Frustrated and in search of advice


 
Dan C. FL

Dan C. FL

TVWBB Pro
Hi gang! If I haven’t mentioned it before, I moved to Wisconsin a couple of years ago. In FL, whenever I cooked a butt, it was always done in 13 hours. It would consistently reach my desired IT at that point. I’ve done pulled pork a few times up here and each time it’s been waaaaay longer. Tried to do a butt today and at 16 hours on the smoker, I had to give up and throw it in the oven. It’s still not done yet. I ran the WSM without water and the temps stayed reasonably close to the target grate temp (250). So, it’s not a cooker temp thing. I also checked with another thermometer. It agreed with my Smoke. It was breezy but, again, the smoker temp was pretty spot on. So, what gives? It was mid to upper 70s. Can the lower humidity or 1100 feet of elevation really cause cooking time to increase by 4-5 hours?
 
Not sure. Maybe the fridge is better at the new place and it's going in to the smoker colder than before?

Did you measure start temps in Fla?
 
DanHoo said:
Not sure. Maybe the fridge is better at the new place and it's going in to the smoker colder than before?

Did you measure start temps in Fla?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I did not. I don’t think they’d be different enough to make a 4 hour difference though. Methodology was the same for all.
 
It could be a little bit humidity wise. Low cook temp and the stall could go on for a long time.
Assuming you did not wrap, the stall could have been prolonged. What was the oven temp? What temp do you prefer? Any chance the grill temps were slightly lower? No biggie except that at that temp the stall is a higher hill. If the temps were off just a bit, say 220, the stall would be a long climb.
I have full faith that you have complete control, and will put out the next one in less time.
For those that like low and slow, but not the stall, I heard that 285 is the lowest with reasonable stall. If course wrapping or hotter will pass the stall...
 
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amazingribs.com

Cooking Time - What Influences It?

Why are exact cooking times so hard to predict? Because the actual time it takes meats and other barbecued foods to reach a certain level of doneness depends on many variables such as the weather, the cooking method, the type of meat, meat thickness, humidity in the cooker, and the accuracy of...
amazingribs.com

Copy pasted from the page above.​

Humidity​

If you are cooking hot and fast, humidity has little impact. But if you are cooking low and slow, at 225°F as I recommend, and targeting a high finishing temp, such as 203°F as I recommend for pulled pork and Texas brisket, as the air around your food warms it, moisture begins to evaporate. This evaporation can cool the food and cause it to stall. Meat can get stuck at a temp, usually in the 150°F to 170°F internal temp range, and stay there for as long as six hours! If you’re not ready for this you better be ready to order Chinese carryout. You’ll like their ribs.

...

The natural humidity of the weather is a factor in cooking time for low and slow cooks. The lower the ambient humidity, the more moisture will evaporate from your meat and the slower the cook. But you can boost the humidity and reduce evaporative cooling by putting water pans inside the cooker, a technique I recommend in my articles on setting up your cooker.

edit: I like to italicize things I copy.
 
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Tony-Chicago said:
It could be a little bit humidity wise. Low cook temp and the stall cook go on for a long time.
Assuming you did not wrap the stall could have been prolonged. What was the oven temp? What temp do you prefer? Any chance the grill temps were slighlty lower? No biggie except that at that temp, the stall is a higher hill. If the temps were off just a bit, say 220, the stall would be a long climb.
I have full faith that you have complete control, and will put out the next one in less time.
For those that like low and slow, but not the stall, I heard that 285 is the lowest with reasonable stall. If course wrapp9nf or hotter will pass the stall...
Click to expand...
My target temp for the smoker is 250. It ran between 250-265 for most of the cook. I’ve never wrapped pork (only brisket). I cook to a target meat temp of 195. Put it in the oven with the oven temp set to 275. Took another 40 minutes to get up the additional 15 degrees IT.
 
Update: I just pulled it. I noticed a slightly grey color to parts of the bark. It tasted a little acrid. Most of it was tender and juicy. The smoke flavor wasn’t right. Kinda on the weak side. I suspect the breeze was blowing ash up onto the meat. I had a spike when the smoker was just starting (went up to close to 300), but I got it under control relatively quickly. I’m pretty sure the flare up burned the wood hunks up and that’s why it wasn’t smoky enough. I was torn as to whether to just chuck it or save it. I decided to save it because I can sauce it up and it’ll be ok. Don’t want to share it with anyone though. It’s not up to my standards. Time to go to bed.
 
Sounds like a wind issue to me. How big was the butt? I did a 12# one that was a serious, perfect weather, 17 hour smoke, tortured the neighbor! She said she kept waking up wanting a sandwich!

I’ve gone the start three or four hours earlier route pick feasting hour, then go backwards an hour for each pound then add four. Sorry to not have shared this information earlier. I did two eightish pound butts and terrible weather for a party for the early summer birthday party feast.
High wind, awful rain, as bad as it can get really. I set up my windscreen and a canopy between squalls and fired it off at five PM, checked coals about 03:00, shook the ash down a little, checked again about five, temps dropping a bit, added more fuel. Went back to bed until about 07:00, something was not right, poked the vents to clear a very little bit of ash and added a couple more shovels of coals. After coffee, everything settled back down and I let it roll until IT read 190 and didn’t budge for over an hour, decided to probe....BUTTAH! 13:00, never opened the lid until then.
Pulled them off, wrapped in a dbl thickness of foil, toweled, and left them to rest until about 16:30 when I opened and shredded the smaller of the two, leaving the big one for later. The first was excellent, perfectly moist, nice bark, all that but, another two hours later, I opened the second one Incase people wanted some seconds...no takers, everyone had already had cake (except me). The second was even more fabulous! So, that’s upper Midwest smoking, add a crazy amount of time and be patient.
Next one will be fine and within time parameters
 
Besides the quality suggestions that have already been given, have you considered that the quality of the meat you are getting in Wisconsin may be better than what you got in Florida? Maybe denser and therefore taking longer to smoke, especially since you implied that it has happened several times.
 
I like Dan's info and would be curious if water in the pan would help. Not only add humidity like Florida to slow evaporative cooling but it may help keep ashes down..
 
I'm in Wisconsin and I'm not sure which way to recommend you try, I've never had a single butt go to 16 hours. I did do 8 butts the other day and it took 16 hours. I do usually run a water pan for one or 2 butts, but did not use any with the 8 as recommended by another member here. Another difference is I try to run 275, so that might be worth trying as well. When deciding to pull off the smoker I measure temp, but go for feel of the butt (ha!) to tell me when they are ready. Nothing wrong with wrapping imo if you are short on time, but I try to get through the stall if I can to make sure I get good bark before wrapping.

I've never bbq'd in FL, but the humidity difference makes sense...
 
I'd vote for the humidity as the likely cause. When I lived in Florida the summers were almost always close to 90% humidity all the time.

Next time, when you hit the stall, try raising the temp to the 275-300 range. That should help you push through and get it done in less time.

You might also want to think about something to help block the wind if it's strong enough to stir up the ash inside the smoker.
 
Yes, unless the wind is really calm I put a plywood wind block around my WSM. I live on top of a bald hill, so rarely is it really calm... Helps regulate temp, prevent ash on food and saves a lot of fuel.
 
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