Two pork butts stalled at 165 in the rain at a contest in Waco and I almost panicked

Sam Smith · 2026-10-19T07:45:04.706379+00:00

I was set up at a small backyard contest outside Waco back in April when the sky opened up around hour nine. Both butts hit 165 at the same time and just sat there, one stuck for almost two hours while the fire kept dropping heat from the rain blowing in sideways. My first move was to feed more charcoal and I nearly choked the fire out with ash, so I pulled the chimney apart and rebuilt the coals with a dry split. Then I wrapped both butts in butcher paper instead of foil, tossed them back on, and held the pit at 275 by tenting a piece of plywood over the firebox. One came off at 203 around 4:40 and the other needed another 40 minutes, but they turned in fine and I placed 6th out of 22. Has anyone else dealt with a rain stall like that, and did wrapping early actually help you or hurt the bark?

Librear

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Two pork butts stalled at 165 in the rain at a contest in Waco and I almost panicked | BBQ Pitmasters - Librear