Hello all! I am learning to smoke (about 15 mostly successful smokes) and had an odd problem this weekend. I was smoking a stuffed pork loin in my 18.5 WSM and couldn't get it up to my target IT of 160. The smoker was pre-heated to 230-235 and the IT climbed steadily to 158 in about 2 hours. So far so good - it was just as I expected. Then, it stalled. The loin was as lean as you would expect with almost no internal fat or connecting tissue. After about 20 minutes I bumped the smoker temp about 10 degrees expecting the IT to respond. After 30 more minutes the IT hadn't budged so I again increased the smoker temp to about 255. After 3-1/2 hours the IT was still 158. Talk about blowing my mind! I pulled the meat and obviously the cheese had all melted out and the loin was DRY. I have done a few other loins (stuffed and whole) and haven't had this problem before. Smoker and IT temp's were measured on a Maverick, and a ThermaPen confirmed the IT.
What did I do wrong?
What did I do wrong?