10 hours at 225 and surprisingly not as dry as the pics may allude. It was less than 4 pounds. There was a temp probe, but not one that will notify me when it’s done - I cooked this overnight as a test. Pulled it out when I woke up
What temp you pulled it out at? Should check for “tenderness” around 199-203 range at various parts. 10 hours was probably a bit much at that temp for that size. I do my bone-in 9-10lbs at that temp and roughly 15 hours total cook if I don’t wrap
Bone in will be the play next time. Much appreciated
I like boneless pork butts. I cut them in quarters and season them. I get more bark and they’re done quickly compared to whole.
Been thinking I'll do that for my next. How much time does it save you?
It was 6 hours start to finish.
I never though of doing that. I'll have to try it.
You had me at “more bark”
Right?!?!? It’s a small change that made a big difference. The one problem is it takes up more space. If I’m doing a lot of butts (giggles), then I keep them whole.
Iv done that with stew meat before. Great for breakfast burritos. I usually sous vide that to get it tender though.
Done quickly?? You heathen... It's supposed to take me a day just for fun.
Definitely add a water pan over night or spritz if you're awake every hour or so to help with the moisture as well.
I've never spritzed mine. The fat cap usually does the trick by itself.
It depends on the conditions inside of your grill I've found.
It's nothing to do with the bone. The ONLY think that will tell you when a pork but or any other joint of meat is ready to come off is a meat probe (or jiggling it, when you've cooked enough of them that you can tell by feel)
You can do bone out, you just have to use butcher twine and tie it up. I buy Costco bone out and just do two strings to make it a solid piece
Definitely bone in
Why are we down voting OP into oblivion? Is this the housing subreddit now? It’s an art that takes time. Give the guy a break, my guys. At least he’s trying and learning!
No kidding. I'd like to see some of their first times smoking something.
My first brisket was all bark about halfway through the bottom. Still haven't gotten brisket completely down yet.
But man was that top half still good!
Beef is tough. Undercooked it it's tough. Overcook it it's dry. Wrap or raise too early, it falls to chopped beef.
Tough world we live in.
Briskets are tricky man!
I lucked out a bit. My first pork butt came out amazing but I had the tools and a father in law who recommended amazingribs.com
Buuuut, My first, second, third brisket turned out horrible. Nailed it on the fourth.
It's a journey. Love it.
Absolutely.
My first brisket actually turned out really good but I left WAAAAY too much fat on it. And I think the bark could have been improved upon. But it was still very good.
You supposed to be up cooking breakfast or somethin'.
First time I smoke something I coughed a lot. The more I smoke the more I enjoy it now.
Right?
Tell me about it, what the fuq is wrong with these Redditors these days?
The guy screwed up and is obviously bummed and looking for advice. Not to mention putting it all out there to be open to ridicule, and all people can do is downvote his ass? That is some bullshit.
OP way to go on the transparency, dude. Take everyone's advice with a grain of salt. TBH, bone-in will definitely NOT solve your problems here, but what will, perhaps, is NOT leaving a pork butt to smoke overnight. Doing a good pork butt requires a pretty crucial step in the middle of it, making it not a very good candidate for overnight cooks. Also, most pork butts just aren't big enough to need to be smoked for more than 6ish hours. It all depends on how you want to do it, but I would simply assert that doing an overnight pork butt smoke likely requires a much more measured approach from an experienced pitmaster. There's just too much opportunity for it to go bad.
The same thing happens when people make posts literally asking for help, within the relevant subreddit. For whatever reason the redditors of that sub decide that not innately knowing everything about the interest/hobby, or not knowing the subreddit's "culture" deserves to be downvoted, hidden, or removed. I will never understand it.
It's just something that happens with any sub once it passes a certain subscriber count and post consistency. What ends up happening is half of the subscribers don't actually participate in the hobby themselves, but they want to participate in the discussion. And since they have no actual experience, what they do know is which comments they can repeat that they know will get upvotes, and which comments the sub doesn't like that they feel validated by mass downvoting.
It's a flaw with both the karma system and how algorithm-based reddit has become. Shit, I've seen so many fake posts on here where people have claimed a photo they pulled from google is actually their own smoke. It's sad.
