Here was my process:
- 14 lbs pork butt from Costco came in 2 pieces already (7 lbs each)
- Apply yellow mustard and seasoning (paprika, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder)
- Heat charcoal smoker to 250 with a water pan
- Throw the pork butts on there and don’t touch em – took 7 hrs to get to 200F
- I used hickory and apple wood chunks
- Wrap in butcher paper and let rest in a cooler for 1 hr
- Shred – meat was not as tender as I expected and it turned out somewhat dry
I read online that there would be a stall at around 165 which sorta happened, but from the graph you could see it wasn’t much of a stall. Some people suggest wrapping to get through the stall, but I didn’t think I needed to considering the temp progression. Some suggested a spritz every hour, but I also read that can ruin the bark (does that even matter as much for pork butt?)
I also expected these to be on for like 10-12 hours, but it reached 200F in 7 hours and from what I read, you wanna take them off around 195 – 203F.
Did I take them off too quickly? Or leave them on too long? Is there a wrong way to put the temp probe in – maybe the temp reading was wrong?
Any other suggestions to improve?
by ak677
43 Comments
You sure your ambient temperature was correct?
Yes there is a wrong way to put a temp probe in.
Against the bone, too shallow, or so deep it is almost out the other side will all give high internal temp readings.
I always wrap. Anytime I didn’t wrap I found it to be dryer. That’s just my experience.
I’ve been most recently following this and it’s been great
https://www.reddit.com/r/Traeger/s/U50hwfqaZh
Where us your ambient probe located? Also i would swap the meat and the waterpan. On my egg the external thermometer always reads 30-50degrees cooler than right above the plate setter
Honestly, I don’t think you did anything wrong. A longer rest might have helped, but sometimes the pig is just an asshole and there is nothing you could have done. I have cooked dozens if not hundreds of butts and picnics and pretty much do them all the same. Some come out awesome. Others suck. Most are in the middle.
Which the the reason sauce was invented. A trick I have used sometimes is to add broth to the pork after its pulled. (I make chicken, beef and pork broth and freeze them in ice trays then store in zip locks).
But master a couple good sauces and you will never have “dry” pork ;-P
Why are you smoking 350-425°?
Also why is the water pan above the pork?
Try putting your water tray under your meat.
I have an MB and always use an ambient. I have found that the temp reading is off by 75-100 higher than actual most times. I always allow for that.
Kind of curious why your pit’s target temperature is set at 350 degrees? Pic 2.
Pic 2 also has an amazingly consistent ambient pit temperature line (red line). This kind of temperature accuracy is almost unheard of in most pits. Does the MB pit truly hold pit temp that close to the setpoint? Quite incredulous if so.
I would highly recommend wrapping it when it gets to 165f
Get yourself a flavor injector 9000 and pump apple juice into that butt
good news, sauce exists 😀
if you wanna moisten it up some more, mix a 50/50 ratio of apple juice and sauce and toss it together
I always truss the Costco pork butts because they’re so chopped up. Stray pieces will always be dry.
Also, did you let it cool some before wrapping and putting in the cooler? I’ve found it can keep cooking and overdo it if I wrap right off the smoker.
Did inserting the probe feel like going through soft butter? That’s the common advice for beef cuts but it holds true for pulled pork.
It’s really *really* hard to dry out a pork shoulder. From your description it sounds like you needed more time. You didn’t dry it out, rather, you undercooked it. Temperature is not the only factor for done-ness.
Also just a side point but I generally prefer some form of sugar in my pork rub or wrap.
I brine mine for 24 hours. Call me a cheat, but they come out perfect. Generally salt, sugar, and about 20 cloves of peeled garlic. (garlic goes in the smoker too, nothing like smoked garlic).
Mine is on pellet grill but hasn’t failed me yet, 225 either on separate shelf or on wire grate over a pan until bark sets around 165-175. Put into pan and double cover with foil until it reaches at least 200-204, going to 250-275 after cover. let rest for about hour inside the pan still covered. Ready to shred after rest
I used to make an aluminum foil boat for them. Now I smoke them in a Dutch oven. Works perfect.
