Pork Shoulders - 11 hours and still only 165 internal temp

[txkelly65]

I had my maiden voyage on my new EX-4 for Super Bowl Sunday. I put on two 9 pound bone in Boston Butts at 6 AM pretty much direct from the fridge. The SmokeFire had pre-heated to 225 and my initial internal read from the probe was 41 degrees. After 11 hours of cooking the internal temp only registered 165 degrees. I believe I hit the stall at around 160 and it sat there for a good hour and then started to creep up. The meat had great flavor and a nice smoke ring but was only sliceable. It was not nearly tender enough to pull.

Q - what did I do wrong? I thought 11 hours at 225 would have been more than sufficient to get near 200 so it pulled apart.
Q - should I test the accuracy of the stated temp for the Ex-4?

 

[Hal4UK]

You should have left it on the SF until internal temp of ~200F. You can't go by time; you must go by temp. And, that can sometimes take a while. If it takes 16 hours, it takes 16 hours. With heat-resistant gloves, you can literally pull that bone out easily when it's done.

 

[txkelly65]

Thanks Hal. That was my intent at the start of the morning. However, when Kickoff was an hour away, I need to pull the meat and sweat it for a bit. Next time I'll put it on @ 3 AM

 

[Wilkie]

Did you wrap it at any point? Wrapping will speed up the the process. I agree with Hal4UK 16hrs isn't out of the question especially if you don't wrap. I cooked one two weeks ago and it too took 11 - 12hrs to reach 165 but after wrapping it only took two more hours to hit 205. Wrap it when it hits 165 and bump up the temp to 250 or 275.

 

[txkelly65]

Did you wrap it at any point? Wrapping will speed up the the process. I agree with Hal4UK 16hrs isn't out of the question especially if you don't wrap. I cooked one two weeks ago and it too took 11 - 12hrs to reach 165 but after wrapping it only took two more hours to hit 205. Wrap it when it hits 165 and bump up the temp to 250 or 275.

Thanks Wilkie. I did not wrap. I just put some foil on top to keep it from browning too much. I suspect you are suggesting a full foil wrap fairly tightly sealed?

 

[JpsBBQ]

225 is a very low cook temp by todays standards. It is really only necessary as a means to stretch out a cook for timing purposes. 250-275 is very common and many professional bbq cooks and others are cooking over 300 with butts and briskets.

Also have you probed the temp with a instant read thermometer in various locations? This is a must. If you are relying solely on a stick and stay thermometer you could be way off. First they simply are not as accurate. Secondly they only read the on spot. Thirdly, over time the probe itself can heat up and give false readings. Lastly you could hit a bone or fat vein and get false readings. If you don’t have a good instant read thermometer, get one. Best tool you can have.

Bump temp as said above. Wrapping also pushes a butt through the stall. Ultra low and slow cooks just over render the protein and can sometimes leave you less moist product. Good luck. Butts are very forgiving. You could cook the thing at 300 the whole time and it’d be great.

 

[txkelly65]

225 is a very low cook temp by todays standards. It is really only necessary as a means to stretch out a cook for timing purposes. 250-275 is very common and many professional bbq cooks and others are cooking over 300 with butts and briskets.

Also have you probed the temp with a instant read thermometer in various locations? This is a must. If you are relying solely on a stick and stay thermometer you could be way off. First they simply are not as accurate. Secondly they only read the on spot. Thirdly, over time the probe itself can heat up and give false readings. Lastly you could hit a bone or fat vein and get false readings. If you don’t have a good instant read thermometer, get one. Best tool you can have.

Bump temp as said above. Wrapping also pushes a butt through the stall. Ultra low and slow cooks just over render the protein and can sometimes leave you less moist product. Good luck. Butts are very forgiving. You could cook the thing at 300 the whole time and it’d be great.

JpsBBQ awesome information. I will get 225 out of my old head the next time!

 

[JABBQ]

Did you verify your grill temps with other thermometers? I found the temp the EX4 states it is at can be as much as 90° off or more sometimes. I never trust temps the Smokefire tells me.

 

[Hal4UK]

I go hot for ribs and chicken, but not for pork shoulder. I'm in the old school camp (225) for that. I know you can go hot, and it's OK, but shoulders/butts are the one thing I just like better going low and slow. Of course you need more patience, but try it both ways for yourself and decide. Bottom line: You can't hurt it -- it's already dead. That said, I haven't smoked any recently; I have access to the best pulled pork on the planet where I live, so I just BUY it.

 

[Bruno]

I go 225 for 4-6 hours, crank it up to 275 until I wrap. Wrap for me these days is a foil pan covered with foil. Easier cleaner and works every time.

I also think the SmokeFires can run 30 or so degrees low, so 225 could have been less.

