Whats the right temp?

Dave, Welcome to our Forum!

A temp of 200 - 225* is just fine fo Smoking. It will only effect your finish time, so don't sweat it!

Anything else we can help you with, just ask!

Jeff

 

200-210 is my target temp.

some folks go as high as 250.

my theory is that the lower temp you and I use is slower to "seal" the meat, thereby allowing a deeper smoke ring.

I wouldn't worry about the heebee geebee's.

 

That we do, Dave!

Jeff

 

To Dave11,

Just my 0.02 but I really think 200 degrees is too low of a temperature. I cook a pork shoulder and briskets to an internal temperature of 200F (measured by a meat probe thermometer). I tried 195F internal temperature and it did not reliably produce tender shoulders. I maintain a temperature of between 220F and 230F. At the point of about 1 hour per pound, I'll raise the temperature to 250F (and I keep the smoke up too). This yields a shoulder or brisket that is done in about 1.25 hours per pound and is falling apart tender.

Now here's why 200F is not good. The temperature rise of the meat is proportional to the difference in temperature between the smoker and the internal meat temperature. The temperature rises rapidly at first and then slows down as the gap in temperature decreases. There's a graph of this in the pork section, post: "Pork Butt Cooking time". This rise is mathematically described by a formula known as an exponential function. But think of it as a child's game. You walk half way to a wall. Now do it again, walk halfway to the wall. Repeat... Theoretically you will never reach the wall! An exponential funnction is that way (see the graph). You will theoretically NEVER reach an internal meat temperature of 200F with an ambient temperature of 200F. You will for all practical purposes reach it in many many hours but by that time you have made jerky and not barbecue.

God Q is a tradeoff between cooking time and temperature. Too long at too low a temperature and the Q will be dry and tough. Too high a temperature will result in done meat but not tender meat because the meat did not linger long enough to render the fat and allow the collagen to tenderize.

I used to think that 180F was the right temperature. I just hadn't thought it through. Sometimes I made good Q and often I did not. I did not understand why. Now I know that when I made good Q, it was probably that I did not actually maintain 180 at all but the old smoker drifted up to above 220 long enough to get a good cook despite my (mis-directed) efforts.

Good Luck,
Regards,
Aubrey Page

 

in between 200-250 im happy, as long as it dosent spike to 260 or over :evil:

 

Nice post, Aubrey! Well thought out, and abolutely correct!

Jeff

 

Dave11, welcome to the forum. If you haven't already, take time to browse the many topics. Many newcomers don't and jump right in and ask all of their questions without realizing that the forum contains all of those answers with all variations already posted in convenient form.

Welcome aboard.

Regards,
Aubrey Page