I cook mine in a pan. Around the 180F, I will drain the juices from the pan and while the butt continues to cook the juices are in the fridge. Once the meat is done and rested, I throw away the solidified fat and put the juices back in with the meat. Never had dry meat.
After 3 hours of smoke w fat to the heat, foil pan it w a stick of butter and some brown sugar- cover w foil.. 10 more hours slow and low = CAN’T be dry.
I like the bark but also feel they get too dry without wrapping. So I started doing foil boats during the stall.
Personally 250 is on the high end, i prefer to go around 220 for pork shoulder, ideally you’d wanna smoke it for at least 8 hours but I find they turn out best when there in there for 12 hours at least. Also try wrapping at the 160 mark and use butcher paper. It’ll seal in the moister and juice from the hog a lot better. Just been my experience I get the best pork out of it that way not going above 230 but I’m not an expert or anything
I catch the drippings with another tray underneath the meat.
Once I hit 165-170, I put the meat in that tray along with a bit of apple juice and brown sugar. I wrap that whole thing in foil and let it ride till 203. Have gotten great results this way.
I also *lightly* spritz with apple juice every hour or so until I wrap.
Try something new and see how it goes!
There’s no way those should have been done in 7 hours… should be closer to 9-12… assuming your ambient temperature is off
The temp graph shows no stall at all. So either 1) the control thermometer is way off and you blew right past the stall from high heat, or 2) the meat probes were not inserted properly, or 3) a combination of both.
Perhaps because they were cut thin? Even a seven pound pork shoulder should be more bulky than flat. From the pics it looks like they packaged two thinner fat cap cuts together to make the 14 pounds. Perhaps that’s just the angle of the pic?
Edit ignore the thin cut comment. That first pic didn’t load for me. They look much thicker on the grill. Must have been the camera angle.
The temp probes are inserted wrong. You don’t go down the thinner part, go in and across the thickest part and opposite side from the bone. Get the tip to the deepest part of the meat and don’t hit the bone.
Looks like the probes went too deep and were closer to the bottom of the meat than the center. So it sounds like they were actually undercooked, which jives with the short cook time.
Did you use a mop sauce while smoking did you cut off to much fat?
Get an ambient temp thermometer. Even if that wasn’t ultimately the issue, It’s useful.
I got one when I couldn’t figure out why it was taking wildly different times to smoke ribs. My smoker has a digital readout, but when I put the ambient temp probe in, it was WILDY different than the grills one. Like 50-100 degrees off. Can’t trust the grill temp reading anymore.
Like others said, probe placement in the meat is important too.
My pitboss has 2 temp probes and i usually have the 2nd one positioned in the middle of the cooking area as a sort of double check on the ambient temp. I find that has worked well in ensuring the grills temp setting is working as it should.
I inject mine the night before.
I’m gonna go off just the picture and say those butts look like little dried testicles so my guess is temp too high. Otherwise why the shrinkage?
Was the meat probe tender? I don’t use a temp probe on long cooks anymore. It’s either probe tender (done) or it isn’t.
7 hours is quick for 2 pieces that size. The ambient temp had to be off. My butt’s go over night into morning & into lunch then pull it.
Where was your ambient thermometer? Was it part of the probe? If so where was it oriented?
General rule is about 1 hour per pound at 250 degrees to get to 200 degrees internal.
I think you overcooked by staying low and slow till the end of the cook, and you should have wrapped it to retain moisture.
I actually smoke my pork butts in an aluminum tray it’s an extra layer away from my heat source. I then cover the tray with foil (wrap) at 160-165 degrees. I don’t even wait for the stall. Technically you’re supposed to wait for the fat to render and you can poke it and it and the fat stays indented, but the fat will continue to render still after the wrap. As soon as it’s wrapped I’ll go up to 275, maybe even 300. Once it’s wrapped there’s no more smoke going on the pork, and no benefit to cooking very low temps. Pork doesn’t need to go slow and low till the end like brisket because the connective tissue in a pork butt isn’t as tough as in brisket. You can safely crank it up, save yourself some time, but don’t go crazy. I still keep to 275-300 range.
