Bull Question about Boston butt cook time

[Finsup]

I’m calling it a Boston butt because that is what was on the label from Sam’s. I guess it’s the same as a pork shoulder or pork butt, but my question is I just did my first pork cook on the RT 700 Saturday night into Sunday.

I put it on at midnight, intending to do a no wrap cook straight through started at 200 for eight hours, which is a little low but I saw a recipe for that on meet churches website. They call for you to crank it up to 275 to finish it off And get it to that 200° temp but for some reason this 7 pound Boston butt took 17 hours. After the first eight hours at 200 I cranked it up to 225 and started ramping it up from there and even to 275 for the last four hours. One of my experience buddies came over and made me wrap it in butcher paper lol . I figured that was a good idea cause it might speed it up.

My question is why did it take so long? Everyone kind of seem baffled because even at 90 minutes a pound that would only be like 10 1/2 hours whereas this one legit did not come off until 17 hours later. Make no mistake it was amazingly delicious and some of my more experienced buddies who have been smoking meat for a while. We’re very impressed. It was not dry at all and had great flavor and smoke. I’m just curious why it took so long.

Edit: Please don't judge me for the traeger liner under the butt haha

 

[Pacman]

I can't say I have an answer for you, but I have also had this happen to me on an even more extreme scale. I did a 4.3 lb pork collar (meat just next to the shoulder) and it took 12 hours. I did a 4.6 lb pork collar a couple of months later and it took 16 hours. Same basic weight, same cut, same cooking temp and method.

Even my first pork collar took a lot longer than I had estimated for such a small piece of meat. I had anticipated an 8 or 9 hour cook for a weeknight dinner. I ended up with DoorDash instead.

 

[Finsup]

I wonder if it’s because it’s a huge gril and a lot of unused space for a small piece of meat. Maybe if I did two or a 12 lb for example it would cook faster.

 

[whta]

Most folks will say it's the stall, and there isn't much you do about it. I don't think the extra space matters, temp is temp is temp.

I have a question for you - my last 2 butts I wrapped at 160 with butcher paper - very moist, but the bark was mostly "removed" by the process. Did you find that the case with yours?

btw - Another Buffet Fan here - first saw him in 1976

 

[kstone113]

I usually bank around 24 hours for pork butts but that is with a good amount of time at 180. Running around 225, you can expect 12 to 14 hours but it just depends on a lot of factors.

Based off your method of 200, I would of expected around at least 16 hours plus.

If you want a pork butt done in around 8 to 10 hours, you would need to cook at 250 to 275 most of the way.

 

[Finsup]

You can see the stall about 3-4 hours that drop is when I wrapped it I think it was 169 at that point.

 

[Chevys10zr2003]

You can see the stall about 3-4 hours that drop is when I wrapped it I think it was 169 at that point.

View attachment 18547

Another thing, have you verified the pit temp with a 3rd party thermometer and verified the temps of the built in probes?

 

[Wslayer]

^^^^^ this ^^^^

 

[Gonefishin]

18 hrs is fairly normal on my 340, a lot smaller then your bull so I’d say grill size men’s nothing. I start mine at 225 And usually bump it up to 250 and 275 at some point. On at 9pm, done 3-4ish. it just takes what it takes, you get used to it not having a schedule. I try to have them done a couple hours before I want to eat, gives you some leeway.

 

[Finsup]

I calibrated both probes in ice water and did a 10% offset calibration because at 200 for an hour the probes were reading 220'ish. So it's pretty calibrated

 

[llbts1]

I did an 8lb butt Saturday. I did not wrap. Outside temperature was mid 50's. Cooked at 225. It took me 2 hours per pound. Seems every butt is different.

 

[Pacman]

I don't think the extra space matters, temp is temp is temp.

I agree.

 

[Jim6820]

Seems every butt is different.

Uhh ohhhhhh; I can see this thread going off the rails in short order.

 

[Chevys10zr2003]

I calibrated both probes in ice water and did a 10% offset calibration because at 200 for an hour the probes were reading 220'ish. So it's pretty calibrated

Just thought I would check tk make sure. Sometimes it's the simple easy things that are the overlooked answers.

 

[Snorebaby]

I calibrated both probes in ice water and did a 10% offset calibration because at 200 for an hour the probes were reading 220'ish. So it's pretty calibrated

The ice bath is all you need to calibrate the meat probes. They are not meant to measure air temps. Get a calibrated air temp probe (I use my Smoke from Thermoworks) to check your grills temp. It may be the grill needs calibrating. There is a procedure to do that here.

Get a good instant read to double check your meat probes. Once the meat probes are calibrated, they are calibrated to the port they were plugged into at that time. The probe calibrated to port A needs to be used in port A. It may read different when used it port B. Mine was 3* off at ambient temp until I realized what I had done.

With the Ultimate blend my grill swings +/- 5* from setpoint @ 250* empty. I am experimenting with straight charcoal pellets and find the my grill runs -2/+8 swings @ 250*. Not bad at all. It does run +10/+15* at 425* with the charcoal. I care more about the lower temps staying close than the upper ones. But knowing the temp variations helps me plan the cook.

 

[Motodad1776]

I find it to be 1.25 hours per pound, and that's with me smoking at 235/240 "never below those temps". I typically do 9ish pound shoulders and never wrap, they take anywhere from 12 to 14 hours for me on average.

 

[DesertRat]

I smoked an 8 pound butt a couple weeks ago. I believe I posted pictures here similar to yours, from beginning to shredded state. It’s pretty good. I had wanted to respond to one or two items that you brought up.

But then I realized, I don’t really remember what I did. So I can go back and find my post end that will give me most of the answers I imagine.

But what I really take away from your threat here is that I need to begin to document my cooks so I can duplicate the good ones and avoid the bad ones, although in all honesty, I have not yet had a truly bad one. A couple didn’t work out exactly as planned, but nothing to prevent them from being good tasting meat.

 

[DennyO]

I've cooked 2 pork butts from Sams Club once to twice a year for maybe 15 years now. I always look for the heaviest weighted ones that are fairly equal in weight to each other. From the time I start the grill till I have the butts in a cambro is nearly constant to 16 hours at a solid 225 degrees and I have always wrapped usually in foil but pink paper too.

 

[Gonefishin]

I smoked an 8 pound butt a couple weeks ago. I believe I posted pictures here similar to yours, from beginning to shredded state. It’s pretty good. I had wanted to respond to one or two items that you brought up.

But then I realized, I don’t really remember what I did. So I can go back and find my post end that will give me most of the answers I imagine.

But what I really take away from your threat here is that I need to begin to document my cooks so I can duplicate the good ones and avoid the bad ones, although in all honesty, I have not yet had a truly bad one. A couple didn’t work out exactly as planned, but nothing to prevent them from being good tasting meat.

The notes section on the RT app has been working for me, just not real user friendly. I used to log everything in a word doc but then had to fire up the pc to see
what I last used, the RT app is more convenient. Don’t know if it’s the same on an iPhone.

 

[LeftHandedFinn]

I might as well chime in, I usually smoke butts that are between 8 - 9 pounds. They have always been done in the 14 hour ballpark. 225* no wrap.