Taking way too longg. Why?

[liny818]

Hi ya'll! I am pretty new to smoking. I have only done a handful of pork butts and a few sides of salmon. Most recently I did a lamb neck which I am going to eat tonight. The first few butts I did was on my landlord's weber grill with the smokebox on the side. It worked well and I'd say at about 8-9 hours at 225-250 I was at 200-204 degrees internal with a nice, dark layer of bark, making for an awesome end product. Then I decided to up my game a bit and get a vertical smoker. I decided to go with the Pit Boss Grills vertical LP smoker. It works and holds temp well. The temperature gauge on the unit of course is not always accurate which is why I use a probe thermometer with two probes, one in the item being smoked and one just hanging out in the cabinet to monitor temp. I can really dial in the temp now that I am getting used to it and I have been keeping it a bit lower, say 215-225F.

My issue is that everything that I smoke, other than the fish, is taking foreverrr. The first butt I did took me 9 hours to get to 165 then I hit a wall. I had people over and had no choice but to finish in the oven, cut it up and throw it in the kitchen aid with sauce. I ended up with something tasty and presentable but a far cry from what I was shooting for. The following weekend I put another pork butt in, this one was big, I'd say 7+ pounds, no bone. I wrapped it once it hit 165 again, at about 9 hours. Then it took another 7 hours to get to 204, a total of 16 hours. That was the first time I wrapped and I was not pleased with the loss of that awesome bark that had formed. I only chose to wrap to hopefully get past the stall quicker which I do not think actually happened.

Then the other day I came across a lamb neck at the store, made a nice rub with brown sugar and lot of dark spices like allspice, mace and cinnamon and threw it in the smoker. 14 hours later it was only at 185F. I had no choice but to get it out of there because by this time it was 4AM and I was leaving for work at 5:30. The neck was only 2.2 pounds.

So my question is, why the hell is this taking so long? I am a patient guy and believe that great food takes time, but this heirs on the sign of crazy. Or am I wrong? Is this typical under some circumstances? Any help would be much appreciated.

Oh also, I never put water in the water pan. Maybe I am wrong to do that but I can monitor the temp just fine without it and I don't see the point in putting moiture into the chamber. Any input on this would be appreciated as well.

Thanks so much!


Best,

Andrew

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Pork butts have a mind of their own. I've had some take 2+ hours per pound before. If you are smoking at a confirmed 215-225, it's just going take a while. Part of the game. Personally, I've started smoking my food between 250-275 to keep the time down. I can't taste a difference. I always make sure to put an ambient probe as close to food as possible to see what the temp there is. If I am shooting for a set eating time, I try to have butts done 2, or 3 hours before eating. Wrap with foil and towels and drop in a cooler. It will stay hot a long time. You could also smoke a day or two ahead of time, pull it, and throw it in the frig. Pulled pork reheats very well. Don't fret, I'm sure we've all been there. I know I have!

 

[noboundaries]

215F is too low. Meat absorbs heat slower as the temp difference between the meat and the air narrow. Chemical changes in the meat complicate the issue further, extending the clock.

Personally, I smoke at 225F until meat stalls and chemistry takes over, then I crank up the heat. Meat can stall anywhere between 135 to 170F internal temp, but it is usually in the 150s to 160s. Meat can also stall multiple times. I suspect your 9 hours to get to 165 meant your meat stalled at a lower temp than you expected.

There is NOTHING magical about 225F for meat, contrary to popular opinion. You will never notice a difference in taste or tenderness between beef/pork smoked at 225F and beef/pork smoked at 275F if the two cuts of meat are prepared exactly the same. But you will notice a difference in the time it takes to finish the smoke with the 275F meat finishing faster.

Bump your temps up on the next smoke to 250F, or 275F. For beef and pork, I choose my chamber temp depending on how much time I have to finish the smoke. I do a lot of overnight smokes, so I set 225F. When I wake up in the morning, I crank the heat up to 275-375F and finish the smoke. The meat never learned physics and chemistry, but is controlled by their laws.

 

[chilerelleno]

Good advice in the first two posts.