Right at 200 degrees on the probe I start using my instant read to poke it. Looking for it to go right through easily. Usually does.
Rest for an hour if you can, but 30 min has been fine too. Comes out very soft, pull the bone right out, but holds its shape. Cut off the chunk I’m gonna eat now and shred that with my hands. I keep the rest I’m going to save in a single solid chunk to retain moisture for when I reheat it, and the I’ll shred it after it’s been heated up. Shred it in the juices of the pan, if you use a pan like me. Those juices are the keys to flavor town. I also save the juices in whatever container I’m putting the uneaten portion/chunk. You want to keep going back to flavor town so don’t lose the keys.
I feel like I’ve made similar mistakes. A few months back I had 2 butts on the racks of my pellet smoker and put a rack of ribs on the grill. The ribs were incinerated in an hour while the butts were perfect. If your butts didn’t have enough fat cap blocking the direct heat from underneath, then they’ll get dried out. That’s my guess anyway
I’ve never not pulled a pork butt and put it into a pan and then you do, you’ll see the pork butt have a shit ton of water loss that once shredded gets absorbed back into it from having it in a pan
I prefer no wrap, but my fam likes it more juicey. Cook it low to develop a good bark , then braise it when you hit the stall, about 150°. Put it in a pan with some apple juice or any other liquid that sounds tasty. You can also add some sugar, spice, butter, and/or honey. Insert probe and cover ro seal well. You can turn up the heat a little bit at this point. Once you hit around 208°, you’re done. Shred it in the pan along with the juices.
My recommendation… move to a foil boat at 160° internal and cover. Pour some apple juice in the pan. Remove at probably tender.. I usually take mine to 205°
Lightly spritz, just be mindful where you spray. If it looks wet or comes off when you poke it then it doesn’t need as much. But wrapping it and throwing a little sauce on top of it before you close it up really helps. After you’ve gotten to temp, put it in an aluminum pan, reseason lightly on top to pretty it back up and put it back in for about 10 mins. Pull it, put foil over top of the pan, wrap in a towel, put in a cooler for about 2 hours. This is how I do it and so far have not ever had a dry pork butt.
Hey OP, do you live in a high altitude location?
You didn’t get internal up high enough/long enough. I see about a 10F difference between my Masterbuilt probes and Thermoworks probes which is to be expected from a non-NIST, all in one setup. This means you didn’t fully render the fat and connective tissues necessary to soften the meat. I also use the second rack with the pan below on the main grate to avoid direct heat from the manifold as well as grease fires. Finally, wrapping or panning will produce more consistent cooks.
I’m sure this’ll get buried or maybe already said…
To preface this, I have a masterbuilt gravity as well.
There’s wild temperature inaccuracies on the main grate level, it’s just too close to the heat source (both below, and where the fuel is burning). I’m talking like 100 degrees off, always too hot. And the hot spot moves depending on ambient wind conditions.
To reconcile this, I always cook on the next level above the main grate, and use the main grate to hold my drip pan.
I never have to do anything with mine but set them on the rack and cook at 250 until they’re ~200. I have to set my FireBoard controller (ditched the masterbuilt controller when it died) to about 260 to get the cook surface of that second grate level to 250.
I don’t ever really wrap mine, they turn out fine. Have in the past, those turned out good. Tried it without wrapping, still turns out good.
I also use mostly charcoal, with a single big wood chunk every 5 inches or so in the chute. Charcoal smoke tastes good, wood smoke is also good… if everybody in the house likes it.
Seriously though, get a full size cooking rack for your second level and smoke everything there. Use the bottom rack for high temp cooking.
I have learned to largely smoke brisket and pork but, among other cuts, to tenderness rather than a specific temp.
Something sounds off
I wouldn’t expect it to get to 200 internal cooking at 250 in 7 hours. Probably wasn’t cooked enough.
I have had shoulder not melt the connective tissue at 200 a few times. That 203 number seems to work better.