# Miracle?



## crazyrayarky (Dec 14, 2020)

I know there is a lot of knowledge in here so I’m here hoping y’all can help shed light on this subject.
Yesterday I was lazy and put two butts in my Pit Boss pellet smoker set it to 225 and put my meat in with probed in place. One butt was 5.5 pounds and the other 11 pounds.  Set an alarm for 4 am to get the small one off and it wasn’t ready. Went back to sleep and checked again at 6:45 and both were at 206 which is my target temp.   How is that possible?


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## crazyrayarky (Dec 14, 2020)

crazyrayarky said:


> I know there is a lot of knowledge in here so I’m here hoping y’all can help shed light on this subject.
> Yesterday I was lazy and put two butts in my Pit Boss pellet smoker set it to 225 and put my meat in with probed in place. One butt was 5.5 pounds and the other 11 pounds.  Set an alarm for 4 am to get the small one off and it wasn’t ready. Went back to sleep and checked again at 6:45 and both were at 206 which is my target temp.   How is that possible?
> 
> FYI I’m color blind to red/green so I apologize if I posted in the wrong category or thread....


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## Brokenhandle (Dec 14, 2020)

Near as I can tell from your pics is they are both about the same width and thickness... just the 11 pounder is longer. So they will take about the same time to finish.  If they were the same length but 11 pounder was twice as wide and twice as thick it would have taken longer.  Hope that makes sense.

Ryan


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## crazyrayarky (Dec 14, 2020)

Brokenhandle said:


> Near as I can tell from your pics is they are both about the same width and thickness... just the 11 pounder is longer. So they will take about the same time to finish.  If they were the same length but 11 pounder was twice as wide and twice as thick it would have taken longer.  Hope that makes sense.
> 
> Ryan


The 11 was twice as thick.  The small one was just butchered a couple of weeks ago and it’s a show pig at 300-320 so you ain’t getting an 11 pound shoulder   I’m open to any theories. My champion bbq man said ain’t no way in hell that happened!  This is my 3rd year at it and I’m a friends and neighbor cook. Lol


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## olaf (Dec 14, 2020)

Your not the first to post something like this. It looks like uneven heat distribution and a little luck. Nice looking pork by the way. From the pictures they look fairly similar in thickness


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## crazyrayarky (Dec 14, 2020)

olaf said:


> Your not the first to post something like this. It looks like uneven heat distribution and a little luck. Nice looking pork by the way. From the pictures they look fairly similar in thickness


I also didn’t wrap them. If that matters.


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## pineywoods (Dec 14, 2020)

No two pieces of meat will cook at the same rate and time due to differences in the meat and differences in heat like hot spots, positioning, air flow , etc in a cooker.
A lot depends on the connective tissues, collagen and such to break down when cooking.  Once in a great while somebody will post a thread asking how a 9 or 10 lb pork butt could finish in like 6 hours. Of course there's always that check your thermometer and probe it in several places but when all that settles it's that the butt cooked that fast. It's weird but does happen once in a while.


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## bigfurmn (Dec 14, 2020)

Looking at the set up in the smoker it might also be possible as the larger butt looks lower in the chamber which is usually a higher temp as it is closer to the heat source. What type of smoker are you using?


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## crazyrayarky (Dec 14, 2020)

pineywoods said:


> No two pieces of meat will cook at the same rate and time due to differences in the meat and differences in heat like hot spots, positioning, air flow , etc in a cooker.
> A lot depends on the connective tissues, collagen and such to break down when cooking.  Once in a great while somebody will post a thread asking how a 9 or 10 lb pork butt could finish in like 6 hours. Of course there's always that check your thermometer and probe it in several places but when all that settles it's that the butt cooked that fast. It's weird but does happen once in a while.


Freaked me out at 4am


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## slater (Dec 14, 2020)

Youre qustion is how come the larger one didnt take longer to cook due to its size
My recent first brisket the point thickest part was to temp way before the thinnest flat edge.
Your situation my guess is the larger butt had more overall fat content so got done quicker in relation to size compared to the smaller  leaner one.
So they were done relatively the same time.
smaller butt less fat takes longer to cook to temp.
Make sense?
From what ive been told from a co-worker who has smoked a ton of briskets explained to me the thickest part of the brisket gets to temp relatively quicker compared to the leaner part of the cut due to overall fat content....
By the way, the butts look great!


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## Chasdev (Dec 15, 2020)

Smoking meat can get crazy and I find that when the same conditions are present, two different cooks can and will come out differently.
I conjecture that things like barometric pressure and humidity should be, but are never considered when starting a cook.
I do know that I've had strange things happen and strange outcomes that left me scratching my head and long after I thought I knew what was what.
Part of the mystery, what?


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## crazyrayarky (Dec 15, 2020)

slater said:


> Youre qustion is how come the larger one didnt take longer to cook due to its size
> My recent first brisket the point thickest part was to temp way before the thinnest flat edge.
> Your situation my guess is the larger butt had more overall fat content so got done quicker in relation to size compared to the smaller  leaner one.
> So they were done relatively the same time.
> ...


I’ve never had a problem with briskets but you’re right about the fat. The one I had butchered  had been trimmed down and didn’t have much of a fat cap.


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## HalfSmoked (Dec 15, 2020)

As piney said. Never had any 2 pieces of meat cook the same in the same amount of time. You can not say it will take 4 hours or 5 hours there is no set time it is done when its done.

Warren


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## HalfSmoked (Dec 15, 2020)

Thanks for the likes crazyrayarky and Brokenhandle they are appreciated.

Warren


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