Not a good first attempt with pulled pork


 
J

Joel Oliva

TVWBB Member
My pulled pork came out dryer than what I had expected it to be. I used Mr. Browns recipe and had 2 butts in the cooker. Total weight was 14.44lbs. One thing I did differently was have the butt sit in rub overnight because i didn't have time to prep it the day of the cook.

I put the butt in the smoker at 6pm friday night and the temp was mostly sitting at 225 degrees. Sometimes it would get up to 250 but the majority of the time it stayed at 225. I probed the butt after 10 hours and it wasn't even near 180 so I let it sit in longer. Each hour I kept checking and when it reached 14 hours, some parts of the butt was still sitting at 180. I kept checking to see every 30 min to see if the IT would get passed 180 but It didn't. I finally pulled it out after 16 hours and I wrapped tightly in foil and let it sit for 3 hours in a cooler. After 3 hours I pulled. Some of it was moist but the majority of it was dry.

Was this overcooked? any recommendations that I should do if I decide to do this again?
 
The butts were undercooked. 180 is not the temp for pulled pork cooked low/slow. They needed to cook longer. The dryness was because sufficient rendering had not occurred.

Around 180? is a point where butts can stall a second time (they often stall in the 160s as well). That's why they stayed at that temp for some time. At low cook temps several hours can pass before the temp starts rising again.

No need to cook at 225. 250, 260, or even higher works fine, and the cook is shorter.
 
Joel. what Kevin said. If you like Pulled pork do it again. You just got some stubborn butts. Doesn't mean they all will take so long. I too have cooked butts HH and they came out wonderful. But low and slow is traditional and good but as you have seen can be heavy on the SLOW.

Mark
 
Joel, first off, your time/temp doesn't sound off to me.....not on a little wsm, both by my own experience and by what I've read here and other places. You can certainly cook much higher, but I use temp for timing, mainly.

As to your pork, I can't tell much for sure just going by your IT. IT lets me know when to check the pork, and if cooking low-n-slow with no foil, I feel it's best to start checking your butts when the IT is no higher than 185. Most of the time though, 190 is gonna be about where they're at when tender, but tenderness is determined best by feel. It could be at 190-200, but I've never had one ready at 180.

BBQ can seem to be dry for three reasons I can think of: Undercooking, Overcooking, and just getting a leaner than usual pork butt. For the latter two cases, I like to have a finishing sauce on hand, but apple juice will do just fine.
 
Really? You think it was undercooked?
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Has anyone smoked it for more than 17 hours? (i had put 16 earlier but it was actually 17 hours.
 
Like I said, for cooking at only 225*, your times sound about right. At an avg. lid vent temp of 250, two about that size took me fourteen and a half hours a couple of weeks ago.

I believe I've had two cooks that took over eighteen hours to get them all done. I suspect that these guys that claim to get butts done low-n-slow under 12 hours are usually only cooking one at a time.
 
Really? You think it was undercooked?
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Yes. From your description, yes.

Lengthy times at temps that low - which, if you used water, might have been significantly lower, especially for some time in the beginning.

You can check your therm to be sure of its accuracy, but from what you described I'd say undercooked.

Just cook 25? higher, or more.
 
Originally posted by Joel Oliva:
Really? You think it was undercooked?
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Has anyone smoked it for more than 17 hours? (i had put 16 earlier but it was actually 17 hours.
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They go around 16 hours at 250+. 225 is too low imho. When I'm late in the cook and the temp stalls, I kick up the heat even more if I want to get done.
 
It might have took so long and been undercooked if you lifted the lid every hour to check the temps. Get yourself a remote temp checker. It will keep you from losing heat every hour.
 
I usually cook mine in the 250-280 deg. range and in my experience they average about 1.5hrs/lb at that temp. At 225 deg. it wouldn't surprise me at all that they needed at least 2hrs/lb., if not more. You had two with a total weight of 14.5 lbs. Say the larger of the two was 7.5 lbs., that would be at least 15 hours til tender. Time/temps are just guides though. It's ready when it's ready...some of them can be quite stubborn. More beer drinkin' time.
 
OMG you burned it!

Just kidding. Here's another vote for undercooked.

My first cook took 19 & 21 hours, the next was around 17, now I can get them down to 10 if I want. Bump it to 275 next time & see how it goes.
 
"My pulled pork came out dryer than what I had expected it to be. I used Mr. Browns recipe and had 2 butts in the cooker. Total weight was 14.44lbs. One thing I did differently was have the butt sit in rub overnight because i didn't have time to prep it the day of the cook."

Were there two butts in the WSM or just one? Did they both turn out the same?
 
Oooo. That does look dry.

Did the meat come easily off the bone or not?

Was all the meat easy to shred or were there parts that wouldn't pull apart well?
 
Now we got a picture, and while I've never tied one up, I'd say Kevin's dead on. Even going just by the outside, it looks undercooked. His queastions are much more important than the pork's IT, although like I said, they rarely are ready before 190.
 
Dangit! I guess we live and learn. This site is the best site for support! You all are awesome!

Yes I did have both of them side by side on the top grate. I pulled one out after 17 hours and left the other one (bigger) on there for another hour before pulling it off.

I didn't see the temp moving up from 180 for quite a long time so I gave up waiting because i was afraid it would be overcooked. Come to find out it was undercooked.

When I pulled the bone out. it pulled pretty easy i thought but didn't come out like butter. I guess I'll try next time. It also came out super spicey. I love spicey but I wanted even people who weren't into spicey to enjoy it but it was too spicey for them. I followed the recipte to a TEE...not too sure why it came out this way.
 
If the bone came out and it shredded easily and was tender but dry, then it was very overcooked.

If the bone was a #$#$ to get out and it was tough and dry, then it was undercooked.

Which was it Sir?
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I'm with the undercooked crowd. My last shoulder was a 12-14 lb bone in and I cooked it in the 275-325 range and it took about 20hrs to finish.It was a little stubborn at the 160 mark which is when I bumped my temps. If your cooking something to 190-200 degrees and your cooking temp is only 225 it can take an awfully long time to get it where you want it.
 
the one thing I've had decent success at is cooking butts.........I think 225 is a little too low; just adding 20-30 degrees should speed up the cook considerably.

while internal temp isn't always set in stone, I usually get my best results between 190-200. for a large butt, I think I've been averaging about 12-14 hours.

I always try to time it so I'm resting in foil/cooler for a couple of hours. you should be able to pull the bone out like butter and should be able to fork twist/pull the meat without any effort.

best of luck next time........geez, now you got me thinkin' about smokin' a butt this weekend!!
 
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