First pork butt

[TheDude]

Question. Once I get to 200°, how often do I lift the lid to probe for doneness?

[WNC]

If you're going to go by temp, I'd start checking at 198, and then maybe every half hour after that.

However, I've given up on temps for butts and have just preferred to go by probe tenderness. I wrap in foil, around the six hour mark and my butts take anywhere from 8-9 hours.

Looks like a great start, can't wait to see the finish!

BTW, nice kitchen for a van down by the river😀

[TheDude]

Thanks. I was planning to go to about 200°, wrap and probe from there.

[WNC]

Hey @TheDude,
By 200 it should be done, so the only reason to wrap at that point is for holding/resting, and you should let it rest for about an hour.

If you're thinking about wrapping to speed up cooking, you should probably wrap earlier than 200. I think most wrap around 165, and/or when you've got the color/bark you like.

Like I said, I've stopped using temps for butts, and just wrap when I've got the color I like, let it go a couple/few hours and start probing for tenderness.

Forgive me if all this old hat to you, like I said earlier, it looks like you got it going on, can't wait to see the pulled!

[TheDude]

Very open to suggestion. This is my first go at doing anything low and slow. Anything anyone had to add is appropriated. Hope to have it on by about 9:30am. Dinner around 5 or so.

[1buckie]

If you wrap during the cook, go ahead & do that at 165 ~175 like said above....

Two reasons for that:

cooks faster, moving it thru the 'stall' period more quickly &

To stop the smoke & heat from darkening the bark past a certain point.....

At 195~200, it's like sliding into home.....you're already there, just a matter of touching the plate (the dinner plate!!!)

You can probe, or just look for the bone to wiggle / pop loose......when it comes away from the meat clean, it's the indicator the meat can't do any more to release what's there in the way of collagen & moisture & it begins to slowly dry out (not to worry, you're way far away from having a dry product at that point)

If you wrap during or at the end, either way, a rest period is a great idea.....it allows the juice to even out all thru the piece & the pork to stabilize......a stable pig is a good thing.....

Bone pull.....





See how it pulls off clean from the meat (well, almost on that 2nd one)
I wiggle, then leave in place & wrap in dbl. foil......

If you can organize a 1-1/2 ~ 2 hour rest, that's ideal.....45min. in a huge pinch.....maybe start pretty early to give yourself plenty of extra time.....I normally allow 11~12 hours with a part of that as resting, in foil, wrapped in a old clean towel & into a dry cooler, packed with more towels.....

If you do that, it should look like this after it's shredded:

[TheDude]

Thanks. Looks like you scored the fatback. I was wondering if I should?

[1buckie]

You can.....some people say that by cutting it off completely, you can get the rub onto the meat & there's more bark.......personally, I score the fatcap & after the cooking & hold time, it turns into bark anyway.....

Here you can see it's pretty thin already.....this is just going into the hold......




Maybe get some beans under that pig for a few hours late in the cook?









Nothing quite like drip beans to go with pulled pork......

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/nothing-new-just-some-pork-beans/msg26001/#msg26001

[TheDude]

Beans were already in the plan! Was going to let them ride the whole cook though. When do you recommend adding them? The

[TheDude]

Wendy all loaded up and ready to go. I pulled 3-4 chuncks of wood, after the pic

[TheDude]

A "little" extra bacon in the beans never hurts.

[1911Ron]

Solid advice give so far, i don't go by temp either, when it probes like butter it's done!

[1buckie]

"When do you recommend adding them?"

Last 4 hours of the cook or there may be too much "drip".......

[TheDude]

Lesson learned with the beans. Had to get the butt on though. Kettle is running at 270-271°. Lawn is mowed. Time for a nap.

[TheDude]

Underestimated the CMF. Grill was at 260° when I put it on. Dropped to 192°. Started climbing right back up though.