Very long cook times for pulled pork

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The temp was running a little to hot for the first couple hours and slowly climbing even with closing down the vents almost completely so I ended up putting 24oz of warm water in the pan and that has stabalized the temp for me for the last hour or so. I think that tells me that I should be using something in the pan to help the smoker along. I have an IT of 109 at the 3 hour mark in my 8 pounder.
 
Its 7:30am and IT has just reached 160. Woke up about 4am and the IT was 154. Pretty typical outcome for me so far. I have not added any more water since the initial 24oz. All of it should have boiled off by this point so it should be a nonfactor in the stall.
 
 
Nice stuff Bearcarver. That's some serious artistic ability.
Thank You!

Bear
 
@Bearcarver  is that to say you never  put water in your MES 40, like for any of your smokes, or you just never put water in the pan for pork butts?
I no longer use water in my pan for anything. Nothing ever dries up, and the window in my door is always steamed up inside from start to finish.

Bear
 
Another update for anyone who may be following along. Its a few minutes until noon and the IT is 174. I still havent added any water since that initial 24oz. There has been absolutely no peeking at all so far. The only times I've opened it up is to add fuel and I do so extremely quickly.

Since I am feeding guests today i may be forced to tent to get over the hump this time around. What is the typical amount of time from tent to done?
 
Another update for anyone who may be following along. Its a few minutes until noon and the IT is 174. I still havent added any water since that initial 24oz. There has been absolutely no peeking at all so far. The only times I've opened it up is to add fuel and I do so extremely quickly.

Since I am feeding guests today i may be forced to tent to get over the hump this time around. What is the typical amount of time from tent to done?
My 7 pounder went from 165* to 203* in 2 1/2 hours after foiling, but they vary quite a bit.

The big thing is get it done before time to eat, because you can always wrap it in towels & put it in a dry cooler to hold it for hours.

Bear
 
O to 201 IT in only 20 hours!  Low and slow. I keep intending to try one of the fast and hot smokes but I always end up doing the same old thing. With an electric (doesn't need tending), RF thermometer, AMPS, why worry about speed? 20 hours, fool proof, I slept all night, why hurry, its going to get there and no two at the same time.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/157659/the-butt-foamheart/20#post_1134719

Moist, tastee (needs a bit of salt), the bark is way good.
 
Thanks Bearcarver. Thats what I was thinking... better to early and have plenty of time to rest than taking it out at serving time and not rest.
 
 
Quick question. On those long cook times I would only add a couple of chunks of wood for adequate smoke flavor. Assuming that deleting the water from the equation brings my cook time into the normal range, should I be adding more wood chunks or stick with the current recipe that I like? I've read that you only absorb the smoke flavor for the first few hours and after that smoke absorption is very minimal.
 I use both water and sand, depending on ambient temps and cannot say the time will vary much when using either/or. I do find myself spritzing a little more when using playbox sand. Remember that water is there as a heat sink, not to provide gobs of moisture, although it does a little. Bears Pan Only is really just a heat sink also. You could also use a Brick, ceramic briquettes or Lava rock.
 
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The twins are done. I pulled them right at 200. So I'm under the 24 hour mark but not by much coming in at exactly 21 hours. I believe this takes me to about 2hr 15min per pound if im judging by the 9lb and 2hr 45min per pound if I went by the 8lb. I found it odd that they both maintain nearly identical temperatures throughout the entire cook.

I have a couple more hours before my guests arrive so I will report back later if I can note any major difference between this time and my past attempts.
 
So the final verdict is in. The meat didnt take in as much smoke flavor as it has in the past using the same amount of wood and the same fuel. I dont think it had to do with the duration of the cook though. I suspect that the added steam from early in the cook allows or helps the smoke flavor to penetrate better. I also noticed that while it certainly was not dry, the times I used the water in the pan the pork was noticeably more moist. The final thing to note was that I cooked to a higher IT than i've ever had to before yet there was more fat that had not yet rendered. Im sure this accounts for some of the missing moisture. It was a fun experiment but I think I'll be going back to my tried and true methods and endure the longer cook times.
 
hey just thought I would add my 2 cents I have smoked more pork butts than anything else but when I run my smoker I use hot water in the pan and I smoked 50 pounds at a time each time. I probed my meat in the center of the rack and smoked till 210 degrees or so about 12 to 14 hours and put in large plastic bags and popped them in a very large cooler and rested for 3 hours and just pulled them apart I just use a sticker for the rub and that's about it along with a mix of wood chips.
 
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