3 butts

[FLBentRider]

The reason everyone is wavering on a specific answer is a lot of it depends on the pig that butt comes off of.  The real unknown is how long the butt will remain in the "stall" period.  That is the period where the IT of the butt comes to a screeching halt, sometimes for hours while the collagen and connective tissues in the butt breakdown.  That is when the magic is happening and you don't want to do anything to rush the IT past the stall.  Eventually the IT will begin to climb again but until it does, all you can do is have another beer. 

I've had butts finish in 14-15 hours and I've had them finish in 25 hours.  There's just no pat answer or formula.

thanks for explaining, i wasn't aware of the stall.  is this just in pork butts, or does brisket stall as well.

if another beer is involved, i better hop on this smoke asap!

A brisket will stall as well.

[GusRobin]

Briskets stall also - So rule of thumb- allow for margin both in time and alcohol   

[KyNola]

ThirtyDaze,
The stall on a butt will usually occur somewhere in the 150-160 range.  When it happens, resist the urge to bump the heat up to make the IT begin to rise again.  You can smoke multiple butts at the same time and I'll just about guarantee you everyone of them is going to come out of the smoker at a separate time.

[squirtthecat]

Ditto.

It is truly maddening the first time it happens...   I started opening the door and moving the probe around, changing the batteries, sticking other thermometers in it.     (which let all the heat out which caused the stall to go MUCH longer)

[hal4uk]

I've seen "butt graphs" made (using some of the fancier controllers), and it's pretty much a nice straight linear climb, then it flattens out (when it stalls), then rises again, but that flat line could long or short.  Like KyNola said, you just gotta have another beer(s) and wait.  If it wasn't for the stall, you could estimate pretty darn close when it would be done (by cab temp and weight of the butt).

I've seen butts stall so long, that people were posting here as they went along, and they started out sounding sensible, but eventually (like 24 beers later) they were were just typing random gibberish.  Seriously.

[TestRocket]

I've done two butts on two different smokes getting ready for a wedding this weekend and both were different. The first smoke was a 6 and a 8 lb butt rotated T-B (top to bottom) and F-B (front to back) after 5 hours of smoke and then again about 15 hours later. One butt took 24 hrs and the other took 25 ½ hrs to hit an IT of 190.

The second smoke was two 7 lb butts that were rotated the first time after 6 hours of smoke (I really like the taste of an additional hour of smoke) and then again about 15 hours later. This time one butt took 26 hrs and the other 26 ½ hrs.

The only difference between the two smokes is the first one I cooked at 200 degs for most of the time and then I bumped it up to 220 during the last 5 hrs (after the stall) and on the second cook I set the PID for 220 degs for most of the time and then during the last 5 hours I bumped the temp up to 235 degs.

I should also say I have installed the second heating element and allowed enough time to get at least 2 and up to 4 hrs of FTC to allow the butts to become happy!

[FLBentRider]

If I do four butts of ~equal size, it is not uncommon for the time span between first and last done to be four hours.