F'in Stall!


 
Erik Tracy

Erik Tracy

TVWBB Pro
Perfect, classic setup, control and temp settings with pork shoulder.

Full briquette load on 18.5 WSM, minion burn.

Then....hit the f'in stall at 160F for over 45 minutes on the back end close to serving time.

Can't...get...past...160F!

Got the rig reading 250F, but running long on time and low on fuel.

Arggghh...

The family is hungry and waiting.

Very frustrating.
 
It's been over an hour now from 160F to 163F in the meat.

Fuel is burning low and out from a full load.

Meat went on at 11:30am, current time 5:15pm (2 pieces at 4lbs each max).

Gonna have to pull the meat and go to the oven to finish this off so the family can eat for Sunday dinner before we all get sleepy before bedtime.

Not happy.

I get better results from propane w/ pellets and oven...will probably put the WSM up for sale.
 
Erik Tracy said:
I'm going to the oven and putting the WSM up for sale. F......
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Its not the wsm! Thats bbq man! It takes time, and at 160° you still have a long ways to go. 195-200° is what you need. Butts and briskets hit the stall and it takes hours to push through. learn from your mistakes and try again. If you don't have patience then bbq is not for you. I just did 2 9lb butts this weekend, did them overnight, and they took 14hrs.
 
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And breeeeaaaath!

If you had done a tad more research Erik, you'll have found that the stall can last for hours. [Been there, done that with a 2.5 lb-er].

There is nothing wrong with the equipment. Putting the WSM up for sale because things never worked out aint gonna help. I didn't have a clue what I was doing first time, [some may say I still don't]. But I got on here, did a couple of days research/reading & it went like a dream.
 
Bone-in, I assume?

I cooked my two (about eight pounds apiece) for 12 hours, but I had to finish them in the oven because it was way past my bedtime. Mine made it to 180 or so before pulling them off the smoker.

I'm intrigued about this so-called stall phenomenon.
 
Erik Tracy said:
It's been over an hour now from 160F to 163F in the meat.

Fuel is burning low and out from a full load.

Meat went on at 11:30am, current time 5:15pm (2 pieces at 4lbs each max).

Gonna have to pull the meat and go to the oven to finish this off so the family can eat for Sunday dinner before we all get sleepy before bedtime.

Not happy.

I get better results from propane w/ pellets and oven...will probably put the WSM up for sale.
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Erik, as others have said, it's not the WSM. 11:30 to 5:15 is only 5 hours and 45 mins. hell, it takes that long to cook spare ribs. For the record, cutting an 8lb butt in half across it's width won't make the cook go any faster.
 
Rusty James said:
Bone-in, I assume?

I cooked my two (about eight pounds apiece) for 12 hours, but I had to finish them in the oven because it was way past my bedtime. Mine made it to 180 or so before pulling them off the smoker.

I'm intrigued about this so-called stall phenomenon.
Click to expand...


The article JBooker linked to explains it. The meat reaches a stage where it undergoes evaporative cooling. Basically, it's sweating, which causes the temp to stall for awhile around 160 degrees. Can really trip you out sometimes as the internal temp might actually decrease for a while. There's a number of options for dealing with it. 1. Crank up your chamber temp to help power through the stall. 2. Wrap with foil to help power through the stall. 3. A combination of #'s 1&2. 4. Say "Fark it", open another beer and just ride the stall out.
 
DaveW said:
The article JBooker linked to explains it. The meat reaches a stage where it undergoes evaporative cooling. Basically, it's sweating, which causes the temp to stall for awhile around 160 degrees. Can really trip you out sometimes as the internal temp might actually decrease for a while. There's a number of options for dealing with it. 1. Crank up your chamber temp to help power through the stall. 2. Wrap with foil to help power through the stall. 3. A combination of #'s 1&2. 4. Say "Fark it", open another beer and just ride the stall out.
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Thanks, Dave.

JBooker posted just minutes before I did, and I missed that great article.
 
I never even did a PB this year because I didn't ever have the up 12 hours of time to donate to doing it. That's why it's called low and slow.
 
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