This is nothing more than "the stall." I can give you links to various articles describing the science behind it, but you didn't do anything wrong. It happens because the moisture released by the meat cools it just like sweat cools you down on a hot day. Depending on the temperature of your smoker, the size of the meat cut, the amount of air going through the smoker, the amount of moisture in the smoker, etc., you get to a point where the evaporative cooling exactly equals the heat going into the meat, and so the internal temperature stops rising. This will continue until one of three things happens:
1. The meat runs out of moisture. Lots of people "wait out the stall" by waiting for the evaporative cooling to slow down. They like the result because they get more bark, but since the stall can last for 4-5 hours (or more), you have to have patience.
2. Raise the smoker temperature. Unfortunately, an electric like you and I have (I own an MES 30") can't get really, really hot, so this is not an option for you. However, raising the temperature to the maximum will help a little bit.
3. Wrap the meat in foil. This is what most people do. It is guaranteed to work. You will get almost instant results, and the temperature will resume a normal upward path within fifteen minutes of adding the foil.
If you do wrap, you don't need to add any more smoke chips after wrapping because the smoke won't penetrate the aluminum foil.
I just did another pulled pork about three days ago. I started it at 4:00 in the morning, hoping to have enough time to get through the stall by 6:00 p.m. (with an hour to let it rest before 7:00 p.m. dinner). However, even with that extra time, I still needed to foil.
I have found that the best way to "foil" is to actually use a disposable aluminum pan. You can get a huge supply of these, for under $10, at Costco. I put this pan under the pork while it is cooking, and it catches all the drips. When it comes time to wrap, I slide both racks out at the same time (the one above with the meat, and the one below with the pan), and then slide the meat off the top rack into the pan. I then put foil over that, snaking the thermometer lead out the back. There is no reason whatsoever to get the foil right next to the meat because as long as you don't let much moisture escape, the covered pan will go immediately to 100% humidity, and all evaporative cooling will cease. So, just cover the pan and wrap the foil tight around the edges.
My cooler is just the same size as these big disposable pans, so I simply take the entire covered pan out of the smoker when the internal temp gets to 200-205, and then drop the whole thing into the cooler. This is another great reason to use the pan. No downside to it. Also, it really saves time on cleanup.
Here are the notes from my pork butt smoke from four days ago. I think the shoulder was about 8-9 pounds (I forgot to weigh it before hand). There is a big gap between the starting time and my first measurement because I was asleep. Because I used my
AMNPS for smoke, I didn't need to keep feeding chips into my electric.
Time Temperature
0:00 34
4:30 118
5:30 129
6:50 140
8:00 145
9:00 147 (The stall started early. I raised the temp from 225 to 250 at this point)
10:00 153
11:00 156 (I dropped the butt into the pan and covered with foil)
12:00 174
13:00 201 (pulled from the smoker and put into a cooler)
The internal temp measured 198 (
Thermapen reading) by the time I fooled around and actually got it into the cooler. One hour later it was 189, so the "cooler" did a pretty good job of maintaining the temperature. I poured off all the juice into a defatter. I then pulled the pork, added finishing sauce, and served with the defatted drippings. These drippings are better than any BBQ sauce, IMHO, although I also like Jeff's "Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive" BBQ sauce with pulled pork, and highly recommend that you purchase his recipe.
John
