pulled pork and baby back ribs failure.

benny australia · Apr 3, 2013

Hi everyone, I need some help! I finally finished off my home made offset and thought I would give it a test run. I thought I would try two racks of baby back ribs and a pork shoulder to make pulled pork. So I got my smoker to 225 put in my ribs (with jeffs rub) ran for 2 hours then put in foil with a quater cup of apple juice in each foil, back in for two hours, then another hour unfoiled. They cam out really dry with hardly any moisture in them what so ever? Then with the shoulder, I put in a the same time sitting in a foil tray with a temp probe fat side down. Got to about 140 within an hour then took 4 hours to get to 150 then seamed to go back down a little, I kept up the apple juice about every hour. I wanted to wait till it got to 165 the wrap in foil like everone says. I ended up cutting it up after nearly six hours and it was very dry and tasted very similar to ham? Can anyone give me any tips? I am also running a stocker so I am cheating pretty well.... Thanks everyone!

chef jimmyj · Apr 3, 2013

Are you 100% confident in the Therm measuring the Smoker temp? It sound like you were running a lot hotter than 225*F. I have never seen a butt get to 140*F in an Hour at 225. The Ham flavor, I have no idea unless they are Injected with something by the Butcher or Processor...JJ

cliffcarter · Apr 3, 2013

You did not cook the butt long enough, that much is certain. IMHO you didn't cook the ribs long enough, either.

I think the problem is not inaccurate thermometer but too low a cooking temperature. If you cook your ribs at 250°-275° you will have better results with the ribs.

At 225° an 8 pound shoulder will take 14 to 16 hours cooking time for pulled pork. Placing the temp probe too close to the bone or too close to the surface of the roast may account for the quick rise to 140°.

benny australia · Apr 3, 2013

Thanks guys, the butt was only maybe 2.5 pounds? I have two tel tru thermometers on the smoker itself and they were saying 240, however I have the chimney going down to about 2 inches from the grill. The digital thermometer I was using is part of a rocks bbq stoker system. I figure it is pretty accurate. What had me buggered was that it stayed at 140-150 for like 5 hours? never seemed to get hotter. I am going to give another run this weekend and see how we go.

cliffcarter · Apr 4, 2013

2.5 lbs is perhaps the smallest pork butt I have ever heard tell about, the smallest I have cooked was a bit over 4 lbs. One thing I learned early on is that if you place the temp probe too near the bone in a pork butt you will get a temp reading that is too low.

Reading back over your first post I see that you were mopping every hour, stop playing with your meat

, every time you open up the smoker you lose heat. You were cooling the meat in two ways- first by opening up the smoker and losing heat(hence the expression "if you're lookin', you ain't cookin' ") and second you were giving the meat a cold bath every hour, IMHO perhaps the single most useless BBQ practice.

Next time don't mop with anything, butts don't need it, and keep the lid(or door) closed and you will have better luck.

bama bbq · Apr 4, 2013

^ what he said. ^

scootermagoo · Apr 4, 2013

What is a "stocker"?

bruno994 · Apr 4, 2013

ScooterMagoo said:
What is a "stocker"?

Stoker...Rocks BBQ Stoker, as the OP stated, he's cheating with his fire managment.

https://www.rocksbarbque.com/

At 2 1/2 pounds, the butt might have been a boneless version of a butt or off a really small pig, but if it was a bone in butt, I agree with others, the therm might have been touching the bone. As far as spritzing and mopping, I usually won't do that until after the 4 hour mark and when I do it, it is with warmed up apple juice and brown sugar mix. If your spritzing or mopping to keep the meat moist, you really do not need to do that with a pork butt, plentyn of marbling inside, as Cliff and Bama advised, but if your looking to build a nice bark, it is a great method, but only on an hourly basis and a quick spritz is all that is needed. Keep the lid closed as much as possible.

Sounds to me like you have some off therms (if this was a boneless butt). Do a boil test, if you have yet to to double check all the therms for accuracy.

