190 stall?

[whiskeypickle]

Good morning!
Got a couple questions and just want some opinions. Haven’t smoked meat in a few years and I am getting back into it.
My wife’s birthday is today and we are having a Luau with family and friends. I got two pork shoulders sitting on my smoker. One is 11.2lbs and the other is 9.3. They have been going for about 16 hours now. I’m not wrapping them. Smoking between 220-230. Pushed through the stall but it seems like I’m hitting a wall at 190 on the 9.3lb shoulder. I typically wrap them so I don’t ever see this. Is this a typical stall/platue? I will attached some pictures. Tell me what you think. First picture was from 9pm lastnight and this second is from an hour ago (5am)

 

[912smoker]

Sounds about right WP.
I usually pan them and wrap around 175 or so myself so I don't notice a stall.

Gonna be a great birthday meal and post up some pics.

Keith

 

[SmokinEdge]

Yup, you are right on target for a second stall. In my experience this happens because of surface drying of the meat. I bet the surface is like a shell. This deflects the heat from going into the meat.

 

[chopsaw]

With those temps , you're right at the spot where the meat can stop increasing in temp .
Bump you're cook temp up to 25 degrees or so above what you expect the finished IT to be . Take into account temp swings also , because that's the average cook temp .

Could also be evap cooling . Leave the lid shut as much as possible .

 

[normanaj]

I'll make the assumption that you've probed them for tenderness?

 

[whiskeypickle]

I'll make the assumption that you've probed them for tenderness?

Yes I have. They were a little tight still wasn’t quite butter

 

[whiskeypickle]

With those temps , you're right at the spot where the meat can stop increasing in temp .
Bump you're cook temp up to 25 degrees or so above what you expect the finished IT to be . Take into account temp swings also , because that's the average cook temp .

Could also be evap cooling . Leave the lid shut as much as possible .

I live in Az so ambient outside dropped lastnight which made my smoker hit just below 215. I am using a pellet ( I prefer my wood burner) I adjusted the p setting from 3 to 4 so it could cool a tad but bumped it up back up this morning.

 

[whiskeypickle]

Yup, you are right on target for a second stall. In my experience this happens because of surface drying of the meat. I bet the surface is like a shell. This deflects the heat from going into the meat.

Like I said I’ve never done a no wrap smoke with a pork shoulder so this is all new for me.

 

[whiskeypickle]

Sounds about right WP.
I usually pan them and wrap around 175 or so myself so I don't notice a stall.

Gonna be a great birthday meal and post up some pics.

Keith

I shall post some pics of the finish results

Good morning!
Got a couple questions and just want some opinions. Haven’t smoked meat in a few years and I am getting back into it.
My wife’s birthday is today and we are having a Luau with family and friends. I got two pork shoulders sitting on my smoker. One is 11.2lbs and the other is 9.3. They have been going for about 16 hours now. I’m not wrapping them. Smoking between 220-230. Pushed through the stall but it seems like I’m hitting a wall at 190 on the 9.3lb shoulder. I typically wrap them so I don’t ever see this. Is this a typical stall/platue? I will attached some pictures. Tell me what you think. First picture was from 9pm lastnight and this second is from an hour ago (5am)View attachment 736087View attachment 736088

Alright I 9lber done.

 

[chopsaw]

I live in Az so ambient outside dropped lastnight which made my smoker hit just below 215.

Right . Just remember or know , that even if you cooking at 215 , and introduce 90 degree air , that's still " cold " compared to 215 . May or may not cause the meat to " sweat " which in turn might make it lose heat or stop gaining . Wrapped you won't have that as much .
I've never wrapped a shoulder , but either way , just understand what's going on .
Like Norm said above I would start probing at 190 . Personally I'd set the temp around 250 to get an internal of around 200 .
Looks good .

 

[whiskeypickle]

Right . Just remember or know , that even if you cooking at 215 , and introduce 90 degree air , that's still " cold " compared to 215 . May or may not cause the meat to " sweat " which in turn might make it lose heat or stop gaining . Wrapped you won't have that as much .
I've never wrapped a shoulder , but either way , just understand what's going on .
Like Norm said above I would start probing at 190 . Personally I'd set the temp around 250 to get an internal of around 200 .
Looks good .

Oh yeah for sure. I’ve been keeping it as closed as possible. I really appreciate the input. I’m at 191 on the 12lb sitting at about 241 ambient. So let me ask is probing better than temp? Because it’s low and slow the collagen breaks down differently?

 

[SmokinEdge]

I live in Az so ambient outside dropped lastnight which made my smoker hit just below 215. I am using a pellet ( I prefer my wood burner) I adjusted the p setting from 3 to 4 so it could cool a tad but bumped it up back up this morning.

The difference and the struggle you will always have in the west is very low relative humidity. It’s a huge factor that most of the rest of the world can’t understand because they haven’t dealt with low humidity cooks.

Here in the west you need to run your pit 250-275 and get done with the cook in a 10 hour-ish window. Use a wrap if possible but run hotter. That time especially in a pellet machine with constant forced air will dry the surface and stall you. Use a pan or foil boat uncovered, you will be surprised the positive difference.

 

[motolife313-2]

U could have pulled it off at 190 and it would have shredded apart no problem

 

[chopsaw]

Yes . Probe for tenderness gets the final say so . But use the internal temp as a guide to probing .

185 to 195 are slicing temps . Shredding usually starts around 200 .

 

[whiskeypickle]

Yes . Probe for tenderness gets the final say so . But use the internal temp as a guide to probing .

185 to 195 are slicing temps . Shredding usually starts around 200 .

12lb pulled at 201. Now they are resting in a cooler. Honestly I appreciate the help.

 

[schlotz]

Looks like they turned out good! Future reference, butts or shoulders don't care what temp they are smoked at but when the difference between the IT and the grate temps isn't much, you'll find it takes a lot more time to get the IT increased. Ergo, better to set a higher grate temp. Personally I run butts at 200º for the first two hours then bump it to 250-265º for the remainder. I've smoked 'em at 225º, 250º and 265º and the flavor etc is essentially the same.