Avoiding the stall with high heat

[pseudorand]

I've had three pork butts in a pit boss upright @250 for 15 hours now. They're stalled at 165. Not unexpected. But I'm using the time to think about the stall problem.

All the solutions I've read about involved turning up the heat when you hit the stall or wrapping, which can compromise crust. But why not cook hot and fast to get to 160 or so and then turn it down?

Supposedly collagen doesn't even start breaking down until 160, continues to 180 and takes time. So why not cook at 350 or 400 until it reaches 160 and then leave it at 200 for the next 4-6 hours until you get to 205?

I'm going to try that next time, but it seems so obvious that someone must have tried it before. Anyone have throughs or experience with that method?

 

[Fueling Around]

Welcome to the forum. Post in the introduce yourself

Interesting thought process.
I take most of my butt to the stall, wrap in a foil pan and finish in the oven. I want to collect the fat.

 

[cptnding]

Never tried that and wouldn't. At 350-400 the outside would be burnt to a crisp long before the IT got to 160.

 

[SmokinEdge]

All good things take time.
Going hot and fast is fine, but smoke and flavor suffer a bit. Cook at 250-275 and get the best of both worlds.

 

[JLeonard]

Agree with the above. I do anywhere from 225-275 degrees depending on where the smoker settles in. Once it hits the stall. I'll wrap and crank the heat to 300-325 degrees to finish out. Bark stays fine and speeds things up a bit.

Jim

 

[Smokin Okie]

When I cooked on a WSM, I almost always did a high heat version of this cook , which ya have to scroll to the bottom of this to find .

It runs the WSM at 350* for about 3 hours till the butts hit 160, then wrap in foil. I was never concerned about the bark on pork butt since I was gonna pull the meat and mix it. I don't know that wrapping in foil is necessary.

Pork Butt – Chris Lilly Big Bob Gibson Championship Injection​

 

[Winterrider]

TulsaJeff has a vid on hot and fast pork butt.

 

[noboundaries]

Pork butts don't care what temp you use. I've smoked unwrapped butts at 225° to 350°F+ and the results are virtually identical. The higher the chamber temp, the shorter the stall, and the quicker the probe tender stage arrives.

I like to sleep while my pork butts are smoking in my WSM or Kettle. I load the meat at 8-10 PM at 225°F, go to bed, and check on the chamber temp during the nighttime bathroom breaks. In the morning, I check the meat temp, open all the vents, crank to heat up to 350°F+, and finish the meat to probe tender in 3 hours, more or less.

No wrapping or spritzing involved.

 

[Brewandque]

I did an 11 lb butt today. Smoker ran between 275-300. Finished in a little more than 9 hours. Almost no stall to speak of I'll take that over an all nighter or waking up at 3.

 

[bill1]

...Going hot and fast is fine, but smoke and flavor suffer a bit....

I'd say it suffers a lot. Unless you're putting so much sauce in your pulled pork you're masking the smoke flavor and the crust.

...Cook at 250-275 and get the best of both worlds.

I agree this works well for pork butts, at least if you use some added smoke generation in a pellet machine. But I think it's also true that meat takes up smoke better at lower temps so if your stall is hitting at 160-180F, it's better to just go higher/hotter at that point.

Another option is to halve your pork butt so it's only half as thick. Butts are generall spherical and that's the worst shape for a stall. Plus it gives you 50% more area for crust and the best smoke flavor.