Pork Butt lost Internal Temperature ?

[Purc]

While smoking my pork butt today, my Maverick XR50 registered 194 IT. 30 minutes later it was at 191. The Bronco was rock steady at 250 to 260. Meat probe was not moved during this time. My instant read then showed 189.Moved the Maverick probe and now reads 196 and climbing. How could the meat temp drop while the smoker temp held steady this late in the cook? Could it be weak batteries in the Maverick? Probe going bad? Something in the meat?

[texastweeter]

Evaporative cooling

[realdocBBQ]

Yup

[Richard Chrz]

What Adam said.

[Panhead John]

Yep. Last year I had a brisket drop IT about 4-5 degrees during the stall, surprised me too.

[Michael_in_TX]

I had this happen….it is really weird! I knew the temp could, well, stall out during the stall, but I had no idea it could drop.

it is disconcerting to see the temp going in the wrong direction! Thankfully, it does recover.

(My procedure is to wrap if I see this happen as it throws off all of my time estimates lol.)

[Purc]

texastweeter and Michael_in_TX a second stall? First stall was at abt 160-165 IT. This has never happened to me before.

[realdocBBQ]

A second (shorter) stall can sometimes happen. It's not all that uncommon. For me it's usually in the mid/high 180s or low 190s. Amd it can result in a drop in temperature, yes.

[Purc]

So I guess I had my first second stall at 194 that dropped to finally 190. I did not wrap the butt. Always learning.

[CRO]

I don't wrap my butt's ( we like a pronounced bark) and I probably average a pit temp of around 270.
I always get two stalls; 150ish and 185ish. I usually take off and rest around 203.
Also, I usually do 7pounds plus.

[realdocBBQ]

Try a foil boat - will help preserve the bark on the top, but help speed the post-stall cooking, as well.

<edit> I usually look for 8-10lb pork butts - today I picked up a bone-in pork butt that is 12.5 pounds! Largest I've seen.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

It's all fun and games until you hit a 3rd stall even after wrapping when a 2nd stall hit... every hunk of meat is different. That's what makes this hobby fun (although sometimes frustrating)

[Purc]

Thanks everyone for your experience and insight. This has never happened to me before, but it does make sense. The BBQ adventure and learning curve continues.

[captainlee]

I get that smoking ribs, they get to about 188f and then drop. They come out fine but it is just so weird and frustrating. Doing another rack this afternoon, I'll pay close attention.

[jfmorris]

I've had a second stall like that before. Not always, but sometimes. Every hunk of meat is different...

[captainlee]

It seems to be happening consistently. I'm going to keep a probe in them today and monitor with the Fireboard. This post reminded me of what I wanted to do next time. I would of forgot for sure.