Expert: BBQ Woman - 9/18/2007

Question
hey, i am experienced with grilling many meats. when i do ribs i use a dry rub, an apple juice squirt and finish them with a sauce and they always turn out great. i set my grill up by building two small lump charcoal fires on each side of the barrel, with a drip pan in the center, adding pecan and hickory during the process for smoke and this is how i have done my butts too. however, they never turn out as good as i would like. what is the ideal temp for butts? at what point and for how long do i wrap the butt in tinfoil? i like "bark" on my meats, i can get "bark" on ribs, but not on my butts... do i put sauce on before i wrap them? etc... just need a general process for cooking a butt with good "bark." thanks for any help

Answer
My personal opinion on pork butt is that you don't need to foil it at all. The reason being is pork butt is marbled with enough fat to keep it moist.
I would personally do similar to what you do with the ribs a dry rub marinating it over night, another rubdown before putting it on to smoke.
The set up you are doing is pretty good and he wood blend of pecan and hickory would work well with pork butt.
The ideal temp for cooking pork butt is 215 degrees but its still ok to maintain a temp between 200 and 235.
Pork butt tends to take 1 1/2 hours for every pound of meat but this is just an estimate the best way to determine doneness is with a thermometer.
So if you have an 8 pound pork roast smoke it at about 215 degree until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Once it reaches 140 degrees continue to slow cook it but don't add any more smoke.
For an 8 pound roast you need to cook it for at least 12 hours and I would test for temperature often towards the end of the cooking process. You can flip the roast during the half mark period.
However to get the bark on the roast during the final hour rub it down with a sugar based sauce that will caramelize during the final hour of cooking.
Allow it to rest a half hour before pulling or slicing.
I hope this helps you.
Feel free to ask me follow ups on this topic.
Regards,
Misty