boston butt advise

[es1025]

Need some advise, attending a party on Saturday and have been requested to cook some pulled pork. The party starts at 5pm. How long do you believe I can have the butt rest? I have gone 3 hours on my last one. Do you think I could extend the rest time to 4 hours? Thanks

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[Spresso]

I don't see why not as long as you keep the meat 150+ at all times....even at the end.
I used to be early with my grill but lately i have been late getting done with the #3.
If you can keep the tempt at 150-160 in the smoker, you could keep the meat safe.
I'd say pull it a couple of degrees early as it will continue to cook at that temp.
So if you usually pull it at 205 then pull it at 200-201 or so.   That's just my take on it....
Zed

[UWFSAE]

If you're going to hold that long I'd definitely give it a VERY healthy spritzing of apple juice before you put it in the cooler.  You may also want to throw a bunch of towels in the dryer prior to putting them in the cooler with the wrapped butt to help keep the temp up ... four hours is a bit of a stretch but I think it could be done so long as the temp stays up above 145.

[afratki]

I was going to recommend what Zed said about pulling a few degrees early also. Should be OK, just do everything you can to insulate to meat while resting.

[DivotMaker]

I held some pork loins, wrapped in foil, for about 3 hours at 140-145 - they were great, and I'm still alive.
The opinion of "safe" holding temp seems to vary, but I can't imagine much bacteria growing at 140+ degrees.