I have been getting consistently long cook times on my WSM. Yesterday I was having folks over for dinner and wanted to make pulled pork. I normally get Boston Butt, but publix only had picnic, so I grabbed that. I have read average times for these things range from 1.5 to 2 hrs and that it is generally 2 for bone in. The pork was 4.11 lbs untrimmed and I took a big hunk of skin/fat off the top. So, I figured, 8 hours would be about right to plan on. Dinner was at 5:30 PM, and I wanted to pull it off 30 min before to let it rest. So at a minimum I wanted to start at 9:00 AM. This is exactly when I ended up getting the meat on at stabilized temps. I maintained a temp of 230-245 (allowing 5 degrees for correction buffer.) At 4:50 PM, it was just getting out of the plateau at an internal temp of 166... Needless to say, I was concerned, but I hoped it would continue rising very quickly after that. At 6:30 PM, it was still at 179 and not really moving up fast at all. Plus, my coals were beginning to go out. (Everyone arrived at 5:30 and we had been waiting an hour up to this point.) So, I got some coals going and put those in around 7 PM, allowing the temp to get into the 275 range. It was only then that I got it to eventually rise relatively quickly to 190 at 7:45 PM. I wanted to wait till 195, but well before this point, I needed to feed people. So, I pulled it, let it rest and we finally sat down to dinner at 8:15 PM... Not good.
So, it took 10.8 hours to cook 4.11 lbs... with cheating at the end and raising the temps too high. I am using a Maverick Redi-Chek ET-73 for the temp monitoring. I have tested the probes, they read room temp and boiling water correctly (210-212) I put the smoker temp probe on the provided prongs that allow it to attach to the grate. (The actual probe sits just above the grate.) The actual smoker temp reads much lower than the probe used by the maverick. It usually reads around 20 degrees lower on the lid. So, I'm wondering if maybe I'm positioning the smoker probe incorrectly or something. I usually, by necessity have to put it an inch or two from the edge, because what I'm cooking is in the middle. I realize the water pan deflects heat and the edges can be hotter. I have tried hanging it from the top vent as well and still get consistently higher temps than the lid thermometer. Any thoughts?
So, it took 10.8 hours to cook 4.11 lbs... with cheating at the end and raising the temps too high. I am using a Maverick Redi-Chek ET-73 for the temp monitoring. I have tested the probes, they read room temp and boiling water correctly (210-212) I put the smoker temp probe on the provided prongs that allow it to attach to the grate. (The actual probe sits just above the grate.) The actual smoker temp reads much lower than the probe used by the maverick. It usually reads around 20 degrees lower on the lid. So, I'm wondering if maybe I'm positioning the smoker probe incorrectly or something. I usually, by necessity have to put it an inch or two from the edge, because what I'm cooking is in the middle. I realize the water pan deflects heat and the edges can be hotter. I have tried hanging it from the top vent as well and still get consistently higher temps than the lid thermometer. Any thoughts?
Last edited:
