First ever attempt, didn't go well

[bluefish42]

I got a Traeger Pro 34 and did an overnight pork butt at 225 last night. I checked at 11 hours and the meat probe claimed 160. At 15 hours it claimed 175. At 17 hours it claimed 190, but the meat was still tough. I checked with a third party meat probe and it tells me 160. Is my smoker defective?

 

[bluefish42]

I turned the grill up to 325 and put a ceramic cup of water in there. An hour later, while the grill is reporting 325, the water reads 175.

 

[schlotz]

Doubtful it's defective. Not certain what type of IT probe you are using. What's the Manufacturer? Pork Butts are one of the most forgiving meats one can smoke. You can throw any temp 225-300+º at them. At 225 it's going to take a long time, not to mention the stall, which will be a few hours as well. Note: when the difference between smoker temp 225 and the protein 160-175 is small, it will take longer to finish. Usually it's done around 200-207º. I usually run mine at 275º. The stall, if any, is less and it gets done quicker, so you don't have to do the overnight thing, which comes with a few more variables that could bite you.

 

[02ebz06]

I'm with schlotz . 225 for entire cook with be a long time.
Also, I do 275 and it takes about 12 hours.
Not often, but probes can go bad. Good idea to test then once in a while in a glass of ice water.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Good idea to test then once in a while in a glass of ice water.

or boiling water, 212` @ sea level

 

[crippledcracker]

I turned the grill up to 325 and put a ceramic cup of water in there. An hour later, while the grill is reporting 325, the water reads 175.

I have a Traeger

I got a Traeger Pro 34 and did an overnight pork butt at 225 last night. I checked at 11 hours and the meat probe claimed 160. At 15 hours it claimed 175. At 17 hours it claimed 190, but the meat was still tough. I checked with a third party meat probe and it tells me 160. Is my smoker defective?

I got a Traeger Pro 34 and did an overnight pork butt at 225 last night. I checked at 11 hours and the meat probe claimed 160. At 15 hours it claimed 175. At 17 hours it claimed 190, but the meat was still tough. I checked with a third party meat probe and it tells me 160. Is my smoker defective?

I use the inkbird IBT 4XS I bought on Amazon to measure pit temp and meat temp. Can't beat the price and they are pretty accurate. My traeger probes have always been all over the place so I quit using them. What size was the butt and did you ever wrap it. I've had butts go for 18 hours before when I didn't wrap so your probes might not be too far off? I use my thermapen to check my other probes for accuracy since it's always spot on. The thermapen is a little pricey, but worth every penny.