boston butt cook time

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A constant internal temp reading isnt necessary for large cuts of meat like this. Leave it alone until well into the smoke(8-9 hour mark), with experience one can tell by how the meat feels/looks & know about where it is at(& just need to confirm it with a therm if need be).

Spritzing every 1/2 hour wont let a bark develop(plus opening the smoker every 30 minutes isnt a good idea imho(if your lookin' you aint cookin') it is just washing the rub off.

I dont spritz, and occasionaly mop once a butt is on for 8-9 hours, I also re-apply rub during the smoke to add to the bark.
 
I agree with chisoxjim. I never spritz butts. There is enough internal fat in a butt that it doesn't need to be mopped or spritzed. Besides that liquid isn't going to penetrate very far. I had must rather have nice crispy bark mixed in with the moist, tender internal pork. Once I put a butt on, I do not open the cooking chamber until around the 4 hour mark just to check & be sure the internal temp has come up enough. Since I hardly ever do a butt smaller that 7-8#, I try not to open it again for at least 3 more hours. This is when I typically insert a probe to monitor the internal temps.
 
I hope the smoker temps you listed was a typo and that you meant 240-250
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I sometimes spritz and sometimes don't my family actually doesn't like the crispy bark in the pulled pork. There are also those here that would argue that the alcohol in many spritz/mop mixtures actually helps to create bark personally I don't know about that one.
As for the probe at 3 hours I suggest that for newer people so if they are having temp problems it allows some time to rethink strategy if they probe it at 8 or 9 hours to find low temps its usually to late to change strategy and salvage the meat
 
I dont argue about bbq, and I agree a little alcohol in the mop does help with the bark
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however opening a smoker and spritzing every 30 minutes is just overkill & extending ones cook imho.

I mop late in the smoke if at all, then re-apply rub that may get washed off, plus some of my rub is in the mop mix.

either way, whatever works for each persons tastes, and who they are cooking for is all good.
 
I don't spritz at 30 minutes either that would seem like lots of door opening and loosing heat to me personally. If spritzing I do it about every 1-1.5 hours after the first couple hours but as you said to each their own
 
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