<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Does this happen to anyone else? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes. I sometimes get two plateaux, one in the low/mid-160s, another ~180. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I've I'm sure of the lid and meat temp, should I just cook them until they reach 190+, or do something else? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Something else. Well, kind of.
It's important to understand that 'done', when it comes to barbecue, can be a variety of temps. As Mike notes upthread, feeling the meat will give you direction.
But it's a time thing. A butt that stalls, say, at 164 and/or at 180, for some time, before moving on up to, say, 190, will be more 'done' than a butt that doesn't stall - that just steadily rises to 190 - because the time to hit 190 for the first butt is significantly longer.
Pick a point to check the meat for tenderness, do so, then feel free to ignore internal temp. If the butt is not as tender, or not as rendered, as you'd like, cook longer before checking again. The internal temp may rise a few or several degrees during continued cooking, but this really doesn't matter. It's the continued cook
time that makes the difference.
If you feel the meat to check for done - each time you cook - and every meat, whether butt, chuck, ribs, brisket - you'll develop a good sense of the corresponding point of 'done' with what you are feeling. You'll then just naturally focus more on done based on what the meat feels and looks like (which is totally what barbecue 'done' is) rather than temp, and internal temps will no longer matter to you, nor frustrate you. A very worthwhile perspective shift.