My first pork butt was dry
I just deleted a post on here because of the meanness I got for it. Like seriously guys, this is meat. I honestly can't see a single reason to downvote anyone on a sub about smoking meat in your own home. Thanks for standing up for this. I think it's pathetic when anyone downvoted someone trying new things. (I might be a bit angry for some of the things people said)
It’s actually mind boggling though. Like where the hell did he get the idea to overnight smoke a 3# pork butt for 10 hours?? This should never have been a “try”, especially not for a first timer.
Like where the hell did he get the idea to overnight smoke a 3# pork butt for 10 hours
Probably from all of the comments and posts of people talking about overnight smokes, but leaving out the small details assuming everyone knows the correct time/temp to weight ratio so that they never actually mention it.
A lot of people really like to pretend like this information is a given. Like shit, when I first started I could barely even get my coals lit, or keep them lit for my first few smokes. I would have had people on here just tearing me to shreds over not knowing what they considered obvious after their several hundred hours of experience.
I’m about 20 smokes in and I have yet to try an overnight cook. Still worried that it might burn down my house. I remember my first time smoking I was checking on the meat every hour or so, worried about any sort of fluctuation in temp. Still unbelievable that this guy would try that for his first time.
Yeah same lol. Although I inadvertently have done an overnight smoke because I forgot to put the dampers back on my firebox on my gravity smoker and over night it smouldered through half a hopper full of charcoal while breaking a hole in my cover.
Also how is there no smoke ring after a 10 hour smoke at 225? Looks like he took a blowtorch to the outside.
Serious question; 225 Fahrenheit or Celsius?
Fahrenheit
It’s all good man, you cooked food and hopefully people ate it and had a good time.
What brand of pork?
Oof it’s all good live and learn if that was a 4lb pork butt it probably would have been done in less then 6 hours, with an hour wrap in that time period. Figure an hour per pound
No biggie luckily pork is cheap, just eat what you can, when you go to reheat it do it in a pan with butter, and once you’ve had enough of it just give it to the dogs they’ll be happy lol
Ehhhhh. Its dry my man. Lol
Temp probe:).
Dude-get a butt with a bone-in, next time. The bone IS your temperature gauge. Smoke at 225. 6 hours in.
When the bone starts to peak out (1/2 an inch), remove and wrap it with some apple juice in there. Continue cooking at 225 for two hours. Next!
I have a question. I smoked my first (3.5 pound) smokeless pork but last weekend. I managed to get my kamado at 225 right off the bat. I had a pan of water below the grill. I was going to smoke until the temp got to 160 then wrap it in foil and finish to 205f. The problem was, the butt held temp at 158 for almost three hours. After seven hours total I took it off, wrapped it and put it in a 350 oven. It came to 205 two hours later. I rested it and pulled it and it came out fantastic. Question: Why would a tiny roast hold for almost three hours given that the smoker temp held a steady 225 hours? Do you think this was excessive? Should I have simply raised my kamado to 350?
It’s called “the stall”. It happens on butts, shoulders and brisket. It is very frustrating! But, once you get it past the stall to 175….it climbs quick.
Thank you!
Stall, but also wrapping is going to bring the temp down a bit. It’s normal don’t worry
No. Don’t turn it up that much. If pressed for time….maybe go up to 265/275 MAX
Ok thx. Is it normal for meat to stall that long?
Yes
Nowhere to go but up!
Butts up!
Dryer than my ex who used to be on 40mg of Adderall
Sounds like a fun girl
Still got her number?
You can fix her bro I believe in you.
What temperature did you cook it at and what temperature was it when you took it off.
It's not done. I'm gonna guess that it only got to 180ish.
225 10 hours pulled off at 197
Always probe multiple spots before taking it off. The probe you leave in the meat while it smokes won’t necessarily give you the right info about the meat as a whole. Usually when this probe hits 200 I’ll start poking around the rest of the butt with my probe, and often times I find that it’s much lower, like 193. So then you know to keep it on a bit longer.
Also I personally think it’s better to pull around 202 rather than 197. But others may disagree on that.
I follow the same, on all accounts. Here, here!
This 💯
What type of thermometer were you using? Even on my first attempt which I think I did at around 275-300 and around your time , it didnt come out like that, I have never had a butt come out like that . It had to have been too high of a temp or no fat/collagen in that butt
You didn't cook it long enough....at 175 wrap it and put it back in... pull it at 205....let sit wrapped....the bone should just pull out and it should fall apart
It looks overcooked and no smoke ring. The perfect learning opportunity.
