MY BEAUTIFUL BUTTS! OH NO

[Smokin T]

my butts have been on for 8.5 hours now and they are (or were) beauteous. i threw one more chunk of hickory in to seal the deal and all of a sudden the smoke pouring out was incredible. :o

i took off the top to look in and bam! fire flew out all over my meat! :x i quickly put the lid back on and closed the door. what happened to my beautiful butts? :?: they're almost ready to come off and now i am afeered to look! heeeeeeelp t

[Woodman]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

[Cal_BBQ Pit]

:shock: :shock:


I dont know, was there any sheild or pan between the flame and the meat? Sometimes I get flare up but it cools down after I close the lid and the vents. :? :? Hope that helps.

[Smokin T]

thanks, cal. yes, i had a foiled water pan between the fire and meat. the fire did go out as you mentioned when i replaced the cover and closed the door. i just took all four pieces out and they look ok, so they are now foiled and resting. :D t

[bigwheel]

Hmmm well this sounds like it could be mo serious than a kanser so to speak. Think you had whut might commonly be called a grease fire. Sometimes it good..sometimes its gooder or even bad. The proof of the puddin is in the eating my friend...to borrow a paraphrase from my dearly departed Mama. If if aint fitting cut off the crunchy parts and eat only the inside parts. It it is fitting forget whut I said. It is real hard to hurt butts too bad. Worst way to treat em is to dry em out by cooking em too long i.e. low n slow. Thats a bad plan. Some of the folks who invented bbq rules need a good booty kicking.

bigwheel



my butts have been on for 8.5 hours now and they are (or were) beauteous. i threw one more chunk of hickory in to seal the deal and all of a sudden the smoke pouring out was incredible. :o

i took off the top to look in and bam! fire flew out all over my meat! :x i quickly put the lid back on and closed the door. what happened to my beautiful butts? :?: they're almost ready to come off and now i am afeered to look! heeeeeeelp t

[Smokin T]

bigwheel, thanks. what do you mean about NOT cooking butts low and slow? what do you do? t

[Greathounder]

bigwheel, thanks. what do you mean about NOT cooking butts low and slow? what do you do? t

Considering the temp, I had mine in for about 20 hour. When I pulled the probe out, out squirted the juice. So it wasn't dry. The greyhounds didn't complain about what fell on the floor as I was pulling it and packing it. Besides for dinner tonight, I got vac-packages to send home with guests. Merry Christmas....Greathounder

[Woodman]

Maybe it's just me, but I haven't ever cooked a butt longer than 8 hours. I'm always at the high end of the temp profile though. WM

[bigwheel]

I usually wind up dong them direct over lump and chunks. Dont take too long figger 6 to 8 hrs maybe.

bigwheel

bigwheel, thanks. what do you mean about NOT cooking butts low and slow? what do you do? t

[Greathounder]

Maybe it's just me, but I haven't ever cooked a butt longer than 8 hours. I'm always at the high end of the temp profile though. WM

Gee Woodman, the page I printed, from Nov.24, you said they take 15 to 20 hours sometime. Thats the page you gave me your recipe for that great sauce. So if I'm doing it wrong, it's because I misunderstood your post. But it does taste good. All the relatives thought it tasted good tonight. Greathounder

[Woodman]

Maybe it's just me, but I haven't ever cooked a butt longer than 8 hours. I'm always at the high end of the temp profile though. WM

Gee Woodman, the page I printed, from Nov.24, you said they take 15 to 20 hours sometime. Thats the page you gave me your recipe for that great sauce. So if I'm doing it wrong, it's because I misunderstood your post. But it does taste good. All the relatives thought it tasted good tonight. Greathounder

I was just drunk that day probably GH. I may have said "a whole shoulder takes 15-20 hours" , or I know some people who have had butts take 20 hours" , but I personnaly never have em go beyond 8-9 hours tops. I'm usually cooking at an avg temp of 235 deg though. It is real difficult , as most of you know" to keep a 200-225 degree consistant temp in a 36" pit when burning all logs. My pit is not tuned, and I'm looking forward to getting one that is. I cannot imagine tryin to cook on an ECB , NBBD, or similar "economy " pit. My hat's off to those of you who do it and turn out great stuff. You really have to be dedicated. It is amazing how much effect a 10-15 degree temp variation from mean has on the duration of a cook. Woodman

[JamesB]

[quote="Greathounder"][quote=Woodman] I personnaly never have em go beyond 8-9 hours tops. I'm usually cooking at an avg temp of 235 deg though. . Woodman

U sayin that at 235 your still finishing them butts off in under 9 hours? What size butts u be using? U wrapping in foil? U pulling or slicing...

