First Pulled Pork - but it was a LONG cook...

[bbqtris]

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!

[CaptainMike]

Most of my butt cooks run in the 10 hour range at avg grill temp of 250. I usually do them on my old Traeger and for whatever reason the stall is very short or not noticeable, even with brisket. When I use the Weber 22 it always stalls and takes longer. It looks like you have the basic experience of cooking a butt and don't be afraid of improvising.

[Mr. Bones]

Yer snaps testify to th' fact it was a Great pork butt... Fine Job, That!
It takes exactly as long as it takes....

[Steve B]

Agree with Mr. Bones looks like a great cook. And sometimes the cook can go 10hrs or it can take 14+ hours. It's done when it's done. That's BBQ brother.
BTW your pics made me really hungry. Nice job.

[RonB]

And don't forget that the thickness of the meat has more effect than weight on cooking time.

[Mr. Bones]

^^^^What He Said ^^^^

[JCGrill]

I believe that the type of grill and the weather makes a difference. A thermometer down on the grates may say that the temperature is 225, but if there's a stiff breeze blowing and a tall dome on the grill, I think some heat is getting siphoned off. Just my opinion, I've never seen any data on this. Maybe you had a problem like this?

[Pirate Scott]

Looks great! I have had some looong cooks on my kettle 12-14hrs, finished in the oven. The last one I did 2 butts around 4-5lbs each I let them get to the stall, wrapped them and pushed the temp to 300. Finished faster, more time to rest. Came out delicious.

[Spinaker]

Great looking cook. I love that shiny black exterior, that is when you know you nailed it. As others have said, the time was about right. You can really see the stall in the graph. Thanks for posting.

[Henrik]

Pork butts can take forever sometimes. As Spinaker says, that surface/bark says it all. Great job!

[Spinaker]

You know the meteorite sheen, brother!!!!!

[bbqtris]

Thanks everyone. If I say so myself, it did taste fantastic and I am so pleased to get that part right on my first go. I'll know for next time and there will definitely be a next time!

Now its time to grab some leftovers for breakfast!

[kmhfive]

Looks like a perfectly cooked pork shoulder! Congratulations. I think that the WSCG can act a lot like a Kamado (no personal experience as I use a pellet grill) and might have trapped a lot of moisture in the environment of the meat. As you learned, you can ramp up the temperature a bit with no harm to the meat. Maybe by cooking a little higher, there's more air flow?

[Butchman]

Are you using the Smoke thermometers? Great cook and that sure is a pretty WSCG!

[bbqtris]

Sure am! It's a recent purchase and finding it so simple to use.

[Butchman]

I just got one too. How do you generate the graphic display of the cook? Is that an app?

[bbqtris]

Employing my daughter to log the values in Excel throughout the cook! I took a lot of inspiration from meatheads cooking log and added graphs and more notes. Happy to share once I have cleaned it up!

[HorseDoctor]

Looks great, but think you can get at least the same result much quicker by cooking at 275F. or a little higher.