Undercooked
It looks very dry, undercooked would be a little raw.
Naw overcooked would be dry but still fall apart. This looks like it was pulled at 175, lots of collagen holding this together that still needs to melt away.
Okay, my second thought was it was still tough but it just looks so dry. Hopefully OP figures out what they did wrong.
Smoke ring has nothing to do with good bbq. Throw your meat on cold if you want a smoke ring.
Honest question because I am very new. What do you do to not get a smoke ring? Do find a difference in flavor?
Smoke rings are 100000% visual only. Zero effect on flavor or tenderness or whatever.
You can get a smoke ring without smoke, and you can smoke without a smoke ring.
For example, electrical smokers tend to not produce any smoke ring.
If you want a smoke ring use an offset or anything that has a solid fire. Electric smokers and pellet smokers smolder more than actually burn. Generally a smoke ring means you had a clean burning fire and the smoke is flowing through the chamber nicely.
I’ve been smoking meat for 30+years and I’ve never had it come out without a smoke ring. It looks to me like this was cooked way too hot and not enough smoke. Low and slow. And lay the smoke to it.
This isn’t the bbq sub, it’s the smoking sub. I think that in the smoking sub the smoke ring is going to be essential.
Tbf, you are right good bbq isn’t about a smoke ring.
What do you mean by this isnt the bbq sub? Bbq might not always be smoking, but smoking is BBQ. Its apparent you are new.
Smoke ring is not essential. Good bbq/smoked meat doesnt need a smoke ring. Its competely aesthetic and throwing the meat on cold guarentees one
I think I should buy your bbq book. Or subscribe to your YouTube channel.
YouTube link on Reddit? Now want to think it’s a rick roll but maybe it’s your YT channel (which I will subscribe too btw).
Idk wether to click or not
Edit: I clicked and I got Rick rolled. Well played sir.
Have a good day man
Be men and have a bbq face off. The loser never shows their face again.
Love when ppl think that the smoke ring is the key to good que. fucking muppets.
Celery seed on your meat and you’ll get a “smoke ring” on everything you cook regardless.
But nailed the bark!
How did you do this? You like overcooked it but at the same time undercooked it.
Looks dry but good bark
That’s not bark. That’s just overcooked
That's under cooked
Thoughts and prayers.
What kind of smoker, and how are you measuring the pit temperature? That looks hotter than 225
Right in slow cooker with some stock and a beer until it shreds...it just needs some more time
Time is irrelevant. Did you check internal temp at all? Once I started cooking to temp and not time, it changed my game exponentially. Get yourself a probe thermometer.
It was 197 on the probe when it came out
Did you debone before smoking or did it come that way? I always prefer bone in for structure. Next time maybe try wrapping in heavy foil at 165 so that when the stall happens and the meat squeezes that juice will be trapped in the foil and will retain moisture that way. Keep at it. Take the temp all the way to 203-205*. Those couple degrees from 197 make a world of difference. The price should feel like it’s going in soft butter. Only way to make good meat is by cooking bad meat.
Yeah it was a boneless 4 pound. Got some good notes now for my next smoke. Appreciate it.
What type of smoker? Did you use a drip/water pan?
You pulled it too early....and you need to wrap it at 175...pull it at 205
Was it probe tender when you took it off? Like hot knife into butter?
Was it probe tender
When you took it off? Like hot
Knife into butter?
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If I tried to do that I don’t think I could. How did you turn a pork butt into a brisket?
Dry as a nun’s nasty that one.
Cooking Temp Too Hot, you have More Heat than Smoke
What would you suggest? Again new to smoking meats. Not trying to get shamed by the experts.
Ha. You are going to get shamed. Don't worry, it ain't personal, everyone does.
225-250 F is plenty, low and slow is best for me
There's nothing wrong with 225. I run mine at 250 for a bit, but I'm usually doing an 8 to 10 pounder. 4 pounds is small and perfect for feeding less people. But it doesn't need nearly as long when half the size.
For 4 pounds, I would run at 225, start at 10am, and anticipate it'll be done between 3 and 5pm. I pull mine off at 203 it so, and let rest for an hour or two before pulling.
