OK, what happened?

[smokenmirrors]

I put my 7 pound pork shoulder in the smoker this morning at 8 am. I got the smoker to temperature after half and hour or so. I held the temperature at 225 for 10 hours. The temperature only got to 155. I wrapped it in foil and put in a 250 oven. It's now 10:30 pm and it is still only reading 170. I tried several thermometers, so I know that it isn't that. What is going on? The meat has now been on a heat source for about 14 hours. Should I keep going, or pull it out of the oven?

Well, at least the ribs were good!

 

[bmudd14474]

is your prob near a bone? have you calibrated the thermo's?

 

[smokenmirrors]

I've used the therms before without any problem. And no, the probe wasn't near the bone.

 

[bmudd14474]

I would still check the thermo's calibration. But it does happen that it takes this long. Sometimes you get a piece of meat with a ton of connective tissue and will take forever to break down.

 

[smokenmirrors]

I've finally has enough. I pulled it out of the oven at 11 with the temp at about 170 degrees. I guess I will slice it or something. It's cooling now...I will take a look at it in a few.

 

[herkysprings]

I had this happen with my Bradley a lot. It wasn't until I

1) Verified the smoker tmep with another thermometer to determine it was running 20-30 degrees colder than the digital bradley thermometer, and therefore cranked the heat

2) Foiled the butt to braise it and help it cook through.

Keep on smoking you'll figure it out! You could have also probably cooked it at 240 and it would have been fine.

 

[mikey]

Could have been the meat or might have been the low temp of the oven. Next time pump that oven up to 300-325. No point is screwing around with it. Most times, I'll turn the shoulder over half way through the cook, then talk to it, swear at it, slap it around a little bit. You own that shoulder, so treat it like the pig that it is

 

[creative rock]

LMAO... Thanks Mikey for the morning laugh!!!

I have had shoulders that were stubborn, and at 16 hours doing about the same as yours... There are only so many hours in a day for a smoke, and at 16 hours I took it out and put it in the oven set at 200 degrees and went to bed.

Since the oven is only 200 degrees the shoulder wasn't going to get any hotter than the 200 degrees, went to bed at 11pm. When I got up at 6 that bad boy was at 200 degrees internal temp. Wrapped in a couple of towels and rested in empty ice chest cooler. It was excellent when pulled. Moist, and tasty.

Matt

 

[smokenmirrors]

After I pulled it out of the oven at 11 pm, I let it sit for about half an hour in the foil on the counter. I opened it up to take a look, and it looked great! The bone was loose and the meat was pulling away. I shredded it with two forks, and we are planning to have it for dinner tonight. Before I smoke again (this weekend) I'm planning on buying another thermometer!

Love the comment Mikey- sometimes it is just man against beast!

 

[bman62526]

Just my two cents...but here is what I've learned: #1 - I now have patience that I didn't have before I started smoking meats! However, I can't devote 15 hours to cooking anything that's not a brisket

So, thing I've learned #2: I take my pork shoulders now and cut them in half. It takes about 3 hours off the total cook time, plus - it increases the surface area to which I apply my sweet, smokey and tasty rub! This way, I end up with more bark in the finished product, when I pull it. The bark is my favorite part, another reason I do it this way.

 

[iadubber]

I normally smoke butts at 250-275. Seems to cut down the time a bit.

 

[herkysprings]

I have dones this a few times also. Good to know other people use the same technique.

 

[smokenmirrors]

I have another 9 pound shoulder that I am planning on smoking in the future. I will definitely cut that one!

 

[billbo]

I have also given it the Mikey treatment and slammed it in the oven at a higher temp to get that pig to move. Glad it worked out for you!