pork shoulder taking a long time?

jjw · May 26, 2010

ive been smoking a very small pork shoulder (3.5 pounds) and its taking a long time to get to 195. ive been smoking it between 225 and 250 just about the whole time, but its been on for 10 hours. does the 2 hours per pound not apply for small cuts of meat?

also, it did reach 140 in 2 hours, just stalled in the mid 140's to 50's for a long time.

anyway, are there any issues with this? its at 175 right now, but it want to take it to t least 190

rdknb · May 26, 2010

it is the stall, you can not predict it or rush it. The reward is the great meat you get when done. So hang in there

jjw · May 26, 2010

except now it appears to be stalling in the 170's. could it be that hat i percieved to be the stall early on wasnt? them temp has even dropped now, which i hear is a symptom of the stall, so obviously what i thought to be the stall earlier wasnt.

more importantly, is this normal? for a 3.5 pound pork shoulder to be on 11 hours and still not be ready?

jirodriguez · May 26, 2010

Might try moving your probe just to make sure. Another option is to foil it (if you haven't already), helps braise it through the stall a bit.

mythmaster · May 26, 2010

Yep, it's stalled. Have you foiled it? If you have foiled it, you can put it in the oven until it hits 205 for pulling. You can set the oven to 250 to 275. It will be faster.

jjw · May 26, 2010

JIRodriguez said:
Might try moving your probe just to make sure. Another option is to foil it (if you haven't already), helps braise it through the stall a bit.

i tested in about 4 places, but foiling doesnt sound like a bad idea, its already got plenty of bark. do i need to worry about it becoming mushy though?

jjw · May 26, 2010

mythmaster said:
Yep, it's stalled. Have you foiled it? If you have foiled it, you can put it in the oven until it hits 205 for pulling. You can set the oven to 250 to 275. It will be faster.

ive not foiled it yet. would cooking it in the oven really be faster? im not having any troubles maintaing temperature

mythmaster · May 26, 2010

jjw said:
ive not foiled it yet. would cooking it in the oven really be faster? im not having any troubles maintaing temperature

No. Most of us foil it around 165 though. If you haven't foiled it, then it wouldn't cook any faster in the oven.

jjw · May 26, 2010

mythmaster said:
No. Most of us foil it around 165 though. If you haven't foiled it, then it wouldn't cook any faster in the oven.

hmmm, is there anything ill lose from foiling? or does it just cut down cook time

mythmaster · May 26, 2010

jjw said:
hmmm, is there anything ill lose from foiling? or does it just cut down cook time

It actually makes it more tender and moist. And, yes, it will speed up the cook time, too.

jjw · May 26, 2010

mythmaster said:
It actually makes it more tender and moist. And, yes, it will speed up the cook time, too.

wow, hour later and temps down to 168, think im gonna foil it and see how that goes

rdknb · May 26, 2010

most foil but I never do as I still get moist and love the bark, but raising temps or putting in oven will help

mythmaster · May 26, 2010

jjw said:
wow, hour later and temps down to 168, think im gonna foil it and see how that goes

Good luck, bro! Foiling it at 165-170 is pretty standard. It will be awesome, I promise!

Let it get to 205, and then let it rest for at least 1-2 hours before you pull it. Yummy!

jjw · May 26, 2010

mythmaster said:
Good luck, bro! Foiling it at 165-170 is pretty standard. It will be awesome, I promise!

Let it get to 205, and then let it rest for at least 1-2 hours before you pull it. Yummy!

can you think of any reason why this happened? 11+ hours of cook time for 3 pounds of meat seems ridiculous, im not sure how this happened

gunner69 · May 26, 2010

I feel for you I got pummeled with a killer stall yesterday.. I put 4 Butts ~50lbs into the smoker at 0730 yesterday they finally came off and into the cooler at 0030... rester a couple hours had them pulled seasoned and sauced by about 0300... Man it was a long day...

mythmaster · May 26, 2010

jjw said:
can you think of any reason why this happened? 11+ hours of cook time for 3 pounds of meat seems ridiculous, im not sure how this happened

No, 12 hours is pretty standard for butts regardless of how much they weigh (at 225 anyway).

jjw · May 26, 2010

mythmaster said:
No, 12 hours is pretty standard for butts regardless of how much they weigh (at 225 anyway).

well ive given up on the smoker now, tired of going outside, and if im foiling anyway i dont feel like wasting more coals, so its been transfered to the oven now. hopefully it wont be too much longer now, stomach's grumblin

i always thought there was some hours per pound rule, but i guess fat takes a certain amount opf time to break down regardless of how much total meat there is

shhaker · May 26, 2010

you know i had the same thing happen and this last one i did i kicked it up to 275 and it was at least a 6 pounder(shouder n butt) and it took 10 hrs or so, no foil. pulled it at 203, had to go to the hospital for ma.

mythmaster · May 26, 2010

jjw said:
well ive given up on the smoker now, tired of going outside, and if im foiling anyway i dont feel like wasting more coals, so its been transfered to the oven now. hopefully it wont be too much longer now, stomach's grumblin

i always thought there was some hours per pound rule, but i guess fat takes a certain amount opf time to break down regardless of how much total meat there is

Yeah, usually there's about a 1.5 hour per pound rule, but with pork butts this really doesn't apply (in my experiences, at least). You can crank the oven up to 275 with the foiled butt in there and bring it to 205. Also, I know that you're hungry, but letting it rest for 1-2 hours will make it much more tender and juicy.

DougE · May 26, 2010

Time usually isn't relevant to the size of the butt from my experiences. I smoked a 4 pound one last week @ 450. Started it at 11 am, foiled it at 165 and it finally reached 205 at 10 pm. Obviously the 1.5 hour per pound doesn't always apply.

pork shoulder taking a long time?

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