HELP My pork butt won't come to temp.

[bryantom]

I am extremely new to smoking and having trouble with a pork butt,  I was trying to make pulled pork, seasoned it yesterday stuck it in the fridge, got up this morning and had it on the smoker by 730, here it is 630 at night and the internal temp is only 170, it is a 5lb butt and i was smoking it at 225,  what did i do wrong?  i am using a Masterbuilt Electric smokehouse.  Thanks for the input.

 

[les3176]

First thing are you SURE that your thremos are accurate???

Did you get to 140 in 4 hours? for saftey?

Was your smoker up to temp when you added the meat?

Sounds like a awfully long time for a 5 pound butt

 

[bryantom]

Yes the smoker was up to temp before i started, to be honest with you I'm not sure what the temp was at the 4hr mark, and yes used two different therm on the meat and both were the same,  moved the meat to the oven at 630 set the oven to 250 and its still only at 170 any ideas?

 

[bryantom]

Yes the smoker was up to temp before i started, to be honest with you I'm not sure what the temp was at the 4hr mark, and yes used two different therm on the meat and both were the same,  moved the meat to the oven at 630 set the oven to 250 and its still only at 170 any ideas?

 

[rbranstner]

Were you opening the smoker at all causing the smoke to lose heat? You used two thermometers on the meat but do you have a tested thermometer in the smoker? If you are going by the stock thermometer that comes with the smoker most times they are off and you could be at totally different temps than you think.

 

[pineywoods]

Stab it with a big fork, wrap it in foil with a little apple juice or coke and put it back into the oven at 250

 

[les3176]

try wrapping it with foil then put it back in the oven.....How long has it been in the oven? something is amiss here if its still only at 170

 

[TulsaJeff]

I had an 8 lb pork butt take 20 hours last week.. first time it's ever taken that long and I have cooked way too many pork butts to even count. When smoking meat, it is not uncommon to be thrown a curve ball and you just have to run with it sometimes and other times you just have to change something to get it done.

Doing the foil wrap with apple juice at 250 or even 275 will definitely speed things up.

I just happened to have the time to wait the other day and I chose to maintain my low temperature (225 degrees) and let it just take as long as it needed but if dinner is waiting then you may have to turn things up a bit so as to not keep folks waiting.  In my experience, folks get really grouchy when they are hungry and the food is late especially if it's family members

 

[mikeh]

I would check your MES temps with a stand alone thermo because I just bought a MES 40 a week ago and the digital controller temp reading and the actual temp my thermo reads is alot different.  I put in a pork butt at 5 am this morning and my MES was struggling..........  The controller was reading 275, but I was barely getting to 225 on my thermo.  So, I would check to see what your unit is actually heating up too.  You might be like me and have a huge difference...  good luck

Mike

 

[les3176]

How's it coming along?? Any progress??

 

[SmokinAl]

Is it done yet?   

 

[mole177]

my first pulled pork took 17 hrs to cook alone...

it was rough, staying up over a day.

 

[fpnmf]

 

[paris401]

we did a 9lb shoulder last weekend... I marinated it the day b4 with a coating of French's mustard, then a dry rub of brown sugar ,salt,pepper, paprika , onion n garlic powder, then in the fridge overnite.. preheated my masterbuilt elect smoker to 225, and smoked it for 10hrs, 190d... (8hrs uncovered, 2hrs wrapped in alum foil), starting at the 4hrs, basked it every 60mins with apple cider and apple juice...let it sit in a cooler for 1hr... it did not shred, instead had to use a knife to cut it...  and it had little bark

not having much luck with getting pork to shred lately... the previous time, we got the temp only up to 185 and had to take it out of the smoker (people were hungry)... let it sit for 30mins... did not pull and was on the dry side... how much drier would it have been if I left it in the smoker another 1-2hrs to reach 190/195... I think real dry..

I have also tried injecting the butt with a combo of applejuice and apple cider... don't think it added any flavor, and didn't make it any more moist... 

maybe it the elect smoker??? maybe should get a off-set smoker???

as to the temp, I know its spot on as using the internal probe, as well as a handy-dandy hand one..

any ideas??

 

[boog22]

 
we did a 9lb shoulder last weekend... I marinated it the day b4 with a coating of French's mustard, then a dry rub of brown sugar ,salt,pepper, paprika , onion n garlic powder, then in the fridge overnite.. preheated my masterbuilt elect smoker to 225, and smoked it for 10hrs, 190d... (8hrs uncovered, 2hrs wrapped in alum foil), starting at the 4hrs, basked it every 60mins with apple cider and apple juice...let it sit in a cooler for 1hr... it did not shred, instead had to use a knife to cut it...  and it had little bark

not having much luck with getting pork to shred lately... the previous time, we got the temp only up to 185 and had to take it out of the smoker (people were hungry)... let it sit for 30mins... did not pull and was on the dry side... how much drier would it have been if I left it in the smoker another 1-2hrs to reach 190/195... I think real dry..

I have also tried injecting the butt with a combo of applejuice and apple cider... don't think it added any flavor, and didn't make it any more moist... 

maybe it the elect smoker??? maybe should get a off-set smoker???

as to the temp, I know its spot on as using the internal probe, as well as a handy-dandy hand one..

any ideas??

I give my self 16 hours of a window when doing a butt. Had a 6 lb on take 15 hours before. Its better to be done well before you plan on eating since it will stay hot wrapped in foil wrapped in old towels inside a cooler for a few hours.

The meat would not of got drier if you left it on longer. You need to reach 200-205 so the fat renders down making the meat moist. Best way to know is if the bone pulls right out.

 

[paris401]

boog 22... thanks... I plan on another butt next weekend... this time i'll make sure its up to 200+ b4 taking it out of the smoker, and let u know outcome...thanks

 

[oldschoolbbq]

I've only one suggestion for you . . .Patience ! ! !

 

[sauced]

 
Stab it with a big fork, wrap it in foil with a little apple juice or coke and put it back into the oven at 250

This will work, I always use this method. Smoke for 3 to 4 hours, off and wrapped then into 250 degree oven, mop every hour!!

 

[GaryHibbert]

Yep.  You need to let that butt reach 205 deg and it will be moist, juicy, and easy to pull.

Gary

 

[paris401]

 
Yep.  You need to let that butt reach 205 deg and it will be moist, juicy, and easy to pull.

Gary

many thanks guys... one other question is  will the shoulder develop a better coat of bark by leaving it in to 200-205??? last weeks shoulder lacked it