Slow cooking a pork butt on the grill

[spinsheet]

After 45 mins temp is at about 350 with the top vents wide open and the bottom vents at about 1/2 open. Just moved them to about 1/4 open to see if that drops the temp any.

One thing I did notice a few days ago, my bottom vent flanges are not tight to the bottom of the grill like they were when new, they all seem to have lifted a bit. I'm thinking that I won't be able to fully control the air flow like this. Is that normal for them to 'lift' like that? Should I replace them?

[MartyG]

I would close the top vent a bit. Here's where mine was a few weeks ago.

What's the temp outside today? If it's hot, and the kettle is in full sun, that may keep things hotter and you'll have to dial back even more. If it's burning at 350 much longer you'll be adding more charcoal for sure. Is the butt on yet?

[spinsheet]

Temp is about 85 outside. Butt is not on yet. I did have a Weber tool holder on the grill but I noticed that it was allowing smoke out through the gap that it created between the kettle and the lid so I took it off and that seemed to have tightened things down a bit. Perhaps that was part of the problem. I close the top vents to about 1/2 and the bottom is at about 1/4. Hopefully I can get this butt on withing 1/2 hour or I won't be eating till 8!

[spinsheet]

After taking the tool holder off the temp dropped by almost 50 degrees. I went ahead and put the Butt on. When I put the lid back on it was reading 300. I'll keep monitoring but it seems like things are working out.   

[1buckie]

Common temp I run these things at is 260.............even 275 is not really harmful........

You may get a slight bit more shrinkage at the higher temps, but not bad ~~>

Dome temp can be a little different, sometimes by quite a bit, if you have a little oven therm, set it by the meat as a double check......


07:07:59 AM ......"OK, I jumped into the deep end this morning"

07:56:04 AM ......."Butt is not on yet."

Dive !!!! Dive in !!!!

08:03:12 AM ......."I went ahead and put the Butt on."

Ok.....good !!!

I don't sauce this stuff at all, just pull & mix the bark all thru.......you can sauce if you like.......

Don't mess with mopping, just splatter the sauce thru & mix in when you pull.......

Do  a bunch of these & then decide if you want it mopped thru the process.....by then you'll know how they / you / your cooker works with all this......

[spinsheet]

I put an oven thermometer on the grate like you suggested and when I went back to check it it was only reading 150 as opposed to the lid thermometer which was reading about 300. So I opened the vents up a bit so the grate thermometer would get up to about 225. Luckily, about 30 mins later I thought I better check. Sure enough I read Celsius on the oven thermometer! So I backed off on the vents and the temp is going down again. I'll chalk that up to a learning experience.

So far the snake seems to be burning well, lots of unburned coals. I may have to add some later as it was burning at 400 for a while but I was able to lower that soon enough so it shouldn't be bad.

Great smells are coming from the grill. Neighbors are starting to gather. They seem to be amazed that you can cook 8 - 10 hours on a charcoal grill. Seems strange to be grilling without a beer but it is only 11:30 here. I guess it's 5:00 somewhere though...

[One Touch Platinum]

As 1buckie said, do NOT trust the thermometer on the lid. Use it as a guide but find out what the difference of the temp is at lid level and grate level and use some simple math....this will allow you to get a rough idea of the temp at meat level. A pork butt is forgiving so if you run a little hot this time you will be fine...just remember do not remove it from the grill until it is done. I always pull mine off at 200 degrees internal but I always fork test it too....it needs to be fork tender and pull apart easily. Really what low and slow does is slowly breakdown connective tissue so don't be in a rush and don't worry too much...pork butt is a great way to get your feet wet doing low and slow.

[spinsheet]

The lid temp reads about 275 and the grate temp reads about 250. All seems to have settled down. The snake is about 1/3 to 1/2 burned after about 3.5 hours on the grill. I'm amazed at how well this method is working. I was doubtful at first but this has made a believer out of me. Now if I can just leave it alone for another 4 hours!

[1buckie]

"The lid temp reads about 275 and the grate temp reads about 250. All seems to have settled down."
   
                         "THE ZONE"

"I'm amazed at how well this method is working."

OK.....enough standin' around bein' amazed.....what'er ya havin' fer sides ?

[spinsheet]

Sides? Uh oh...

[One Touch Platinum]

Don't the buns count as sides?

[spinsheet]

OK, I have buns and coleslaw!

Serious thunderstorm just set it. The rain and the dropping temp dropped the grill temp by about 50 but I opened up the vents a but and it's back up to 250. That was a curve ball I wasn't expecting...

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[One Touch Platinum]

The weather turning crappy is a normal thing that happens whenever you cook a pork butt. Whenever I do a low and slow I get a tornado blowing through my backyard. There will be no wind and as soon as I go out to light my coals.....I get that final scene from the movie Twister playing out by the grill. At least you didn't get any snow.....yet.

[1buckie]

The good thing about what's cooking is at the end, you still have some smoldering coals.................then.................throw s'more on top & keep cookin', snow or not ......

grill vegs, esp. zucchini is quick & easy, make a quick pot of rice in the house.....tater packets cook sorta quick......can o' beans......


Let "Curve Ball" be yer middle name.......

[1buckie]

  How'd it go?