Going from electric to pellet smoker help

[Cfpdscott]

so recently I made the switch from my trusty Masterbuilt electric smoker and bought a green mountain Daniel Boone. I've always wanted a pellet smoker and with the Black Friday deals I couldn't pass it up. I've smoked a few times on it using the same methods I would with my MES but the meat hasn't really been up to par. Most recently I smoked two 8lb pork shoulders at 230 degrees until I reached an internal temp of 200 which is how I've always done it with my mes and it's always been very tender and pretty much falls apart on its own, but with the pellet smoker the meat wasn't nearly as tender. Looking for suggestions has anyone else gone through the same growing pains?

 

[ross77]

I also went from a MES to a pellet smoker (RecTec). The MES is sealed up much tighter than a pellet smoker and if you use a water pan you're introducing more moisture. Pellets have pretty low moisture content. You may want to consider wrapping your pork shoulders/briskets after a few hours or injecting them. Might also be a good idea to use a separate ambient temp probe just to make sure the smoker is cooking at the temp you selected. It could be running at a higher temp than what's displayed.

 

[jtrainor56]

I have a Yoder 640 and do not use a water pan. For pork butts/picnics, I inject with apple juice over night and then put on my Yoder at 250*. I usually do two 9-10 pound butts and will foil once they hit 160* or so. I go by feel and not so much by temps, if you can put a probe in and it feels like soft butter then it should be done. Once I feel it is where I want it I pull it off and let it sit with the foil open to release some steam and then FTC for at least an hour.

 

[schlotz]

Not as tender leads me to wonder how quick the meat reached 200 in your pellet smoker and was that different than the time it took using the MES? Did you verify your MES and Pellet grate temps so you know you were smoking at truly the same temperature? For reference: using my MAK set to 225º (verified grate temp BTW) 8-9# butts usually reach an IT of 155-160 somewhere around 4.5-6 hours at which time I usually double wrap in foil and bump the smoker to 300º. Results are always tender, easy pull. FYI, note the time range, every piece of meat is different.

 

[yahoot]

Two things to keep in mind -
1. heat and smoke are inversely related in a pellet smoker. the higher the temp. the less smoke you get.
2. Once you wrap in foil, the smoke isn't getting to the meat anymore.

So, we smoke at a very low temp on the pellet rig (180 or 190 or "smoke", depending on brand), then we just pull the butts, wrap them in foil (sealed up), and put them in an oven (or in a little roaster oven). Much better temperature control and much cheaper to run. My son likes to put some pineapple juice in with the butts in the foil, I sometimes use apple juice just to add some moisture to create steam.