Hi all, looking for some advice...
Today was my very first low and slow with some pork shoulder. I had 5lb pork shoulder with the bone in and had prepped with the meathead guide, though my own rub.
Got up early for a Saturday and had the meat on by 8am. Keep the temps fairly even throughout the day using my new WSC - around 220-235F throughout the day, just tweaking with vents as it got hotter/sunnier. The pork was doing well, then slowed down considerably. It then stalled around 165F and then came out the other side a couple hours later and started to climb again. I had already decided to be patient and not wrap or anything so left it to go.
All well in theory, but the time it was taking to climb just felt too long. The stall came in about 8 hours after it started cooking. It didn't stall for that long, a couple of hours or so, but then climbed as slowly as before. I gave up after 14 hours and ramped up the heat by opening the vents to full (side note, after 14 hours there was enough fuel to climb fast to 350F which I was very pleased with!). An hour or so later, all was good, got to 200F and had the best pulled pork I have had. The meat shredded perfectly and tasted fantastic. Certainly was worth the wait!
My question is, I have seen mention of 1.5 hours a lb, which I realise is no more than a very rough guideline. However, I wasn't close in twice that time. Am I just impatient, need to get the heat higher, think about the cut of the meat, or just try again (will be doing that one!)?
Whatever happens, I loved this first cook despite the time it took!




Today was my very first low and slow with some pork shoulder. I had 5lb pork shoulder with the bone in and had prepped with the meathead guide, though my own rub.
Got up early for a Saturday and had the meat on by 8am. Keep the temps fairly even throughout the day using my new WSC - around 220-235F throughout the day, just tweaking with vents as it got hotter/sunnier. The pork was doing well, then slowed down considerably. It then stalled around 165F and then came out the other side a couple hours later and started to climb again. I had already decided to be patient and not wrap or anything so left it to go.
All well in theory, but the time it was taking to climb just felt too long. The stall came in about 8 hours after it started cooking. It didn't stall for that long, a couple of hours or so, but then climbed as slowly as before. I gave up after 14 hours and ramped up the heat by opening the vents to full (side note, after 14 hours there was enough fuel to climb fast to 350F which I was very pleased with!). An hour or so later, all was good, got to 200F and had the best pulled pork I have had. The meat shredded perfectly and tasted fantastic. Certainly was worth the wait!
My question is, I have seen mention of 1.5 hours a lb, which I realise is no more than a very rough guideline. However, I wasn't close in twice that time. Am I just impatient, need to get the heat higher, think about the cut of the meat, or just try again (will be doing that one!)?
Whatever happens, I loved this first cook despite the time it took!
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