Whole pork shoulder help.

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tnguy

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2012
16
10
Nashville TN
Hey guys,

I am doing my first whole shoulder this weekend. I know it is going to be a long cook. One question I have is when do you think I should stop putting smoke to it? I will be using a gas smoker. I have read to stop with the smoke at 140 degrees. I have also read to stop at 10 hours? What do you think? I plan on using hickory and some type of fruit wood. Peach or apple maybe. Thanks for the info.
 
Hey TNguy,

It will probably stop taking smoke at about 140° or so. That is when most of the pours will be pretty much sealed especially if you are spraying every hour with apple juice.  I smoke mine until i foil it which is at 180°.  Just make sure your smoke is thin blue smoke and let it go. Some people foil at 170° but Ilike more bark so I elect to go to 180°. Some don't even foil. It all personal preference. Have lots of cold beer on hand.....
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....One other thing to remenber is not to rush it. Let the thermometer tell you when to take it off. 200° or so then cooler it for an hour...........Have fun......
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The meat will take on smoke flavor for as long as you want to keep adding smoke, it just depends on how much smoke taste you want. I recommend going light if this is your first smoke, maybe for 4 hours at the start of a long cook to see how you like it.

The 140° temp reading and smoke is from the conventional wisdom concerning  smoke ring formation- the smoke ring stops forming at 140°.
 
Like CC says , If there's smoke the meat will keep on picking up smoke flavor.

 The chemical reaction that causes the smoke ring does seem to quit / slow down at around 140 degrees.

   The rate of smoke absorbtion  is controlled by lots of varibles . the more fat / skin on a piece of pork  the less the smoke will get to the lean meat under it. That is why some folks score the fat down to the meat. You need some fat to keep the meat from drying out.

   The first few butts i did i figured my cooking time at 2 hours per lb and smoked for half of that time . pretty good  estimate.

 Now  i fill the AMNS and let it go and then fill it half again .

      Show us the Q view of the shoulder when it's done
 
Hey guys,
I am four hours into the smoke. The smoker is holding nicely at 225-235. The internal temp is at 140. I am using hickory and apple for this one. Hopefully it will turns out ok.
 
Hang in, don't panic when it stalls and let it do it's thing. As far as Smoke goes, if I have exposed meat in the Box, smoke is getting generated. The benefit of the AMNPS and pellets is I don't have to keep adding more chips every 30-40 minutes. I generate smoke until I foil because I like heavy smoke. I foil around 170*F...JJ
 
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