I just check for probe tenderness at that point, then wrap and hold/rest if it's "done."
This makes sense.
I smoked a boneless roast a couple of days ago. It wasn't quite done due to an "experiment" I was trying with the pellet grill.
(we won't get into that at this time. It's too early to look like a DA)
So, I put it in the 'frig until the next day.
I then wrapped it in foil with a little apple juice and some BBQ sauce and put it in my oven @ 225 until the IT was 205.
I held it at that temp for about 4 hours.
It turned out majorly over-cooked.
Still good, but mushy.
I cook mine to 200 and wrap in foil to hold in an ice chest for 2 hours. I have never checked the temp during or after the hold, but I have never been disappointed. I have been disappointed if I didn’t do the hold. I suspect the internal temp works it way toward 205.
I kind of figured I was over-thinking things a bit.
This trait served me well in the labs, but in the real world, not so much.
OK, time to reveal the DA experiment with my pellet grill:
I had seen a lot of water smokers used on BBQ Pitmasters, so I decided to play around with water.
I put a aluminum pan of water directly over the flame opening so the pellet flames would heat the water.
This worked, but was only about 2" below the pork roast.
The pork just never really seen enough heat, and was around 175 or so.
I was running out of dayight so I decided to finish it the next day.
If I understand the description of your setup correctly, you had your water pan physically on the pellet burner pot like putting a pot of water on a stove. If that is correct you were unintentionally throttling your smoker, Pellet smokers have a heat deflector that allows enough clearance between the burn pot and the deflector to allow for proper combustion and airflow. My suggestion for the future would be to place the water pan on the grate opposite the pork butt or whatever you are smoking.
I would also imagine that if that was, in fact, your setup, the amount of smoke you got on the pork was likely a lot less than if the water pan was clear of the burner.
The waters pan creates moisture which helps attract smoke to the meat. Also, at 175 internal temp it wasn’t going to attract more smoke, so you could have finished it in the oven.
On my Z Grills pellet burner, there is a round grate that can be opened or closed. It is pretty much where the flames end down in the burner section. I think the theory of this thing is to convince people that they can actually grill burgers on this thing.
Also, opening or closing this grate in no way throttles the burner.
It's just a way to get some direct flames up into the grill section.
(they claim up to 1000 degress. Yeah, right)
I finally found a picture of this grate. The burner is below and to the left of this grate.
The water pan was directly above this grate.
Like I said, it was a dumb idea that didn't work out the way I intended.
I have used water pans for the moisture in the past, just not this way.
I believe you are suffering from MCS (more cookers syndrome). It can be treated. I love my Yoder, PK, Napoleon, Weber 26, and Blackstone equally. Also like my turkey fryer too! Welcome to The Pit.
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