Shoulder taking forever

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salisboss

Fire Starter
Original poster
Apr 7, 2018
43
4
This is my first smoke and I am doing cochinita. I cut an 8 pound shoulder in half to make two batches. The meat is taking forever. I was under the assumption of 1.5 hr per pound but it has been going for 7.5 hours and it is barely to 170. Different parts of the meat are measuring wildly different temps. The smoke portion is done (about 2 hours now) and it is wrapped in banana leaves and coming up to temp.

My probe in the center of smoke has been reading 220-250 all day (it has been cold and windy here in NJ).

What should I do because it is dinner time? In the future I will definitely leave way more time and do something easier.
 
Welcome to the stahl my friend. This happens around 160 and there is no way to know how long it will sit at that temp. You are passed the stahl since it's at 170 but you can speed it up by wrapping it in foil with a little apple juice until it reaches your desired temp. Good luck! Enjoy your dinner!
 
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Oh great. I may be having this tomorrow. Things to take away for next time. Start early and fine tune my probe location. I think the meat was getting less heat than what I was measuring.
 
Oh great. I may be having this tomorrow. Things to take away for next time. Start early and fine tune my probe location. I think the meat was getting less heat than what I was measuring.
Make sure to do a boiling water test on your probe and don't trust the thermometer built in the smoker. I always attach my probe at grate level. It's never bad to have the meat done 2 hours (pork shoulders/butts/briskets) early because then you can wrap it and rest it in a cooler (which is ideal anyways). Better meat and avoid your current situation.
 
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MPS and the pork was broke in to 2 approx 4# pieces. One on each shelf.

Maybe for the future get another probe so you can see the it of the meat and have an accurate reading for the temp inside the smoker. I had trouble with keeping them temp inside the smoker hot enough with colder and windy weather.
 
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