Over the weekend, I smoked a 6.5lb pork butt. It started with a good layer of yellow mustard and the Bone Dust rub. A day later I put the pork shoulder in my smoker at 10pm on Friday night. I went to sleep soon afterward but saw the temp on my remote thermometer. It cooked between 200 and 225 all night. At 6am it was up to an IT of 124 degrees. Seeming a little slow, I pushed the smoker temp into the 250-265 range. By 10am it had hit an IT 154 degrees and then dropped 5 degrees. It stalled for most of the afternoon. By my intended dinner time, it was still only at an IT of 161 degrees. I went to sleep at 11pm Saturday night with an IT of 169. On Sunday morning the IT had only gone up two degrees to 171! At 9:30am the IT was 176 but I pulled the butt, wrapped it, and stuck it in the cooler for two hours. At 11:30am the shoulder looked perfect, pulled apart perfectly, was moist and tender, and had great flavor.
Why on earth would it take almost 36 hours to smoke a medium pork shoulder, and still not be able to hit a target IT of 200 degrees?
To set the record straight, I verified the IT of the shoulder at 176 degrees with a digital meat thermometer. Throughout the entire smoke, my Maverick thermometer was providing readings with both the meat probe and the thermometer on the grate, next to the shoulder. I test both Maverick probes and my other digital thermometer afterwards with the boiling water test. They all hit 212 as the water boiled.
What else would have led to such a long smoke? None of my other pork shoulders have gone past 13 hours when done at 225-250.
Why on earth would it take almost 36 hours to smoke a medium pork shoulder, and still not be able to hit a target IT of 200 degrees?
To set the record straight, I verified the IT of the shoulder at 176 degrees with a digital meat thermometer. Throughout the entire smoke, my Maverick thermometer was providing readings with both the meat probe and the thermometer on the grate, next to the shoulder. I test both Maverick probes and my other digital thermometer afterwards with the boiling water test. They all hit 212 as the water boiled.
What else would have led to such a long smoke? None of my other pork shoulders have gone past 13 hours when done at 225-250.