If you're interested, here's a blow-by-blow account of the cook, along with two important lessons learned:
Okay, well let's start with the fire. I built it the same way I build it for brisket cooks - that is, I pretty much use the Elder Ward strategy, starting with a clean firebox and stratifying my lump from bottom to top. I fill some interstitial areas with wood chunks - for this cook I used a mixture of hickory and apple. I was very pleased with the resulting mound of lump, which piled to the top of my firering. I actually thought to myself that it was one of my better lump piles for a low-n-slow.
Inside, I rubbed the 6.8 lb butt with Elder Ward's recipe. I made a drip pan out of tin foil and filled it with vinegar.
I went back outside and opened Mini, which had some yellow-hot glowing coals left over from my ribeye cook. I took about 8 pieces and spaced them evenly across the top of my lump pile - center and sides. (I've used this starting method when doing briskets with great success). Then, I put my inverted platesetter, drip pan, cooking grid, then butt. I put two probes in the thickest parts and shut the lid. Bottom and top vents were wide open. My watch said "9:00 p.m."
Over the next 35 minutes or so, the temp rose to about 200. At this time I started backing down on the vents - the bottom I closed over the next 10 minutes to about 1/4" open, the daisy wheel slide I closed completely and left the holes wide open. The temp drifted to about 245. I went inside.
About an hour later, the temp had drifted down to about 220, so I tweaked the vents a little more - opened the bottom a hair more, cracked the slide top slightly. Over the next half hour the dome temp rose to about 240 again.
A half hour later, the dome temp started rising again, this time to about 270. I closed the slide completely, leaving the vent holes open.
About an hour and fifteen minutes later, I went outside and the dome temp had dropped to about 200. I feared that my fire was starting to go out. I used my battery operated fan to get the temp back up to about 250. It held there rock solid for the next hour with the bottom vent about 1/2" open and the top slide closed, holes at 75%. All this time the internal temp had been rising, and, if I've done my math right, it was now 2:00 a.m. and the internal temp was at 135. I went to lie down, intending to set my alarm for 4:00 a.m., but I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 8:00 a.m. the next morning.
At 8:00 a.m. my dome temp was at 150 and the internal temp was at 135. There was no way to tell how long the fire had been out, but I did have NO success rekindling it with the fan. I had to pull out the MAPP gas and relight the lump. Got the dome temp restabilized at 250 by 8:45. By 9:30 I decided it would be better to run the dome temp up to 300, so I got it there by 9:45. Internal temp still dropping. Now at 131.
An hour later I was back at 250 and at an internal of 129. I cranked the Egg back up, this time to about 325. Left the Egg at about 12:00 to eat lunch with my wife. Internal temp was now out of the danger zone, say about 150 or so.
Returned at 1:30 or so, and dome temp was around 300 and internal temp had risen to about 170. I opened the vents more and ran the temp up to about 375. About an hour and half later I was at 195 internal temp. I pulled the butt, wrapped in foil and towels, put in cooler for two hours.
So, including the two hours of foil, the total "cooking time" (in quotes b/c who knows how long it didn't cook during the night) was 20 hours. Another interesting thing was that the temp rise did not pause around the 160 degree mark, which indicates perhaps that the butt had already progessed successfully through the fat rendering phase during the night before the fire went out. The fact that the meat was super tender somewhat validates this theory I suppose.
After all the drama, the results were superb. Great flavor (smoke + rub), very tender, juicy, and I didn't get any wacky pork disease after all!
In all seriousness, though, be carefull with pork. The general rule is that you should not allow the meat to be in the "danger zone," 40 < internal temp < 140, for more than 4 hours, and remember this includes the time you pushed the butt around in your grocery cart! It pays to wake up at least once in the middle of the night to check your dome temp. I'm even thinking that in the future I will probably do this cook starting early in the morning, or perhaps it's time to invest in one of those remote temp sensors with an alarm, or perhaps even one of those BBQ Gurus.
