Quick Help! Pulled Pork!

[DrunkenMick]

Hey Guys, Just need a quick pointer.  Tomorrow afternoon i'm putting two butts in when i get home from work.  Then they're going in a 205 degree oven overnight till they hit 190.  The question is this.  I expect them to get done around 6-7am.  I want to ftc at least for 2 hours.  I still need to go to work on Friday morning.  Do you think it'd be ok to leave the butts in the cooler ftc'd until i got home at approx 4:00 that day and *then* pull the pork?  Or will it be impossible to pull at that point?

Thanks!!!

[West Coast Kansan]

Don't know the size of the butts but two 7 -8 pounders are not likely to be done to 190 at 6 or 7 in the morning.  I have wrapped real well in double foil and towels and have had them be nice warm and pullable after ftc from 10am till 4PM. Also not sure your IT will be high enough to finish with a long FTC.

But again, not sure that will be your only problem from the information here  ???

[La Quinta]

Hey Mick...WCK knows butts!!!:) I would think it depends on your ambient temps. There is only so long a cooler can "hold" temp.

[DrunkenMick]

I guess i'll have to take Friday off and drink beer while i wait.  Shucks :)

Thanks guys!

[MoSmoke]

Mick,
Arcs_n_Sparks had posted some data on pulled pork times temps and plateau data for me last Summer, here's the link.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5813.msg56574#msg56574

It took about 18 hours for a pair of butts to hit 195 @ a smoker temp of around 215.
You might be able to pull this off ( no pun intended ) if you can put them in at ariund 10 PM the night before, change out the water pan before you leave for work and get off work and be home around 2:00 in the afternoon.
Then you can FTC them for a couple of hours.

Good luck

I see you beat me to the post, enjoy the beer.

John

[DrunkenMick]

Man this thing is taking FOREVER.  The first butt hit 190 and i pulled and ftc'd.  The second butt is still in the oven at an IT of 177.  We're at about a total of 18 hours now that it's been cooking at 205 between the OBS and the oven.  I just don't understand why this guy is taking so long.  I even went and tested one of the maverick probes in boiling water to be sure (it was spot on).

Anyone else ever had a butt that didn't want to get up to temp?

[Buck36]

I have had pork butts that did not come up to temperature in the time I had expected. I have taken them out and let it rest until cooled. I then throw them in the fridge without pulling them. When I have more time I put them in the oven with a probe until they came up to temperature and then pull. It doesn't seem to have any horrid effect but I only do this if I have totally run out of time.

Work always seems to get in the way!!!

[DrunkenMick]

I wound up just taking the day off and enjoying the weather we're having.  I'm just worried the meat is going to dry out if i keep it in there too long.  We're approaching 19 hours for an 8.5# butt.

[Wildcat]

I do butts all the time.  A single butt (8 to 9 pounds) normally takes me around 18 hours at a cabinet temp of around 195 to 200.  When I do 2 butts, the second one will take about 24 to 26 hours sometimes.  Has never been dry.

[Habanero Smoker]

If you have been smoking/cooking at around 200°F the whole time, you will find that it will easily pull apart at 175°F. At 177°F it should be fine. To test use a long prong fork and see if it just doesn't fall apart when you stick the fork in and twist it.

[West Coast Kansan]

They all want to behave a little different but you do have a big difference between butts. Maybe the second one was on the shelf above the first butt while they were in the bradley?

Big butts like the 8.5 can really cook different in time due to the way they are built with different fatty content etc. 

Anyway as HabS has said many times before you dont have to go that high if you have been cooking with lower temps. It is all about the time spent in the plateau in the chart post above and if we let it hover in the plateau or try to power through it with a higher tower temp to get to a higher IT sooner. Or so I have convinced myself. ;D

The lower temp and lower IT for pulling will work for any size but is especially good approach for the nice little butts you find. This strikes me as odd cuz you think smaller leaner less material to break down you should just cook it and move on...

So the point is you can use a lot of approaches for most anything especially butts which are hard to make a bad one = fun to experiment. For sure, I am always learning and often surprise myself with varied results.

HabS are you doing the same on brisket also or is my memory whacking...cant remember now?

[Habanero Smoker]

WCK;

I have started to experiment with briskets. So far I've only done one brisket at 200°F, and took it out of the smoker at 175°. Then I wrapped it in foil, added a splash of beef broth, and let it rest for about an hour. It came out real good. It was moist, and it had a texture more like steak. Which is fine with me, because I don't like my brisket falling apart. Due to the different characteristics within the same cut of meat, it's hard to tell by one test if I will get consistent results, but I'm sure then next brisket will come out the same.

I haven't tried one since. When smoking/cooking brisket at this low temperature, you need to make sure that you trim the fat down to about 1/8" to 1/4". Be more more accurate as to placing the probe in the thickest part, and when it reaches 175°, slowly move the probe in and out; with each move give the probe time to register the temperature, and if it drops, leave the probe in that position and continue to cook until an internal temperature of 175° is obtained.

[West Coast Kansan]

Thanks HabS