Just wondering 'cause 235 is usually my target temp on butts, briskets, ribs etc... when using my offset or my WSM. Most anything that don't have feathers, I'm cooking at 235... Them butts still taken me around 1.5 - 2 hrs lb to reach the pullable stage (or as Bigwheel likes ta say, pushable)... for an average 8lber...

U got secrets u ain't sharing? :)

James

[Greathounder]

The last batch of pork butts were 4 on two shelfs of my Great Outdoors Smokey Mountain Big Block smoker. About 32 lbs of meat be4 cookin'. It's propane powered and I go through most of a 20 lb tank for a batch. I try to keep the temp at 200 or just a little higher, but never 250. I got a gift card from Lnens and things and plan to get another thermometer, to do the probe thru the tater thing. So I know what the temp is at the meat and not on the door. Mine seem to slowly rise in temp to about 150 to 160 and then it stalls there for several hour. Then it starts to go up. I pull it at 185 to 190. What am I doing wrong....Greathounder

[bigwheel]

Taking a wild guess maybe the actual heat might be a little higher than suspected. Assuming the desired terminal temp on a thick piece of hawg meat at around 200 and an ambient pit temp of 235..should take only a week or two to make it able to push and pull:) Now that temp gauge in the meat is a great idear..or else bump it with an insta read every now and then as the end game approaches. I got one of them fancy remote controlled tater things but I usually dont bother to hook it up less I just got to have some sleep. When I do use it it goes in the meat..not in the tater. Sides..I only eat Big Daves taters and him and Big Brad does the cooking on that deal.

bigwheel

[JamesB]

Howdy Greathounder!

Can't say that your doing anything wrong there... One thing I would do ifn I were you is to boost the temp up to 225 - 235 at least. That will speed up things a bit.

When the internal temps hang in the 160 range for ever, it is called the plateu (sp?). This is the stage were the collegen and stuff starts to break down and make things all nice and tender... Once the temp starts to climb again, it will rise purty quick...

Good idear on the thermo thing, push it through a tater and place it on the grate.. that way you be more informed on the actual temp of things...

James.

[Woodman]

Mr Wheel probably has a valid point. The temp at the [/i]far end of my Klose is 235 avg. The firebox end and top shelf is probably higher. I'm cookin the standard two pack 7-8 lb butts you get at the price clubs. I do foil them at about 160 degrees and then rest them in a cooler for a couple of hours so, technically, they are[i] continuing to cook for that time. They don't hold together real well by the end though! WM

[Smokin T]

regarding this particular cook. i went to clean up, and the foiled water pan was, not surprisingly, full of burned meat juices.

under the foil was a huge amount of black, thick goop. it was like tar! what the heck was that? it took about two hours to get that stuff off! i've had a little of the same before, but this was really bad. WHAT IS THIS STUFF? thanks, and hope everyone had a great christmas. t

[Woodman]

Burned pig fat!

[JamesB]

regarding this particular cook. i went to clean up, and the foiled water pan was, not surprisingly, full of burned meat juices.

under the foil was a huge amount of black, thick goop. it was like tar! what the heck was that? it took about two hours to get that stuff off! i've had a little of the same before, but this was really bad. WHAT IS THIS STUFF? thanks, and hope everyone had a great christmas. t

Sounds like you had a failure of da foil... small pin hole that let them juices drip down and burn... Maybe try doubling up on the foil cover next time?

James

[C-Town Smoker]

When I smoke butts (usually 2 7-8 lbers) it takes me 16 hrs or so in my WSM at 240 or so. Sometimes I foil them but I am a fan of the bark so usually not. 8-9 hours seems short but perhaps the bigger pits allow better cirulation of air and thus a quicker finish??? :?: :roll: :wink:

[JamesB]

Foiling is the only way that I have found to speed up a butt or brisket cook. For me, they all take about the same amount of time no matter what I'm cooking on, be it my WSM, my 7 /12' x 44" offset, or the 8' x 30" offset... Now if I cook them in my ugly barrel pit in direct mode... well that's different...

James.