 

[catpowered]

I had my maiden voyage on my new EX-4 for Super Bowl Sunday. I put on two 9 pound bone in Boston Butts at 6 AM pretty much direct from the fridge. The SmokeFire had pre-heated to 225 and my initial internal read from the probe was 41 degrees. After 11 hours of cooking the internal temp only registered 165 degrees. I believe I hit the stall at around 160 and it sat there for a good hour and then started to creep up. The meat had great flavor and a nice smoke ring but was only sliceable. It was not nearly tender enough to pull.

Q - what did I do wrong? I thought 11 hours at 225 would have been more than sufficient to get near 200 so it pulled apart.
Q - should I test the accuracy of the stated temp for the Ex-4?

That's a tough one. Yes you have to wrap it in rapid tight. I always double rep. Right at 160 to 165. I have an EX6 that I think came straight from hell. I've commented on the form at times about how bad it was just because I'm so aggravated. I ended up replacing it with a summit charcoal which has been wonderful. However I did bring it out the smoke fire to do some pork belly burnt ends a couple weekends ago. Unfortunately as usual about two hours into the cook all hell broke loose. I couldn't figure out what was wrong there was no fire at all. I started to replace the glow plug as that is the usual suspect. When I pulled the back cover off to excess removing yet probably a half a gallon of pellets hit the concrete. One of the mounting bolts for the motor had backed out completely and was lying in Pellets and the other one was about halfway backed out. I just shook my head. I ended up losing probably an hour and a half of the cook. It made our dinner late as well. Good luck with your continued cooking.

 

[UGator]

I've had pork butts take up to 18 hours when I didn't wrap. That said, I prefer going "wrap-less" because the bark is sooo good, but have to plan accordingly. The other thing I haven't seen mentioned here is the rest time, did you rest it for at least 1 hour? I'll pull off the SF when it hits ~205 internal temp and then wrap in foil and several towels and place in a cooler for at least 2 hours.

 

[catpowered]

I've had pork butts take up to 18 hours when I didn't wrap. That said, I prefer going "wrap-less" because the bark is sooo good, but have to plan accordingly. The other thing I haven't seen mentioned here is the rest time, did you rest it for at least 1 hour? I'll pull off the SF when it hits ~205 internal temp and then wrap in foil and several towels and place in a cooler for at least 2 hours.

I forgot to mention resting when I commented earlier. Yes that is as important as anything. I like to leave mine in a cooler no less than two hours and up to six. It really makes a phenomenal pork butt.

 

[JABBQ]

That's a tough one. Yes you have to wrap it in rapid tight. I always double rep. Right at 160 to 165. I have an EX6 that I think came straight from hell. I've commented on the form at times about how bad it was just because I'm so aggravated. I ended up replacing it with a summit charcoal which has been wonderful. However I did bring it out the smoke fire to do some pork belly burnt ends a couple weekends ago. Unfortunately as usual about two hours into the cook all hell broke loose. I couldn't figure out what was wrong there was no fire at all. I started to replace the glow plug as that is the usual suspect. When I pulled the back cover off to excess removing yet probably a half a gallon of pellets hit the concrete. One of the mounting bolts for the motor had backed out completely and was lying in Pellets and the other one was about halfway backed out. I just shook my head. I ended up losing probably an hour and a half of the cook. It made our dinner late as well. Good luck with your continued cooking.

Always run a separate temp probe or put a gauge in the lid to verify temps. I have seen my EX4 say it is at 250 and the temp was 180. Lots of smoke a little hotter and quicker at 275 and that helps.

 

[JpsBBQ]

That's a tough one. Yes you have to wrap it in rapid tight. I always double rep. Right at 160 to 165. I have an EX6 that I think came straight from hell. I've commented on the form at times about how bad it was just because I'm so aggravated. I ended up replacing it with a summit charcoal which has been wonderful. However I did bring it out the smoke fire to do some pork belly burnt ends a couple weekends ago. Unfortunately as usual about two hours into the cook all hell broke loose. I couldn't figure out what was wrong there was no fire at all. I started to replace the glow plug as that is the usual suspect. When I pulled the back cover off to excess removing yet probably a half a gallon of pellets hit the concrete. One of the mounting bolts for the motor had backed out completely and was lying in Pellets and the other one was about halfway backed out. I just shook my head. I ended up losing probably an hour and a half of the cook. It made our dinner late as well. Good luck with your continued cooking.

If you are having problems with the glow plug it’s likely due to it not being properly seated. I distinctly remember thinking this is gonna be a problem when I assembled mine. It seems like it’s seated but it’s not really have to apply a decent amount of pressure. Just trying to help. They should last years. If they aren’t lasting years then they aren’t seated and are shorting themselves out.