Another Packer (pics)

[CoachJ2013]

So I did pulled pork and a prime packer for Mother's day brunch that my wife and I hosted. I got a new thermometer and I was excited about trying to lower my temp and getting a really rendered deckle. I kept the heat between 250 and 300, mostly in the 265-275 range and tried to keep it at 250 for about two hours. Anyway, I got to the point of the wrap right in the middle of the stall (towards the end). I wrapped in red butcher paper after about 5 hours and pulled it off at about 7.5 hours.

So the result: My new thermometer sucks. It said the meat was at 205 F and I highly doubt it. When I cut the flat I knew right away that it wasn't as tender as when I did it by "feel" two weeks prior. The flavor was fantastic and people enjoyed it, but it wasn't what it was the last time and I truly blame the thermometer. I should have done it to feel and in hindsight I don't know why I didn't. The meat was juicy, fatty, and the deckle rendered great! Many of the women in the family preferred the flat apposed to the fatty.

New learning experience, thermometer is getting tossed and I am going back to "feel" like I do all my meats ;) Oh and the pork was a huge hit, 9 lbs and almost completely gone.

 

[Geebs]

Bummer about the thermometer, but it looks pretty good!

 

[SmokinAl]

Well realistically a thermometer is really just a guide. Now I know that sounds strange from a guy who temps his ribs, but the final test is feeling the ribs. The therm is almost always correct, but a couple of times the meat needed a little more time in the smoker than the therm said, but that will come with experience, which it sounds like you already have. I wouldn't completely abandon the therm, I would just get an instant read. Thermoworks makes a great little therm called a ThermoPop, they have a thin needle perfect for ribs and they are very inexpensive, accurate & readable in 2-3 seconds. My wife even uses one for her bread making.
Al

 

[CoachJ2013]

Thanks Al, I used one I got off of Amazon. I feel it just wasn't accurate though it was supposed to be instant read and had a remote (bluetooth) feature to its other devise so I could be in the house and see what the temp was. Unfortunately that feature didn't work either! I think I just got a faulty one. I wont make the mistake again. haha

Geebs- Thank you! All in all, it looked, tasted and smelled great; It just wasn't as tender as it should have been. Rookie mistake. ;)