trying again

Up In Smoke · March 30, 2005, 01:36:09 AM

i have a small pork butt brining. about 7 pounds.
going to smoke with apple pucks..
thinking about 4 hours smoke time, sound about right?

gonna start earlier this time so as to get through the stall time before bed time.

head....spinning........must smoke

Thunder Fish · March 30, 2005, 01:44:08 AM

Do not give up!If in doubt go to Radio Shack and spend less than $30.00 CDN on a digital thermometer.It is said that the internal temp for pork should be 160 F ? ? ? ?
Any help on this out there [:I]

JJC · March 30, 2005, 04:03:47 AM

Hi SR,

4 hr is a good smoking time to use on pork butt. You'll see a range of internal temp times on this Forum, but somewhere between 175-195F followed by at least 2 hrs of FTC (foil, towel, cooler) should give you a fantastic result. BTW, if you have pecan pucks available, you might want to try them instead of apple . . . nothin' wrong with the apple, though!

John
Newton MA

Habanero Smoker · March 30, 2005, 04:37:54 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JJC
 Hi SR,

4 hr is a good smoking time to use on pork butt. You'll see a range of internal temp times on this Forum, but somewhere between 185-195F followed by at least 2 hrs of FTC (foil, towel, cooler) should give you a fantastic result. BTW, if you have pecan pucks available, you might want to try them instead of apple . . . nothin' wrong with the apple, though!

John
Newton MA
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Must have missed my posts. I always pull mine between 170-175 F. [:D]

nsxbill · March 30, 2005, 04:44:19 AM

Hab,

I agree with your temps range if I was slicing it, but think you need some more time after that lag we all experience when the connective tissue is breaking down at around 165° +/- I go to 188-190° when pulled pork is the faire du jour! I guess just what I have found most success with.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

BigSmoker · March 30, 2005, 07:20:09 PM

Whats the brine for?

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

JJC · March 30, 2005, 07:22:52 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Must have missed my posts. I always pull mine between 170-175 F. [:D]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yikes! Sorry, HS--just a typo in my original post . . . just edited it [:D]

John
Newton MA

Habanero Smoker · March 30, 2005, 10:38:33 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by nsxbill
 Hab,

I agree with your temps range if I was slicing it, but think you need some more time after that lag we all experience when the connective tissue is breaking down at around 165° +/- I go to 188-190° when pulled pork is the faire du jour! I guess just what I have found most success with.

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Bill,
I pull my pork. I would not have tried to do this at this temp., but when a friend of mine started doing it, he convince me and I've been doing it since.

Cold Smoke · March 30, 2005, 10:52:37 PM

Habanero- when you pull your pork at that temp (170-175) do you find it easily pullable? I've tried it at that temp before however I found the meat much tougher to pull and still a fair amount of fat still intact. Or do you just pull out any remaining intact fat? Do you FTC? Perhaps that FTC resting period allows the collagen to break down?
I'm just curious because it sometimes takes an extra 2 hrs for it to get past that 165-170 plateau and sometimes I'm a little impatient (read: starving) and might just remove from BS and try pulling again at the temps you do it. I think that if time is not a concern I will still let IT go to 190ish and FTC.

Thanks!

Cold Smoke

BigSmoker · March 31, 2005, 01:48:51 AM

I cook until 195-200 then FTC for an hour or two. I also use the boston butt with the bone in. I got to try Olds t-shirt method for sliced. The best I ever had was sliced with I am almost sure oak wood[:p].

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

gotbbq · March 31, 2005, 02:08:41 AM

I agree-

I've tried to pull at 175, the meat is tough. At 190-195 after ftc, it like budda.[^][^][^]

gotbbq

nsxbill · March 31, 2005, 02:26:04 AM

The next time I do butt, I am going to hang it from Smokehouse Rob's Rack in Ham Netting. I bought 100 of the nets from Butcherpacker, and think they will work pretty well. Just did the big clean-up I have been putting off since last Pork Butt...PIA to clean the racks. I think hanging them would really make the clean-up a snap, and as well, allow me to leave up at top and not have to rotate shelves. I know hooks would not work because after 26 hrs of smoking/cooking the meat would fall apart just touching it on the shelves!

