Need Help for an Experiment

[LostArrow]

I often vary the temp ill cook at to get the food done when I need it.
Thinks cook faster @275F than 225F.
I'd like 4 of us to cook the same size butt at 4 temps 225, 250, 275, & 300.
Cook to 195af .
Need a cooker it's fairly easy to control temp & a meat thermometer .
3-4 volunteer for a temp & ill take the last one.
Try to buy a 7-8 lb bone in, it's easy to trim one down in size.
This will give us an idea of how temp affects cooking time.

[Ka Honu]

LA - I'd be right there with you but I don't think it will prove anything.  As we know, some butts will cook quickly at almost any temperature while seemingly identical ones will take forever - there's no commonality for comparison.  About all you can say is that if a given butt took 12 hours at 225^o it would have taken less time at 300^o (but at that point it's too late to try it).

[sliding_billy]

I think the only way this is going to work is if one cook with a couple of the same smoker cooks a couple of exactly the same butts at the same time with temp being the only variable.  I have done butts at about all of the temps you mention (and plenty of others including ones with wild swings), and I don't think there is much difference in the results that can't be explained by different cuts of meat and different reactions by otherwise identical cuts.

[Jaxon]

OR...
you could put one butt close to the heat source and the other at the far end - away from the heat source.  Check grate temps at both places and cook away.

maybe that could work.

[veryolddog]

Interesting concept.

On July 3, I had to smoke 3 pork butt for a 4th of July party that my daughter in law was giving for friends. I thought that I would pursue the same issue as LA, cook them at a higher temperature and they will get down quicker. So i raised the temperature from 225 which I normally cook to 240 degrees. Let me preface this by saying that I used my pellet smoker based upon a set and forget plan.

The pork butts went into the smoker at 9:00 PM. After 4 hours the pork butts reached 160 degrees internal temperature. I foiled the pork butts. At 6:20 in the AM, the alarm went off on the Maverick and I  removed all 3 butts. However, I only had probes in 2 of the butts and they reported 205 degrees. These butts weighed 9 lbs. and 7 lbs. respectively. The third butt, which I did not have a probe, I test for temperature and this came in at 175 degrees internal. Placement in the grill has something to do with this. Two of the butts, two 7 pounders were on the second shelf above the 9 pounder. Facing the smoker, the pork butt on the right hand side nearest the chimney, was the one at 175 degrees internal temperature. That butt went back into the smoker with the Maverick probe and alarm set for 205 degrees and I reset the temperature to 250 degrees in hopes that this would facilitate a faster cook and I placed this on the low grill. The alarm for the third butt went off at 9:15 AM at which time, I removed the butt and pulled the pork.

That is my own real life experience. And, maybe, this information will be input to what you are investigating. Results might be different on a different pellet smoker or a larger Yoder like a 640. I have the smallest, a 480. Or, results might be significantly different on a pure wood smoker. It seems like there a are too many variables in order to have a consistent test.

Hope this helps.

Ed

[Hub]

A worthy thought and experiment, LA     However, I'm not certain it will help us much.  To get accurate results you'd need butt chunks off the same critter, cooked in exactly the same equipment and with all other variables and conditions held the same, too.  Under these conditions we'd have pretty exact comparibility, for those chunks.

Particularly with butts and briskets, and even to a good extent with ribs, I get to "done" in significantly different times from cook to cook.  Brisket is the worst one.  Derned things have a mind of their own and my predictions and past experience using the same cooker don't seem to play out well.  I'm not a food scientist, but one thing I know is a culprit is relative fat content and how that fat is distributed through the meat.  My experience has been that leaner chunks need more time (particularly in foil, if used). 

The thing that saves pork butts is that they are so forgiving of holding time.  I cook them "early" and have FTC'ed them for four or five hours and they've still been delicious and not overcooked or mushy.  Briskets tend to disintegrate into bits and mush if held to long and ribs won't hold for very long at all.  Aint it fun?

Hub

[sparky]

I like cooking butts.  I've tried smoking them for a couple of hours then up the temp to 250 or so.  I've also started them off right at 250 for the whole ride.  is there a proper way?  I couldn't tell ya.  the last one I cooked I tried something different.  I seen a BPS video and followed that to a T.  brought the mak up the 275 and put butt on for 3 hours.  then foiled w/ a little apple juice.  3 hours later probed at 203.  perfect.  took 6 hours to cook a perfect butt.  I've have cooked some where it took 12 to 16 hours to cook butts.  lots of pellets burn in 16 hours compared to 6.  my wife like the 6 hour butt for the texture and flavor.  who knows what's best.  the fun part it trying all the different methods.