Double triple check your pit temps, by the look of your bark and the fact that its dry and tough, seems more like it was 275-300. Grill therms and controllers can be wildly inaccurate. I made that mistake once. You can also foil, "texas crutch" after the bark develops to help get through the stall and keep it moist, at the cost of some bark texture.
I've Mastered my pork butts and I'll tell you exactly what I do.... Follow this. And it'll come out perfect.... Take yellow mustard lather The whole pork butt...then pack it with your dry rub.... Put it on the smoker cold at 225 preferably 250... After about 2 hours in a smoker, spray it with 100%. Apple juice...spray it down about every hour...at an international temp of 170-175 pull it....wrap it in tin foil or Butcher paper....before wrapping make sure you spray it with the apple juice again...put it back in the smoker till internal temp is 205....take it out and let it rest wrapped....some say about an hr....i never do though because im pressed for time and still is awesome....but some say wrap in a towel "of course still in the tin foil or Butcher paper" and place in a cooler for an hr..... also make sure your water pan is filled through out the whole process....the bone should pull out clean and you should be able to completely break it down by hand.....wrapping it at 175 is key....it will be so juicy
How did you cook it? What temperature did you pull it off at? And why did you slice it instead of pulling it apart?
225 10 hours internal 197 and it makes a better picture not pulled apart - but it absolutely was
I don’t think I agree that it makes a better picture
Try 280-300, wrap around 170 internal. Use bone in butts.
“Uhh. No. That’s a space peanut”
Boeing Bomb.
Really got into smoking about 5 to 6 years ago. First good advice I got was to invest in decent meat probes. Second piece of advice was to get an instant read probe to double check what the leave in probes were reading from time to time. If you follow the instructions and trust your temp probes, it makes smoking so much more enjoyable and rewarding. I never cook without them, nice part too is having it alarm when you reach temp. So you don't sleep through it being done, and wake up to dry meat.
Worst time
Go ahead and make chili bro
Throw that baby in a crockpot with some broth to finish it.
That's... oof
Wow, what's your secret? Everytime I try it, my wife declines the pork butt...
Wow
I need a glass of water just to look at this
Ouch!
Next one will be nice, my first smoke was a brisket flat, I was the only one to eat it, came out dry and salty.you can always “confit” that in a butter mix to get some good tacos
That’s hella undercooked and hella overcooked at the same time. So much confusion at once. By the looks of it did you by chance smoke this on something that doesn’t keep the fuel source in a separate chamber? That looks like the fuel source was burning and flared up from underneath and burned where the bark should be. Or is was to close to the source of the smoke and was over smoked with the chamber being to hot. Looks to me like it was hotter than you thought it was inside, thus making the outside appear done and warming the fat to heat your thermometer to make you think it was done. Or you took the temp at the edge and not center. That sucker shouldn’t have been able to be cut in half like that. As soon as any pressure would be applied it should have started falling apart with ease. I believe I saw you state that it still shredded nicely and still juicy, so overdone bark undercooked internal
Under cooked....not over at all
😢
First timers should crutch until you learn to feel for doneness.
You probably already ate this, but when you pull a pork this early, you can fix it by putting it in an instant pot for 30 min's on the trevit (spelling), with a 1/4 cup of beer on the bottom.
Explain what you did
Thermo might be off. Test it in other stuff
The first pic reminds me of Anakin Skywalker.
It almost looks like burnt sugar on the outside. Did you use a dry rub with a high brown sugar content?
That’s some BARK there!
I didn't know you can mess up a butt. Thermometer must have been off.
You roasted that ass!
Oof. A little dry but second times the charm. It’s all good though that’s what barbecue sauce is for!
You'll need to cook this with a soup. Cut it up very thin and add to ramen and it'll add wonderful flavor. Freeze this in 1/4s and bring one out at a time.
Speaking from experience
Pork shoulder is pretty simple. You don’t even need to keep the temps low and cook it long: it’s perfectly happy at 275-300 and will only take a few hours.
I do mine with hickory and the “Hey Grill, Hey” pork and poultry rub. I usually aim for 205 final temperature, and it comes out incredibly juicy and fall-apart tender every time.
That looks like dirty smoke. Hopefully you won’t need a knife next time around
It took me a few tries to get pork shoulder how I like them. Weber kettle, 8 to 11 pounds, charcoal and wood no probe. About ten hours using foil wrap after the bark is good to push past the stall and render that fat cap. There is now way I would get the good results I get on another grill with other fuel. It would be like starting over and learning it all again.
