Pork Shoulder (Butt) Six and Half Hour Cook Turned Out Great!

Prepping the Grill

I have been looking forward to this day since we bought the grill last August. A day of cooking all day long. OK, I am also excited that it is March Madness and college basketball is on all day long.

Up to this point with the grill, I have only done cooking that takes a few minutes or tops an hour. I have done a few of those (see grilling) and those are fun and good, but I have wanted to do an all day cook from the start.

A short video below to show lighting of the grill. My technique which while it takes a little longer works well. Basically, I let the wood fire starters burn which then lights the rest of it on fire too. Take about 30 minutes for it to become completely lit. When I first got the BGE, I was trying to figure out how to make this light time go faster, but now I realize that is not necessary... I just have to make sure if we need to eat at a certain time, I need to start lighting the fire earlier.

Fire Lit and Wood Chips Added

Cleaned up the leftover lump from previous cooks. Removed ash and then added more lump to the fill line. I did not let the fire get really hot as I did not want to have to battle getting it back down to target temperature of 250 for the days cook. I let it get up to about 350 - 400 before I started closing vents and taking it back down. Once the fire caught, I added wood chips that had been soaking in water for about thirty minutes. Finally, added on the ConvEGGtor along with drip pan.

I let the fire go for a while before adding the meat. This was mainly done as I was trying to keep the temp right around 250. Adjusting the vents the temp went up to 300 and had issues getting it back down. Finally shut all vents and finally got it back down to 250. Once vents were opened and the temp stabilized at 250, I cleaned the grill grate and we were ready to put on the meat.

Pork Butt 5.67 lb with Mustard
and Rub Ready for the Grill

The meat is a 5.67 lb Pork Shoulder (Butt) that we purchased at Hy-Vee back in December. It had spent the past few months in our freezer until last night we decided we would cook all day today.

We started thawing it yesterday afternoon and by this morning it was ready to start preparation. We did a covering of mustard and then applied two different seasonings that we had in the cupboard. While we were preparing the meat, the grill was getting ready. Finally put the meat on the grill about noon.

A few pictures early in the cook and then one at about two hours into the cook.

Almost Two Hours into the Cook

Almost Four Hours into the Cook

We continue to wait at this point. As of 5:26 pm, the internal temp of the pork butt is 185. The temperature of the grill is about 340 degrees.... about 40 degrees higher than I want it to be, but the temperature of the meat started moving again. For the fourth hour, it was stuck at about 180. It just started to move again as we approach 5 hours and 30 minutes of cooking.

Removal from BGE

Finally took it off the grill after 6 hours and 27 minutes. Now, we let it rest for an hour before we start pulling it apart. It smells so good!

I am happy to report that it turned out great! The bone came right out with a little wiggle. Meat fell off of the bone just as I read it should after a good cook. Turned out perfect!

Very happy with the whole day. At the end when I was taking final temperature readings of the meat, I had the thermometer in at one spot where the temp got to 202... I took out the probe and put into a different location and the reading was about 185. So, I let it cook for a while longer until the temperature in that location got back up to about 195. By that time, Carrie and I were checking forums to see if multiple locations should be read; we found a discussion saying to take the average of different locations. In the end, we pulled it off, wrapped it in foil, and let  it sit for an hour.

Dinner is Served

We ate the pulled pork with sweet potato fries and green beans. It was perfection! We have a  lot leftover, but happy to report that the first try and an all day cook went very well!

Enjoyable day of grilling. I could not be happier with how it turned out. Granted, I did have to cook a little past the start of the Seton Hall vs. Kansas game, but that too turned out OK as Kansas moved on to the Sweet 16... so it was a great day!

Until next time, have a great week and happy BBQing...

I forgot to add a closeup picture of the final cook off of the grill, so, here you go....

Pork Butt From the Grill with Nice Bark