Someone tell me what the heck is going on with my pork butt!

BamaMatt42 said:
Lesson has been learned for me. I am very new to this Kamado grilling. Virtually everything I have tried has been a first for me. Doing a pork butt is a first. I found a recipe that said cook at 225. So I tried to keep my temps around that time.

What I am learning in this business is that 225 sounds great but more times than not 250-275 is more effective.
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There are a lot of bragging rights associated with cooking lo-n-slo, we've all done it, and you will see a lot of TV barbecuists and authors alike that talk about lo-n-slo and mention 225°. The funny fact is, and maybe some of the old hands are different than me, but the first pit I ever cooked on that had a thermometer was about 10 or 11 years ago when I bought Eggs.... so the reality for me was....for 25+ years I cooked by sight, feel and listening to the meat.

Oh, I like 240° for pork butt.
 
BamaMatt42 said:
Pit probe is sitting about 2 inches to the side of the meat. Right at halfway from the meat and the edge of the heat deflector.
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Well that should be far enough away to avoid a false reading. I like to clip my pit probe above the meat, but only because it's easy to get out of the way fast if I need to turn meat or roatate the entire grate.

8cd110c9.jpg
 
Update now the Maverick is reading 315 for the pit temp. Food temp has shot to 189. I would like to get to 200 but I will settle for 195 if it takes a while.
 
BamaMatt42 said:
Here is a photo before I foiled and raised the temp.

mFsBz.jpg
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That set-up is just fine. Hopefully all you needed was that little foil time.... be sure and let it rest a while before digging in, I know it's hard to do but it really helps.
 
Others have said it already, but I'll say it again. Cooking temps in books and recipes are far from ideal IMO. 225 is a silly low temp for BBQ. Next time try keeping the temps in the 260-300 range, you'll cut the cooking times by almost half and IMO get a superior product.
 
If you are going to rest it please double foil it. Then put into a preheated cooler and wrap it in towels.
 
Last weekend I put on 2 large butts, 20 pounds total...put the meat on at 7pm and let it cook overnight.........and through the morning......and to 2 pm...at 5am it was at 140, 7am at 148, 9 am 150....finally it broke down and listened to the egg and gave up....pulled it off at 2pm! LONG cook!
 
BamaMatt42 said:
Lesson has been learned for me. I am very new to this Kamado grilling.
Click to expand...
Don't feel bad if things don't work exactly as expected on your first run. "You didn't think it was gonna be that easy, did you?" Why do you think we collect here and share our knowledge?

I highly recommend that you take notes that you can refer to the next time you smoke a butt. Include things like recipes, smoking wood, weather, time and technique. In particular, note anything that you want to do differently next time. You will get better faster if you do this for every cook.

And when you figure out the details that matter on your cooker to produce the best 'Q you can, you will really appreciate the effort you put in to get to that point!
 
I'm not really a 'Low and Slow' guy, I like to smoke butts a little hotter...
I like to put them on between 275° and 300°.

Verify the temperature your smoking at. I like to check gauges against a know oven gauge that has been confirmed as accurate...
OR... Boil some water and check gauge at boiling temp. (212°)

Too big a fluctuation of temps makes it danged near impossible to tell what you are doing. You may have been only warming the meat.
Don't check the meat too often, you will only delay it getting done.
 
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