Tried to cook a boston butt

[barkking]

I started out yesterday (0730) to cook a boston butt roast with the SN and didn't take it off the grill until 1800.  The outside starting temp was about 31 degrees and warmed up to 51 when I took it off.  The problem I had is, several times during the cooking process, the dome temp went up to about 300, and  sometimes the meat temp would be going down.  I never got the meat temp above 178.  The only time the meat temp consistently rose was when I had it wrapped in foil after about 5 hrs of cooking unwrapped.  The final disappointment was that the meat was on the dry side. 
I had to use a lot more charcoal than I should have for that small a piece of meat. (4.7 lbs.)
Now fellas, I've grilled a lot of good ribs, butts, turkeys, etc., but never had such a bad experience.  What did I do wrong??? 

[ncsmoker]

Hi Barkking welcome to the forum. A pork butt this size should take 90min a lb. or roughly 7hrs. at 135 at the grill 145 at the dome. Were you adjusting the vents during your cooking time. This will cause the spikes to 300. How often did you add coals. if you added coals more frequently than every four hours this will also cause spikes. Just push the white coals up against the black coals after knocking off the ash every hour. See page 8 of the instruction manual. Add coals at 4hrs and sweep the ashes at that point. Pull all of the white coals to the center and fill the SN with new coals all the way back up to the top, it may take 30 to 40 new coals. Use the round holes and the square hole.

One last thing thermometers can be wrong. Check the calibration of yours by putting it in a large cup and filling the cup with boiling water. Depending on your height above sea level it should read close to 212. Deduct roughly a degree for every 1000' above sea level.

Another great hint is if you don't have the hinged grate, spend the $25-35 and get one. This lets you slide the lid back just the 6" to hold the heat in while you stir the coals and reposition them.

It seems like you have plenty of experience smoking before the SN so you should be able to adapt to it fairly easily. Good luck

NC

[kenny]

What ncsmoker said. I would only add be patient. My last butt took over 17 hours to hit 200 internal. I cannot explain why. But I stuck it out and the BBQ was very good. Do get thermometers that tell you temp at the food grate and meat temp. They are a great aid.

[harryj]

I've done several Boston butts and some Baltimore pit beef. My first Bbutt took an extra hour. For the next one, my wife suggested getting up an hour earlier and making sure the meat was close to room temperature even though we ALWAYS make sure it is fully defrosted if it has been frozen. Doing this with subsequent Bbutts and the Bpb resulted in closer-to-predicted cooking times which sure cuts down on the friction in the kitchen. It also helped avoid underdone centers. Letting the meat sit for an hour or so on the counter (on metal tray) before putting it on the grill gives me plenty of time to prepare rubs, get the fire up and running, and to ensure the kettle temp is relatively stable. On days below 50, I always add at least a half hour to cook times. And, as ncsmoker suggested, make sure the ash gets knocked down each time you add coals or water. That helps keep the temp stable.