Pork Butt Cooking Time Question

[OldHoss]

I have 2 four pound pork butts to smoke.  I have done 7 and 8 pound butts in the past and the cooking times have been in the 24 hour range - I cook to an internal temperature of 195f.  The question is how long will these 2 four pound butts take to cook?

As a side question I have this quandary.  I was at a farmers market a couple weeks ago and a fella had a pulled pork stand set up.  His pulled pork was sitting in a warming pan that was filled with liquid.  I am assuming this was pork liquid from the cook.  That pork was JUICY and then some.  The last time I did a pork shoulder I put a pan underneath to catch liquids.  I took the liquids and separated out the fat and worked it back into the pork but it was not nearly the amount that this fella had.  When I bought the pork I will be using this time I got about 2 pounds of fat trimmings from the butcher.  I have rubbed this material as well and it now marinating in the fridge.  I plan on putting this in the smoker above the butts and using a pan to collect the juices as I did last time.  Will I get the amount of juices I need doing this?  Should I mix in some of the apple cider with the juices as well or go with the pork juices unaltered?

I got a vacuum sealer for Xmas and have taken the butts after doing a dry rub and poked holes with a fork and then placed in a bag with half a cup each of the apple cider and vacuumed the bags.  This way I do not have to do a injection.  I will remove the butts from the bags and pat dry with paper towels and do a small dry rub again then let sit for an hour or so before smoking.  Just before I put these butts in the smoker I will coat with molasses.  The finish I got last time with the molasses was fine indeed. 

I have done my pork butts "naked" in the past and never finished the cook wrapping with tin foil.  If I did wrap the butts in foil after smoking would the meat be that much more juicy?  I know the bark would not be as crusty but it is worth foiling?

Questions questions.........

Thanks for any help here guys.

[Ka Honu]

One way to get more juice is to finish the butts indoors.  After smoking, I generally put one in the oven over a drip pan and one in the crockpot, then mix them at pulling.  Lots of juice, especially in the crockpot - usually enough to freeze some in ice cube trays for seasoning soups, etc. later.

[OldHoss]

Crock pot eh?  I believe I will be finishing one of these in the crock pot.  Thanks muchly for the tip Ka Honu.  Do you put the butt "as is" in the crock pot or do you add any apple juice or such thing as well?

[Ka Honu]

No additions needed.  The one in the oven "preserves" the bark; the one in the crockpot maximizes the juice.

[OldHoss]

Rub:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup crushed black pepper corns
1/8 cup mild paprika - McCormick gourmet
1 tbsp smoked salt
1.5 tbsp chipolte powder
1.5 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1.25 tsp Mexican adobo seasoning - high in cumin
1 tsp allspice berries crushed

The butts were rubbed and left for an hour in the fridge then placed in vacuum bags with one half and one quarter cup apple cider and vacuumed then placed in the fridge for 15 hours.   They were removed and patted dry with paper towels then more rub was applied.  Then molasses was brushed over the surface of the butts.  They were placed on a rack over a baking tray and allowed to drip for an hour. 

Beans:

5 small cans Bush's
1.25 red pepper diced
2 medium onions diced
2 jalapeno peppers minces
8 slices bacon sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup barbecue sauce - a mix of Bullseye Honey Garlic, Guinness and Irresistable Maple Chipolte
1.5 tbsp garlic powder
1 small can cut up pineapple

Fry bacon till crisp then remove and cook onion and red peppers in fat.....add jalapeno after a few minutes and cook till just softened.
Mix all of it together and you are good to go.  Taste to confirm amount of garlic. I am mixing the beans as they smoke to ensure even cooking and more smoke penetration.  I am gonna add in some pork juices as well as a little pulled pork to finish these babies off.

In the smoker after about 2 hours:



It is -2C here now and I have the blanket on the smoker as well as ceramic brick wrapped in tin foil preheated at 500f in the bottom beside the water dish to help with heat recovery.  The strips of meat are fat back pieces I got from the butcher for free.....they are seasoned and were marinated in the apple cider as well.  I will be putting these in the oven to render some juices to be used later.  The trays directly under the butts are to collect juices and were started with a little apple cider in them.  I am basting all the meat with straight apple cider.

I am going with 4 hours of hickory and 2 hours of apple with the pucks alternating.

EDIT:

Just moving things around and stirring them beans......licked the bean spoon and damn these pineapple/smoke spiked babies taste de-e-e-e-e-e-eliscious!!!

EDIT 2:

After 6 hours of smoke with the unit going at 210f most of the cook I shift to the kitchen.

Internal temp 138f:



One of the butts is in the crock pot and one is in the oven at 220f.  The one in the oven is sitting in a foil bowl on a rack over a baking sheet.  In the bottom of the foil bowl is a little apple cider mixed with a little juices from the pans in the smoker.  A small chunk of onion was added to the pot and the foil.

The beans fresh from the smoker - the top pan has the top left corner unstirred.  Internal temp on the beans was 140f at this point:



I pulled the beans at 154f and will reheat at a gathering tommorrow.  I normally pull at 160f:



EDIT 3:

A little over 4 hours in and the butt in the crock pot is done - internal temp on it was anywhere between 195f and 201f.  She is falling apart and looking very juicy.  The internal temp on the butt in the oven is 184f.  I will pull it at 195f and FTC for a 2-3 hours.  I'll leave it as long as I can and process it before I go to bed.  The smell in the kitchen is all barbecue and hickory smoke.  I am leaving the butt in the crock pot with the power off.

EDIT 4:

The butt in the oven did not finish for quite some time.  It hit the oven at about 138f and took 9 hours to get to 195f......I thought I was done a couple hours before that but when I moved the probe the temp dropped to 175 in a different spot.  To get it to finish so I could go to bed I wrapped it totally in tin foil.  I FTC'd it and got up in the middle of the night to shred it.  In the morning I add the de-fat'd juice and a couple tablespoons of barbecue sauce to the pork.  Both the pork and the beans were a big hit at the family gathering.

[irnman1827]

I recently found out by accident the potential of finishing in the crock pot. I was smoking a 4 lb. chuck roast (for BBQ beef) and it proved to be especially stubborn. Long story short, it stalled at 133 F for a looong time and was looking like it was going to shape up into shoe leather. I decided to put it in the crock pot w/ BBQ sauce on top at midnight. About mid-morning I decided to pull it and could barely get it out of the crock pot. It was falling apart and had a great amount of liquid left in the crock pot. Everyone was quite happy with the finished product. I may try my next Boston Butt this way.

Those beans look awesome!