New to the Game

[Quietlady]

Question please. Have a new Masterbuilt Electric smoker. I wanted to make pull pork and have tried twice. First time, Boston butt bone in, 12 hours at 225. Second time, Boston butt boneless, 11.5 hours at 225. While both appears to be cooked they are definitely slice only. Used my meat probe and it read under recommended temp, but seem to be done. Reading on here, it seems that this smoker is known for actual temp being lower than set temp. Is this correct? Do I need to get another probe?

 

[TNJAKE]

Welcome from Tennessee. What was the internal temp of the meat when you took it out of smoker?

 

[bregent]

Do I need to get another probe?

I think it's a good idea to get a wireless thermometer that you can calibrate to make sure it's reading correctly and use that to verify your cooker temp. It doesn't need to be wireless, but it's nice to be able to check from inside your house and they are not too expensive.

Don't worry too much about internal meat temp for things like pork butt and brisket. They are done when they reach the tenderness you want. For pulled pork, a probe should slide in with very little resistance. It may take a few times but you'll start to get the feel for it.

 

[ofelles]

Agree with above post. The feel of probing is the best indicator. Temp can be anything from 190F to 205F
Get a leave in probe and thermometer like a Smoke or Signals by Thermoworks which will allow you to see where the meat is at and start probing at 190F.

 

[smokerjim]

as mentioned don't trust your masterbuilt thermometer they are known to be off, also I wouldn't be afraid to crank the heat up a little 250-260 that might speed things up, also you could wrap the butt once it hits the stall to help push it through. do you use a amnps tray if not it's something you might want to look into it will give you 9-12 hours of continuous smoke.

 

[Teal101]

Butts are definitely done based on tenderness vs temp. I've had them done at 195-209* based on the probe test and bone pull test. I suggest wrapping it up as you hit the stall (150-160*) to power through the stall and maintain juices while keeping cook time low. I also suggest getting an accurate leave in thermo to help monitor during the cook.

 

[noboundaries]

Welcome to SMF! Congrats on the new smoker and the two sliceable butts. If they weren't pull-apart tender, they needed more time. It's pert near impossible to overcook a butt if you are probing for tenderness. I've had two butts of the exact same size in the same smoker finish three hours apart. Butts are ornery.

If you don't want to shell out $25-$75 for a multi-probe chamber and meat thermometer, go pick up a $5 oven therm at your grocery store. On a dry run, set your MES at a desired temp and put the oven therm on a shelf. Wait 20-30 mins and compare your setting to the oven therm.

If you want to see what a cold mass does to the MES chamber, load four 4"x9" cement bricks on a shelf. The chamber temp will drop dramatically as the bricks absorb heat, no different than a butt.

 

[JC in GB]

Welcome from Wisconsin.

 

[Winterrider]

Yep, a digital 2 probe (at least) is very nice . One to check cook chamber temps and 1 for meat. 4 probe is even much better so you can check meat temps at different levels or corners of smoker. Keep the butts rolling until tender, sometimes a lot longer than anticipated.
and welcome aboard. . .

 

[Quietlady]

Welcome from Tennessee. What was the internal temp of the meat when you took it out of smoker?

160

 

[TNJAKE]

160

That's the temp you should wrap it up in foil and put back on smoker. Final temp for pulled pork is normally around 200-203 or when the probe slides in and out like butter