Pork Shoulder....waaaay too long


 
R

Ryan Todd

New member
I smoked some baby back ribs and a small pork shoulder yesterday. The shoulder was 3.84 pounds. So, the rule of thumb is 1.5 hours for every pound. I wanted to get this up to 190 as I wanted pulled pork. This thing went on around 9:30 AM. I was smoking at 225 for the most part, but it varied at different times between 225 and 245. I was using the dome and grate measurements. No wrap.

Anyways, I finally pulled it off around 8 or so when the internal temp probe hit 185. I verified it with an external probe and it was spot on, but I was tired and done. I wrapped it in foil and just let it sit on the counter for an hour or so.

Before bed we unwrapped and it fell apart. But seriously, what the heck, 10 11 hours for a 3.85 pound shoulder?

It stalled around 160 for a looooong time, and again at 167.

Are my temps out of whack or what? Even the ribs took longer than I think they should have. Baby backs, and they went a little over 5 hours. (I probably could have pulled them off a little sooner, but they didn't seem done)

I'm cooking with a water ppan
No foil on ribs or shoulder.
 
May you can check again T probes with ice/boiling test.
Anyway, I believe that 225F is really too low and fat renders much better T 250F
 
If the butt was pretty thick it could happen. With one that small it was probably a larger one cut down so it was probably still pretty thick and that's why it took so long.

You could definitely check out your probe. I've had one be off. Just don't be an idiot like me and try to test it boiling water on your gas stove and accidentely burn the probe wire in the flame!

I generally cook in your range and I've had some pretty wicked stalls. Like Enrico says, I'm gradually coming along to cooking at slightly higher temps around 250 to 275. I'm not big on hot and fast though because I in general don't like to wrap. I've done an unwrapped pork butt in the 300's though and it came out great.
 
I've been experimenting with cooking at higher temps for this very reason. It takes too long. ...and I've been getting fantastic results. YMMV
 
I did a 10 pound butt at around 285 this weekend and it took 9 hours and 58 minutes... We can round up to an even 10 hours. I typically cook around 225-240. The 285 mark was much faster and still got great tasting butt.

I hate cooking small pork shoulders. I always get very inconsistent results. I normally go for a minimum of 6 pounds and save leftovers.

I would suggest wrapping in foil once you hit the stall to hurry it up and don't be afraid to cook that baby a little hotter. If you raise the temps you will still get good results.

BBQ is one of those things... It's done when it's done. Every piece of meat is a little different and will take a different amount of time to be finished. I always try to give myself a lot of time to rest the meat. If the meat is done early you can rest it before serving but if it isn't done there isn't a ton you can do to speed it up.
 
The "hours per lb" formulas fall apart when used on small butts. It takes time to get a butt tender no matter what size it is. Smaller cuts cook faster but it's not proportional to size.
 
Carl H. said:
The "hours per lb" formulas fall apart when used on small butts. It takes time to get a butt tender no matter what size it is. Smaller cuts cook faster but it's not proportional to size.
Click to expand...



Yep. For the most part, cook time is based on chamber temp and thickness of the cut. For thickness, it's based on the shortest dimension. When looking at whole pieces of meat like a butt or a packer, "X mins per pound" is fairly accurate as the thickness of the meat is proportional to the weight, i.e. an 8lb butt is thinner than a 12lb butt.

When you get into cut down pieces, this changes. If a 10lb butt is 5 inches thick (at it's narrowest dimension), cutting it in half will give you a 5lb butt, but it's still the same thickness. Therefore, it will still take the same amount of time to cook, even though it weighs 1/2 as much.

An easy way to picture it is to look at a foot long hotdog that is 1 inch thick. Will cutting 6 inches off the end of it make it cook any quicker ? Nope. Reason being is that it's cook time is determined by it's diameter and cutting 6 inches off the end doesn't change that.
 
DaveW;
That's an excellent explanation of how cooking time/vs/butt size works.

As a matter of interest, I smoke all of my ribs and butts at 275+ degrees. I get great results and it takes much less time to do it. Harry Soo recommends 275 degrees for ribs, so that's what got me to try it. Now, I wouldn't think of doing anything else.

FWIW
Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Cooked a 3.5lb butt today on the medium BGE. I put it on at 1230pm and pulled it off at 530pm. Set the vents for 310F and never touched it once. The family loved it. I highly recommend higher heat cooking. While I believe the results of high heat cooking are fantastic, I dont think the food benefits any more than when I cook lower between 250-275. I just think you get your food faster. Although I think 225 is too low. I believe the food actually dries out because it just takes forever to get done, 250 is the lowest temp I cook at.
 
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