Boston Butt and Crock Pot

[Papa Rick]

I will put the 2 BB on in the morning and let them cook all day long.  I have a few questions on this:

1.  Total weight of 2 BB were 15.46 with bone in.  They seem to be pretty much the same size.  What time frame am I looking at cooking them at 225.

2.  Should I put them on the middle rack side by side?

3.  I have Hickory, Maple, Oak and Cherry wood chunks.  Which would be the best to use on these?

4.  I am going to eating one of these at a Family get together on Saturday at 1 p.m.  Question here is I have heard people talk about reheating them in a crock pot.  What is the correct procedure to do this and for how long?

5.  On doing the other BB I will freeze it for later.  I do not have a vacuum sealer so what would be the best way to put this one in the freezer?

I know this is a lot of questions, but again I have NEVER ever tried to do a BB because of the problems I have heard people talk about.

I have a #2 and have had great results with Ribs, Turkey and Chicken, but need help on this.

I appreciate the advice and suggestions very much.

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[jcboxlot]

-1.   Brine first.

1.  Cook to temp regardless of time.  195 degrees and then rest.  Figure putting them in earlier than you think, for time safety sake.

2.  If they fit, put side to side, but I bet its a tight fit.

3.  Cherry or maple, are my favorites. 5-6 oz wood

4.   Double foil and rest after hitting temp for at least two hours.   Leave in oven or cooler to settle.

4a.   If you need for a picnic, you might be able to pull pork ahead of time, sauce, spice, reheat as you can, crock pot or microwave.   

5.   Zip lock and push all the air out, tupperware, lock and lock, or spend the $80 and get a vac sealer.

5a.   Once you do a good pork butt you will have no probs in spending a few bucks on a vac sealer.

[NDKoze]

I think John pretty much covered it.

I love Cherry and Hickory on butts and typically use a roughly 50/50 mixture of the two woods.

If you don't have time to brine it is not necessary, but well worth your time if you do. I brine 100% of my Boston Butts.

[elkins20]

Hey Richard, +1 & +2 on what John and Greg told you. I would just bump up the temp to 235 JMO and like to cook at that temp. Also hope you have something to measure the internal temp. of the meat. Check this site for a sealer but can wait a little while on that here is a post http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=3685.0
The outlet store here https://www.vacmasterfresh.com/outlet/ has the sealer for $80.00. Several of us here have this unit.

[Papa Rick]

Thank You John, Gregg and Bill.  Got up this morning and.  Rinsed them off, put mustard on them and sprinkled heavy with John Henry Pecan Rub.  Didn't have the Dave's Rub.

7 oz of wood, 1 chunk of maple and 2 chunks of Hickory.

Apple Juice in foil pan in bottom by heating element.

Placed both of them on the Middle Rack (Tight fit)  I believe they will be alright for Heat to get around them.  If not I will move one of them, but hopefully won't have to.
Outside Temp is 68 and Internal Temp was 43 starting at 6:10 am

Monitor them with Maverick 733 Dual Probe.

My wife got me a Cen-Tech Digital Pocket Scale yesterday and I was glad as before I weighed them I would have put 9 1/2 oz of wood on it this morning.

Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Three things in my future are the bigger digital scale, Vacuum sealer and Famous Dave's Rub.  Never tried the Dave's Rub, but have heard good things about it.

[Papa Rick]

One probe is reading 99 and the other one is 113.  Both of them are in the same location, will this hurt or is this common on putting 2 BB together?  They have been in 85 minutes.

[swthorpe]

The temps can vary between the two BBs, so no worries.   I suspect they will get closer as the smoke goes on.     For smoker temp, I agree with Ed to set at 235F rather than 225F...seems to move the smoke along to about 1.25hrs/lbs.

Shortly you will see the IT start to stall around 165-170IT...just relax!   The temp will stay in this range for quite a while, but I promise it will eventually break through the stall!  When you hit 195IT, take them out and wrap.

Good luck...let us know the results!

[Papa Rick]

Thanks Steve.  Just checked them at the 2 hour point and it is closer.  124 - 131

[swthorpe]

Good deal ... you will have some excellent pulled pork by this evening!   

[Papa Rick]

Thanks Steve, 3 hours point even closer... 149 - 153

[elkins20]

Hey Richard, I use John Henry's pecan rub and I think you will like it. I normally check it at least once a day with my finger to make sure it is ok. That is how much I like it.

[Papa Rick]

Thanks Steve, found this a year ago and used it on my Ribs, and we were hooked for sure.

4 hour mark is now 163 - 169

[NDKoze]

The stall should be coming soon. As others have said, just embrace it and don't try to push through it by raising the smoker temp.

I do tend to use 235 when smoking two butts, but still like 225 if one doing one more so because I put mine in at midnight and don't want them to get done too early. So, you may want to bump it up 235. The stall can last an hour or two.

Sounds like things are going according to plan though.

BTW, as you have found out, the meat temps can vary greatly early on, but almost always even out in the end especially if they are similar size/weight.

[Papa Rick]

So true Greg.  Pulled them at 8 hrs, 35 minutes and both of them had reached 199.  Thought this may have been early, but they both were crusty on the outside and had juice on top of them.  Took couple of pics just got to figure out the how and everything on this

[swthorpe]

Can't wait to hear the results (but I it bet it will be good!)