I’m watching my Combustion Inc probe graphs on a 5 pound pork butt today. I did the first 3 hours at 225° and then bumped it to 250° in hopes to eat before midnight 😁. So in this graph, how do you identify the stall?
Is it when the surface temp and core temp delta converged a bit faster?
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Based on what I have read, the stall will reflect a slowing, or even a decrease of surface temp vs. internal temp. The only place I see your surface temps getting even, or even slightly decreasing is just after 1:00. It appears to be very short.
Per Jerod’s link, evaporative cooling is what causes the stall, but at the time of the article, the surface was not being measured. Your surface measurement captured that slowdown, or decrease in surface temps.
Last edited by Johnny Booth; January 13, 2024, 03:27 PM.
Agree with Johnny B Goode, stall signature is at 1:00, when the core temp slightly flattens, but more importantly when that surface temp has the drop-off, that's the signature of evap cooling starting to dominate. That's when I'd boat that puppy.
smokenoob potentially, typically the higher the cook temp the higher it will stall. A bowl of water in an oven will continue to stall (evaporative cool) at a higher and higher temp as you raise the oven temp, that is until you get to about 425 and the water finally boils
I've cooked a bunch of butts and never experienced a stall. Not sure if it matters but I use an Old Smokey electric smoker...which could be considered as downright heresy by some of my fellow posters here.
And I never wrap/cambro pork butts. Call it technique or call it just plain laziness...but no one here has complained about what I put on the table in front of them.
I think the easiest way is to note when you see the internal meat temperature begin to vacillate one degree up and one degree down until it finally settles on the degree up and then begins to repeat vacillation process again at one degree higher.
smokenoob summers here in BV, Buena Vista,CO. Talking about the difference in altitude here and where he is currently at sea level . Quite a difference in cooking techniques.
In my experience the stall usually occurs in the 160 range. Pork nitt is very forgiving. It can handle 290-300 cooking temp no problem and come out fantastic.
When the Pork-Butt stalls it is time to wrap.
How to ID the stall? When I get frustrated because the cooking slow to almost nothing.
I bring out the foil or paper, and that is a wrap.
I have found that good bark doesn’t develop until after the stall. I’ve also found that wrapping softens the bark. So I wait until 185 or so before wrapping.
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