All my Florida neighbors love my Boston butts so much one family bought a Smokette. It just arrived last Friday and I helped them set it up and season it. Then we went to the store and I picked out a perfect cut of shoulder.

Monday evening at 10:30, they put the 5.75 lb. butt in and set the oven at 225 degrees. They planned to eat around 5 PM. Problem was it never went beyond 168 degrees even after 16 hrs., so they had to finish it in the oven.

In my Smokette, it would have been gone to 200 degrees in 14 hrs.

Do we have a problem here and if so, what could it be? Could it be a thermostat problem?

Well,you should know the routine.
Extension cord?
Wall outlet?
Faulty thermometer?
Open doors too much?
Put therm probe through tinfoil ball,place in empty cooker at 250,see where it goes?

Next step,call Cookshack about the thermostat.

All of the above items I have already covered. Even checked the meat with an instant read and it verified the 168 degrees. Door never opened.

Guess I need to call...

That would be best.

The Ribcookoff in Jupiter is just a selling event by these traveling national rib sellers.

We ran the three hour test with the unit empty and it checked out perfect. The Cookshack folks were really perplexed as to why it took 16.5 hours and only got to 168. No one could figure it out so we'll try it again this weekend and see what happens...

maybe it has to do with butts and briskets having "a mind of their own" I have a butt on now has been on 15 hours and only at 180; since "its done when its done" I don't worry about the time too much just the temperator...

I've had two butts (6-7 lbs each) take 24 hrs. Don't be afraid to cook them at a higher temp, such as 240-250.

Here's my latest butt cook...

gpflepsen,
nice read out easy to read also how did you make a program? i like it please let me know thanks jeff

That's Excel - easy to do.

On the timing, I do find that excessive. Mine routinely take 11 hours for a 7 odd lb butt and are quite consistent either with a single or multiples. In fact, I have had better results at 215 degrees as higher than that will cause some really hard bark only a woodpecker would love.

I did just discover I have a faulty thermostat which may explain my higher temps, though (unit stays on when dial is off - replacement 'stat is coming, thanks CS!).

I made that in Excel, then took a "picture" and saved it as a .gif I think the file is only about 6K.

Robbie, what are you calling excessive? 24hrs? 12 hrs? It's like they say, it's not done until it's done. My 24 hr smoke had an enourmouse time sitting at the 175 plateau. When it finally went to 195-200 it was no different in texture and moistness than my shorter smokes.

Am I missing something or is the chart displaying a 12 hour cook and not the 24 mentioned.

Is GPflepsen talking about the chartted or another cook being 24hr.

I would for sure call on a 24hr cook unless I was cooking a 24lb butt. I had a neighbor do a 12lb'r that didn't cook that evenly. We thought that it was taking up too much room and that hear did not vent welll through the sides of the smoker as the meat was near the walls. The bottom was at consistancy and the top was under done. HE ended up finishing in the oven.

But we fiqured out that 9lb'rs were about the top of what we would cook going forward.