How?

[carlscan26]

Hello all, I need your help to figure out what I did to have had this happen to me...

I smoked a pork shoulder yesterday - just shy of 8lbs on my Weber kettle with the smokenator. I ran it at 250 where I normally run at 225 - I was trying 250 to see if I could shorten the stall.

Anywho, things went totally normal, the stall was definitely shorter and after about 8 hours the meat was at 198. Then it stalled again and after about 60 mins it dropped a degree ?!? So I spot checked with my thermapen and found a spot at 196, moved the probe, half an hour later it had moved to 199 and then dropped back to 198. The kettle temp was at 240 - 250 and I even moved that probe around to confirm too. I relocated the meat probe one more time after probing all over with the thermapen and again after half an hour of 198 it l dropped to 197. ???!?

At this point I gave up and pulled the meat out. Portions were perfect tender pull apart pork and other parts not so much - more like on their way to being dryed out... I shredded the meat and slathered it in BBQ sauce and we ate it all but it was my worst cook ever and I can't figure out why the temps kept dropping like that. Especially since my kettle was maintaining temp.

So...what are everyone's thoughts?

[Jerod Broussard]

That is very high for a stall, or just a piece of meat that is just plain done, but I don't put anything past a chunk of meat.

Also, not uncommon to have some drier parts of a pork shoulder, especially in and around the blade bone.

[carlscan26]

Thanks Jerod, any ideas on why it would have lost temp? Should I have wrapped it in foil until it finished?

[Spinaker]

That bone can do weird things sometimes. Conducting heat, shielding heat.........

[carlscan26]

Thanks Spinaker. I guess I'll have to chalk this one up to the meat then.

[Spinaker]

LA Pork Butt also offered some sound advice. Some do take a higher temp get tender. I use 202 F as a guide, but that "like butta" or "Waba-Waba" is what we are really after! carlscan26

[LA Pork Butt]

I have had multiple stalls before. Next time when you get to 190 begin checking for probe tender.
Pull it off when you reach probe tender, double wrap it in foil and keep it in a faux cambro for an hour or two before serving.

[carlscan26]

My usual target is 202 but this is a good idea. Thanks!

[Lowjiber]

Shoulders completely mystify me. I get such mixed results, similar to what you describe... sometimes good, others not so much.

I finally came to the conclusion that there were just too many other things to cook and quit even fooling around with 'em.

That may seem strange, but when I cook... I wanta eat, not cook some more.

[Skip]

Sometimes I too have has pork shoulders do weird things like that and not pull nicely. Now I just plan to foil at The Stall and usually it works out better for me. I have better luck with Brisket than Pork Shoulders.

[LA Pork Butt]

Lowjiber and Skip are you talking about Boston Butt (the shoulder) or the picnic (the lower shoulder)? I find the picnic cooks differently than the Boston Butt. It is usually dryer. I cook mostly Boston Butts and the disappointments have been when I didn't wrap and put them in a faux cambro for an hour or two. Also, I've moved away from a finished temp at 200 and started looking for probe tender when it reached 190.

[Lowjiber]

I like the lower shoulder. Around here, they commonly call the upper chunk the "Shoulder"... no more of those for this guy.

[DWCowles]

carlscan26 I notice you didn't mention that you took it off and wrap it put it in a faux cambro for a hour or two.

[Sierraslick]

I cook a pork butt indirect at 275 for approximately 6 hours. I inject it with Apple juice, cook it 4 hours naked, or until about 165 internal, and another 2 hours or so in foil and I pull it a 202 internal, put it in my faux cambro for about another hour while finishing my sides. Rarely has it not pulled perfectly after using this method. A couple of times, both when using a bone in Butt, the area around the bone wasn't quite "pullable" but I've done this at least a 50 times and I'm confident using this method. Some might say that the bark isn't as crisp because of the crutch but I figure the faux cambro softens it anyway and sometimes, it's just better to keep my wife and guests happy by serving them roughly when we planned!

[carlscan26]

carlscan26 I notice you didn't mention that you took it off and wrap it put it in a faux cambro for a hour or two.

I didn't - we were planning to eat within a half hour - this cook went much longer than I had expected/planned. But I've gone straight from the smoker to the table before with excellent results too.

[LA Pork Butt]

@carlscan whenever I have gone from Smoker to table rather than an hour or two in the faux cambro I have been disappointed. I usually put the butts on the night before and plan to eat at noon. You can probably go to 4 hours in the cambro.