Thanks, brethren.
R2Egg2Q, they were about 8 pounds each.
mikeTRON, I don't really go by time. I try to keep the heat around 290 - 325 until the meat reaches the plateau stage at around 165 to 170 internal. Then, I foil it and let it come up to around 207 degrees internal based on a temp prob in the meat while it cooks. Then, I check temps throughout the shoulder with my Thermapen looking for the coolest part. I move the temp probe to that part and let it cook until it reaches 205.
Once I foil it, I don't care if the temp goes up to 350 F to 375 F. Heresy, I know, but it works really well for me. All I want to do is get some heat in the meat so that carry over cooking can finish it up when I take it out of the cooker and wrap it a blanket and put it in a cooler for a couple of hours. I use plenty of hickory during the cook before the shoulders are wrapped to make sure they get plenty of smoke.
These shoulders were extremely moist and full of flavor. I've cooked shoulders for 8 to 12 hours at lower temps and none of them were better than the shoulders I've been cooking over the last few months at higher temps. They aren't done when I pull them from the cooker. The carry over cooking from the built up internal heat finishes up the cooking.