I've had similar sized Butts cooking at the same time be hours apart.
Seen Butts and Chucks larger than the ones cooking with them finish first.
I've had Butts go 1 hour per pound and 2 hours per pound.
So many variables, fat and moisture content, muscle density, bone size, overall thickness and more.
And let's not talk about injected meats taking way more time.

I'll add that I think your air temp probes may be off and you're even lower than 215°.
Have you double checked their accuracy with boiling water?
Your cook times are just too long, check your probes.

 

[chef jimmyj]

You answered your own question...
You can't drop your smoker temp an average of 30°F, and still get the faster cook times of the higher temp.
I ran an SMF poll some years ago on Cooker Temp vs Hours per Pound for Pork Butts. The average results were as follows...
225 to 250, 2 hours per pound.
250 to 275, 1.5 hours per pound.
275 and up, 1 hour per pound.
Again this is average. Some went fast, 1 hour per pound at 225. While others, 3 hours at 225.

Speaking of 225...The only thing " MAGICAL " about 225 is it is the Minimum Smoker Temperature that is needed to bring NON-INTACT meat to a Safe internal temp, 140°F+/-, within an average of 4 hours. That's it...If your meat is Intact, no Injection, Etc, you can Smoke anywhere from 135°F to whatever your smoker will do...JJ

 

[jcam222]

I used to do the 225F low and slow on everything. Anymore for large cuts of meat i.e. butts, briskets, shoulder clod etc. I am doing a minimum of 275F. Sometimes after the first 4 hours of laying smoke to it I will even boost to 300F. I see no negative impact on final product and cook times are much shorter.

 

[liny818]

Thanks for all the replies. So it sounds like there is a lot of variation in smoking times, especially with larger pieces and that these times are not unheard of. However, I am going to bring my temp up a bit, maybe 230 or so for first 4 hours then crank it up to 275 and see how that works. What are your opinions on wrapping? Do you think it helps at all or not worth it? I really didn't like the fact that it killed the bark.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I don't wrap, and I run most of my smokes over night.

I've never had a pork butt take less then around 16 hours, and the longest I had a piece of meat take to get done was 32 hours.

Have a good coffee on stand by and all of that. BBQ is a very long game. I'm not sure how long a propane smoker can reliably run, but if it can handle overnights, I suggest dialing it in around 225f and running it over night. I got a pretty good handle at 225f starting around 11 PM or so, then around 11 AM cranking it up to 275f..and it finished around dinner.

 

[EdP]

I'm relatively new to smoking and have a WSM18 modded for propane. Last year I used water and ran 225+/-. This year I switched to no water (terracota pot and plate) and higher temps.

So far this season, I've smoked ribs 250+ for about 5 hours and a picnic shoulder 275+ for about 9 hours. Both were great.

No water and high heat for me going forward.

 

[liny818]

Yeah I am definitely going to try some higher temps and see how it goes. I like the idea of doing some overnight smokes but my issue is that I need to reload the chips every hour to keep a solid stream of smoke. Now I am wondering if its possible to apply smoke for the second half as opposed to starting with smoke and pulling back. In other words, can I put a pork butt in at say 11PM at 225F with no smoke, then wake up at 5AM and start with the smoke? It will still get a solid amount of smoke, just on the back end.

Any thoughts?

 

[chilerelleno]

Yeah I am definitely going to try some higher temps and see how it goes. I like the idea of doing some overnight smokes but my issue is that I need to reload the chips every hour to keep a solid stream of smoke. Now I am wondering if its possible to apply smoke for the second half as opposed to starting with smoke and pulling back. In other words, can I put a pork butt in at say 11PM at 225F with no smoke, then wake up at 5AM and start with the smoke? It will still get a solid amount of smoke, just on the back end.

Any thoughts?

That's a negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.

The pattern being that the meat takes smoke best at the beginning of the cook when the meat is cool and moist.

You will not get good smoke flavor at the end of the cook.
Yes it will get some smoke but far from desirable.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

That's a negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.

'I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you". Nice "Top Gun" quote Chile!