated it with an electric starter, then let it sit for a few minutes until I was seeing about 250 degrees (using a pair of RediChek wireless thermometers). Unlike a lot of folks around here (or so it seems from searches I've tried), we like a fairly heavy smoke flavor a lot. By not adding wood in advance, I created later problems for myself having to move the meat to get to the coals -- fortunately I was using the inverted-V thing and a drip pan, so it was do-able. I'll know better next time.[p]Anyway, after about 10 hours my Boston Butt had creeped up on about 157 or 158 at the center and stayed there. The ambient temp had been fairly steady, ranging from about 255 to a high of maybe 275. After an hour without any change at all, I started letting it creep up. Even sitting at a roasting 310 degrees, the temp just never went up.[p]At this point the BB has just come out of the oven at 350 "finishing" up. I figure it has absorbed more than enough smoke, and the BGE has certainly kept it juicy, but I'm ready to let it cool and get some bed before work tomorrow.[p]Why couldn't I get it over 160? I was hoping to hit about 185ish to ease pulling it apart -- this was never a problem in my old metal smoker. I like the steady temperature and the minimized "fiddling around" with the BGE but I'm concerned with this apparent plateau in the meat temperature. Granted it's a fairly large hunk of meat.[p]What did I do wrong?

Celtic Wolf · May 2007

McGuire,[p] The plateau is normal and can take several hours to get past. During the plateau you might even see the temp drop some. Pork should take anywhere from 1 - 2 hours to reach 195. This will depend on the amount of fat, connective tissue and bone present. 7.5 pounds at 250 dome could have taken 15 hours to cook.[p]Patience is a virtue well practiced with Pork Butt and Brisket cooks..[p][p]

citychicken · May 2007

Celtic Wolf,
you always seem to give such helpful follow-ups. thanks celtic

Unknown · May 2007

Thanks Celtic, I'll keep that in mind the next time around. I did actually see the temp drop from 160 to about 158, and that's when I yanked it and jammed it into the oven. As you can see, I'm still up and waiting around for it to cool off enough that it doesn't kill my fridge while I sleep, LOL.[p]Is this really a characteristic of this type of cut, or is it a more simple case of just the basic quantity of meat involved, or what?[p]The killer is that I actually expected to have adequate time to cook it -- I had planned to start at 7AM -- then I realized I had forgotten to soak the wood chips overnight. It was only many hours later that I started reading the forum and realized many BGE users don't bother with soaking. Oh well, live and learn.[p]Thanks again for the input.

JM3 · May 2007

McGuire,[p]Patience young Jedi. A pork butt can spend hours in the plateau somewhere around 160 internal. I did a pork shoulder this weekend. It spend almost 6 hours breaking through the plateau and then seemed to hit a second plateau around 185. All in all it went 19 hours. With a 7.5 pould butt be ready for a 15 hour cook. A lot of people on the board would probably start a 7.5 pounder about 16 or 17 hours before service time. If it finishes earlier you double wrap in foil and place it in a cooler until it is time to pull it and serve. [p]
John

stike · May 2007

McGuire,
no need to soak the wood chips in the egg, they can't burn because there's no spare oxygen. they'll smolder just fine (better actually) than wet.[p]sounds like you had a dying fire, too. not enough lump for the cook. if you used the "few handfuls" of lump recommended in the manual.[p]hat's off to you for doing a butt cook right out of the box.[p]...oh, i plan on 2 hours a pound at 250, so you were actually on time i think.

Celtic Wolf · May 2007

McGuire,[p] Both Pork Butt and Brisket will drop in temp one or two degrees near the start of the plateau. This is due to the Collagen starting break down. This is a good thing.[p] As you already observed don't soak the chips in fact the use of chunks is better.[p] You need to practice patience my young Padawan!! When doing a Butt or a Brisket always plan in a couple extra hours. This is the other reason coolers are used.

EddieMac · May 2007

Welcome aboard, Mr. McGuire!! You're getting some really good advice on this subject from veteran Eggers....A couple of friends of mine recently acquired BGEs....all of them very experienced backyard grillers and smokers.....My first piece of advice to them - - - Forget what you learned with your old metal smokers - - you're in a better piece of equipment and in a better place! Visit the nakedwhiz.com and you'll get some great info and fast![p]Welcome![p]Ed McLean
Ft. Pierce, FL

EggEd · May 2007

McGuire,
My last butt cook (sat night to sun afternoon) I experienced 2 plateaus. Hit 150 and stayed there for over 3 hours. And yes, it did drop down to 148 once. Then at 180 it hung about for an hour AND dropped to 178. I pulled at 200 which is the highest I have ever gone for pork butt (usually 195). It was my best yet. 10 pounds took 17.5 hours. Nice smoke ring, bone was perfectly clean, very moist. [p]So long as your egg is running at just over 200 at the grate the meat will get there. And I have found that you can force (i.e. inc rease temp near the end of the cook) the issue "a little" with pork the best results are to guage the time so that you are finished early and the meat can be "done when it is done"[p]

Unknown · May 2007

Hey JM3, I see you cooked a pork shoulder, could you share with me what and how you did it? I am prepared for the long slow smoke!

Thanks,
Pierre

Unknown · May 2007

Hey JM3, I see you cooked a pork shoulder, could you share with me what and how you did it? I am prepared for the long slow smoke!

Thanks,
Pierre

Unknown · May 2007

Thanks everyone, great advice, and very interesting about the plateau thing. Heh, I actually went with a butt as my first cook because I thought they were easy -- it's the main thing I've always cooked in my smoker.[p]Did some ribs last night and I did add dry wood all in advance and it was quite a bit easier.

Can't get Boston Butt above 160?

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