Who slices pork? We wanna see the part when it falls apart
Doesn’t look like it reached 205… definitely cant be pulled apart. Next time pull it off and wrap it in butcher paper or foil and cook it to 205. The smoke only has affect for the first 3-5 hours. After that its not taking on any more of it. The layer will hold the heat internally, but keep the moisture in and the butt from charring out.
Ooh-fa
Love eating pig’s arse
I have never seen an overcooked pork butt. I've seen PLENTY of undercooked ones. Anyone got a pic of one? Gotta be impossible to do at any temp under about 300f.
Ps I'm not talking about burnt bark from sugary rubs or direct heat.
I mean, definitely could have either been done at a lower temp, or taken off sooner.
But at the end of the day, smoking is something that is trial and error. If what you made didn't come out 100% how you wanted it, but still tasted good then that's what matters.
I made a brisket not long ago that I beat myself up for because it came out dry. Flavor was spot on, but I messed around with the temps too much because I needed it out by a certain time.
How long and how did you rest it?
I don't let me crust get that black. It's hard to chew and can have a bitter taste. When it starts to blackin, I wrap it in foil. This preserves the crust and makes the meat more juicy.
Do you all score your fat cap or no?
That’s a pretty big butt 🤤
I think you might have gone for to long. I do low slow temps I start at 170 and go until it hits internal 170 then wrap in a foil tray and add about an inch of Snapple apple juice and crank it to 225 until it hits 203 internal that’s my personal magic number and it always perfect
Gimme that sliver on the bottom right, please and thank you.
You are eating ass? 🤢
Looks like my liver!
An 8lb pork butt can cook in about 10 hours. That unfortunately was way too long for a 4lb butt. Couldn’t cooked it in half a day probably.
My first pork butt sucked. It just never was shreddable
Only way to learn is to make mistakes. Pork butts are good way to learn how to smoke things. Rule #1 always cook to temperature. Never time (ribs are the exception to the rule) you'll get pulled pork when the meat hits 195-205
OP, you'll get the hang of it. But, I bet it tastes good with some sauce and slaw on a bun!
Thats fucking gross!!! Throw it away and lower the heat
Over cooked it..
That looks better than 1st pork I had....ummm cooked
That’s why they invented sauce.
Just go vegan!
I wouldn’t feed that to my dog
Make sure to post the next one!! Good first time!!
You savages really do eat anything low vibrational.
Def looks over cooked to me
Under cooked
That is dryer and a nuns vag bud but don’t be discouraged. Get a meat prob will tell you everything you need to get it perfect. Anyone here who didn’t do something similar their first time is a liar.
Everyone has to start from somewhere because of no smoke ring your the butt of their jokes 😁
I like that one
Throw your meat on cold if you want nice smoke ring. People like you are the butt of a joke to seasoned smokers because we know a smoke ring doesnt mean anything. Its just a blatent tell that you are new to smoking as well
OMG that looks like it is one of the victims of the Challenger explosion!
275° for 5-7 hours, pulling at 205ish or when tender through. Wrap at 4ish or when you have great color all the way around. If you want great smoke penetration, do 225 till wrapping and then bump to 275 once in the foil.
Here’s my notes:
Temp 225-250 2hr/lb at 225 (recommended) 90min/lb at 250 Watch when temp hits 180, heats faster Done at 205/probe tender Wrap Rest at least an hour
I used to wrap around 180 but I’m firmly team no wrap to get that nice bark
I also used to pull it at 200, but I’ve found letting it get up those last 5 degrees really makes it tender. However some people like it less tender, so it’s a preference thing.
I’d still eat that butt
Nobody in the comments knows if it’s under or overcooked lol. Don’t listen to the haters. How did it taste?
I just did pork butt last week for the first time. I read it takes 2 hours per pound at 225, so I did two 8 pounders at the same time. One took 14 hours, the other 17. I made some mistakes but with good seasoning and sauce on the finished product it was good. I’m proud of you, it’s a hard thing to nail!
Well your second one will definitely be better. Did you use a temp probe for cooking or just put it on for 18 hours? Try to get it more uniform, I’d hate to see how those appendages turned out.