Best of luck this weekend on your next smoke and let's see some Q-view!

pgsmoker64 · Apr 4, 2013

I'm gonna disagree with Cliff that your ribs were undercooked. If you were maintaining 225 - 240 then the 2-2-1 method should work fine.

Sounds to me like your temps were higher than your thermos were indicating! I relied on my smoker thermo once and my ribs came out just like yours..overcooked and dry. Once I realized my temp was too high (by about 20 degrees) the ribs have been perfect every time using 2-2-1.

One other thing, like Cliff said, if you were spritzing every hour you are letting all the heat out of your smoker! Leave that lid closed, spritzing won't help enough when you realize the heat and time you are losing every time you open the smoker lid!

Good luck and next time post Q-View!

Bill

imsmokingpork · Apr 4, 2013

i am thinking that ur temps were too high. i use the 3-2-1 method when i cook ribs. also, i would put the fat side up on the butt. seems like instead of the fat just dripping off the bottom, it seems to retain more flavor and juiciness. just a thought.

concordeer · Apr 4, 2013

2 hours at 250 or 3 hours at 225 degrees

2 hours tightly foiled with a T-spoon apple juice

1 hour back on racks to harden the bark back up

Never fails on a slab of ribs

nozzleman · Apr 4, 2013

Everyone is hitting it on the head with the temps being to high, you need to do a calibration test on them with boiling water and really iced cold water.

austinl · Apr 4, 2013

Check out this video linked in this thread about using an ice bath for checking your thermometers. It doesn't really help with the gauges in your smoker but if you check a digital one you can use it as a known good reference to compare readings with the mechanical ones in your smoker using boiling water. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/121943/how-to-make-a-proper-ice-bath

cliffcarter · Apr 4, 2013

PGSmoker64 said:
I'm gonna disagree with Cliff that your ribs were undercooked. If you were maintaining 225 - 240 then the 2-2-1 method should work fine.

Sounds to me like your temps were higher than your thermos were indicating! I relied on my smoker thermo once and my ribs came out just like yours..overcooked and dry. Once I realized my temp was too high (by about 20 degrees) the ribs have been perfect every time using 2-2-1.

One other thing, like Cliff said, if you were spritzing every hour you are letting all the heat out of your smoker! Leave that lid closed, spritzing won't help enough when you realize the heat and time you are losing every time you open the smoker lid!

Good luck and next time post Q-View!

Bill

Since the OP cooked the ribs and the butt at the same I have to think that, yes, his ribs were underdone. Every time you open the lid on an offset you dump all your heat, only by closing the lid does it begin heating the air in the cook chamber.

demosthenes9 · Apr 5, 2013

Benny, are you absolutely sure that you were cooking a Pork Butt aka Boston Butt ?

boston_butt.jpg

demosthenes9
Apr 5, 2013

I ask this because you specified that you cooked a Shoulder and that could be a number of different cuts.

cliffcarter · Apr 5, 2013

nozzleman said:
Everyone is hitting it on the head with the temps being to high, you need to do a calibration test on them with boiling water and really iced cold water.

If the temps were too high the ribs would have been over done with the meat falling off the bone, not under done and tough.

sniltz · Apr 5, 2013

I agree with what most are saying. I think your temp was to high. I think also what you might have smoked was a picnic butt or roast. It is smaller and has more of a ham consistency. On your ribs I smoke mine at 275* and I used the 2-2-1 before and came out okay. Like every one said don't open the door until at aleast 4 hours have gone by on the butts. Also try using a spritz instead of a mop. It's quick and you won't have the door open long. Smoking is all about trial and error. Just keep smoking !

pulled pork and baby back ribs failure.

Newbie

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Master of the Pit

Newbie

Master of the Pit

Master of the Pit

Smoking Fanatic

Master of the Pit

Master of the Pit

Fire Starter

Smoke Blower

Smoking Fanatic

Smoking Fanatic

Master of the Pit

Master of the Pit

Master of the Pit

Meat Mopper

Similar threads

Hot Threads

Featured Blackened Rockfish...