Bill

There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.

Habanero Smoker · March 31, 2005, 11:26:40 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Cold Smoke
 Habanero- when you pull your pork at that temp (170-175) do you find it easily pullable? I've tried it at that temp before however I found the meat much tougher to pull and still a fair amount of fat still intact. Or do you just pull out any remaining intact fat? Do you FTC? Perhaps that FTC resting period allows the collagen to break down?
I'm just curious because it sometimes takes an extra 2 hrs for it to get past that 165-170 plateau and sometimes I'm a little impatient (read: starving) and might just remove from BS and try pulling again at the temps you do it. I think that if time is not a concern I will still let IT go to 190ish and FTC.

Thanks!

Cold Smoke
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I never stated that my method was quicker.[:D] I have done about six butts; pulling at 170 - 175 degrees and have not had the problems you are describing. Some times I will FTC them, some times I don't. FTCing depends on if I need to hold the butt at a temperature for awhile prior to serving it. Otherwise I let it rest 45 minutes to an hour (when it can be handled), and start pulling, with no problem.

Depending on what source you read, I take the position that collective tissue and collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin at 160 degrees F. To convert all collective tissue and collagen into gelatin requires prolong cooking at that temperature, not at a higher temperature. So I cook my butts at 200 -210 degrees F, and often the cooking time to reach 175 degrees is longer then most members have posted to reach 185 or higher. The majority of the cooking time is in the 160 -175 temperature range. Therefore there is enough time to converts all collective tissue and collagen into gelatin, and keeps the meat a little more moist. I don't like the dry "falling off the bone" texture.

Other things to consider; I think that I have mentioned this on another thread, but before I pull any meat out of the smoker, I move the meat probe in and out slightly, to see if there is a temperature drop – at times the temperature will rise. Often there will be a drop of 5 degrees - sometimes more, because the probe was not placed correctly. If the temperature drops, I readjust the probe and continue cooking. Also most of my butts average 7 pounds, this may have something to do with it, though is shouldn't because with a larger butt you will be cooking it for a longer time.

Edited:
I forgot one part of your question. I found that there will be more fat remaining. This fat is usually located at the surface. If there is any bark connected to the fat, I cut the bark off, mix it with the pulled meat, and discard the fat.

Cold Smoke · March 31, 2005, 05:56:13 PM

Thanks Habanero! I may just try that next time.

Cold Smoke

JJC · April 03, 2005, 03:08:35 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I take the position that collective tissue and collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin at 160 degrees F. To convert all collective tissue and collagen into gelatin requires prolong cooking at that temperature, not at a higher temperature. So I cook my butts at 200 -210 degrees F, and often the cooking time to reach 175 degrees is longer then most members have posted to reach 185 or higher.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Just thinking about Habanero's post, and I think he makes an interesting point. How easily the butt pulls will be dependent upon how well the cooking process has broken down the collagen, and that's going to be both temperature AND time-dependent. So if you use Hab's approach (lower temp, longer time) you should achieve a similar result to Bigsmoker (higher temp, shorter time). I just did something "in-between" (slightly higher cooking and internal temp than Hab, longer time than BigSmoker) and had a fantastic result. I'm sure there are some differences in juiciness, bark formation, "pullability", etc. depending on the precise time/temp one uses, but I suspect that those differences are realtively small--probably no greater than the variability that exists from one butt to another.

I'm not saying this to be diplomatic . . . there's a really practical application that derives from our collective experiences: it is possible to control the finish time for a butt by varying the time and temp without losing quality in the finished product. For a typical 7-8 lb butt, BigSmoker's method will produce a great finished product in about 10-12 hr, and Habanero's method will produce a similarly excellent result in perhaps 15-18 hr. Times in between these can be achieved by altering the time/temp parameters accordingly.

Just my $.02 . . .

John
Newton MA