A Stall.... AT 204???????

dasmoker · Jun 25, 2010

So I am smoking a 7.75 lb bone in pork shoulder. I did not probe it until the 4 1/2 hr mark. When I probed it, it was at 150. As the afternoon progressed it never hit a stall. I was taking it to 205. Well it hit 204 and then it stalled. I have never seen a piece of meat stall at so late a temp. In about 5 minutes its been on for 11 hours. It has actually dropped 4 degrees and is sitting at 200.

I am using my Traeger wood pellet smoker, so the temps are nice and steady, no drops, no big spikes. I am also using 2 brand new probes, as I was having problems with my old ones.

I know some of you may say I could take it off at anything past 195, and while true, when it hit 195 and hadn't stalled and hadn't been on nearly as long as I thought it would take, I decided to take it all the way to 205. And now that it has dropped to 200, I am really interested in seeing where this goes, and am determined not to take it off till 205.

So have any of you had a stall at 204 or such a high temp before?

brokenwing · Jun 25, 2010

that is interesting, never happened to me at such a high temp. Keep us posted, im curious how long it takes to climb again.

dasmoker · Jun 25, 2010

And I forgot to mention, it was foiled and sprayed at 165.

So it is still sitting at 199.9 as of now.

flash · Jun 25, 2010

Either way, I say its done.

dasmoker · Jun 26, 2010

Flash said:
Either way, I say its done.

Actually i disagree. It hit 204 at 6:50 last night. That was only just over 9 hrs in the smoker. I have never seen a almost 8 lb pork shoulder finish in that length of time. So I do not believe it was pullable at that time had I pulled it off. It stayed stalled (dropped as low as 199) for 3 hours, then began to rise again. It finally finished after about 14 total hours, which falls right in line with about how long it takes to finish a shoulder that big.

I let it rest overnight, and am about to go pull it, so I will let you all know how it turned out in a bit.

mballi3011 · Jun 26, 2010

I would also agree with Flash and say that thing is done and to take it out and into the cooler. The temps we give you for your smokers is just a ballpark. 1 or 2 degrees are not going to make a differance in the outcome in any way.

flash · Jun 26, 2010

DaSmoker said:
Actually i disagree. It hit 204 at 6:50 last night. That was only just over 9 hrs in the smoker. I have never seen a almost 8 lb pork shoulder finish in that length of time. So I do not believe it was pullable at that time had I pulled it off. It stayed stalled (dropped as low as 199) for 3 hours, then began to rise again. It finally finished after about 14 total hours, which falls right in line with about how long it takes to finish a shoulder that big.

I let it rest overnight, and am about to go pull it, so I will let you all know how it turned out in a bit.

That is a dang long time. I've done a 8 1/2 lb Boston Butt in my GOSM in 7 1/2 hours and it pulled great. After foiling at 170º I did boost my temps up to 290º though. Pulled without a hitch. Of course all smokers are different, but general rule is you should be able to pull at 200º with no real issues. You were there consider the +/- error in you meat thermometer.

Bearcarver · Jun 26, 2010

Unless I'm mistaken, I had a Chuckie stall at 142˚. Now what would you do if that stall was at 135˚ or less?

Would you throw the meat away if it stalled in the danger zone, and stayed in it for long enough to keep it in the danger zone a half hour or hour more than the 4 hour deadline???

Or is there a rule that says, if you keep cooking it for so many hours at a certain heat after that danger zone, it fixes it??

Bearcarver

biaviian · Jun 26, 2010

I had a stall at 190 before. It sat there for a good hour. I like to take them to 200-205 so I waited it out. This was foiled, in an oven at 250-260*F

dasmoker · Jun 26, 2010

Flash said:
That is a dang long time. I've done a 8 1/2 lb Boston Butt in my GOSM in 7 1/2 hours and it pulled great. After foiling at 170Âº I did boost my temps up to 290Âº though. Pulled without a hitch. Of course all smokers are different, but general rule is you should be able to pull at 200Âº with no real issues. You were there consider the +/- error in you meat thermometer.

I have never smoked a pork butt or a pork shoulder and come out under an hour per pound, ever.

Anyway, there is no way that the shoulder would have been pullable had I pulled it when it first reached 204, and stalled. Because I smoked it for 6 more hours, and I just pulled it, and it came out awesome. I just do not believe that six hours previous it would also have been done. I know what the temps said, but its just hard for me to believe.

A couple of weeks ago, with my old probes, I had a shoulder go all the way to 200 without a stall, when it hit 200 I took it off. I foiled it, toweled it and rested it in a cooler for 2 1/2 hours. It was not pullable at all. Thats when i decided I had bad probes, so I got new ones. Then with the new ones, I get the same thing, but I get the stall at 204. So whether there is something wrong with all of my probes, or what, I don't know, but I know had I pulled that sucker off after only 8 hours, it was not going to be pullable. I am glad I waited, because it is really moist and tender.

Thanks guys.

biaviian · Jun 26, 2010

Any chance the probe was touching the bone?

dasmoker · Jun 26, 2010

Biaviian said:
Any chance the probe was touching the bone?

No. I made sure of it, and after the pork butt I smoked was done, I added my other new probe to the shoulder in a different location as confirmation.

lugnutz · Jun 26, 2010

The last butt I cooked stalled high but not that high, somewhere around 185 or so it just stopped! Meat is a funny thing.

rw willy · Jun 26, 2010

I had a weird stall once. I had pushed the meat to far back into the GOSM and a quarter size spot was touching the wall. Everything went well until I got to 180ish. I had chosen not to foil(long story). But, it was 15 F outside. That touch must of sucked out the heat at that point. Yes it was raw pork in a 2 inch radius out from that spot.

Very mad at myself.

Live and learn.

cliffcarter · Jun 26, 2010

You can tell a lot about the whether the pork is done by how the probe goes into the meat. If they slide in with no resistance, with a sponge like feel, then the meat is done and pullable no matter what the temp probe says. This past Easter I cooked a 9 1/2 lb butt, at 12 hrs I took its temp- 178F, at 14 hrs-181F, at 15 hrs-182.8F and the probe slid in easily at 14hrs and 15 hrs. I knew from experience that the butt would pull just fine. Obviously there are times that temps just don't tell the whole story.

A Stall.... AT 204???????

Smoke Blower

Meat Mopper

Smoke Blower

Smoking Guru

Smoke Blower

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Smoking Guru

Gone but not forgotten RIP

Smoking Fanatic

Smoke Blower

Smoking Fanatic

Smoke Blower

Smoking Fanatic

Smoking Fanatic

Master of the Pit

Similar threads

Hot Threads