Every size from 4 lb trimmed butts to 12 lb picnic shoulders. Whether the calculations say 6 hours or 10 hours, we are going WAY beyond to 12 or 16 hours respectively.
CULPRIT: We are finding that taking our meat directly from the fridge to the smoker is the chief cause of the problem.
SOLUTION: We are now letting our final 4 hours of brining or rub occur at room temperature. So instead of starting at a 35 F internal temp, we are starting at 50 or 60 deg F. Big difference which plays out in HOURS of added smoker times.
Additionally, instead of leaving the product in the 215 deg F smoker for an extra 4-6 ours in useless attempt to hit 185 (which we NEVER have), we are raising the smoker to 225 deg F.
If you leave the product in the smoker for 4-6 extra hours trying to get to pulled-pork temps, your product will end up like a nerf football and be dry and ruined. Now, if we are finding we cant hit final temp, we remove from the smoker after the calculated time, and finish in a low oven and that does the trick.
Like I said, we smoke every weekend, winter and summer. This problem still exists. It has nothing to do with the probes (trust me we have dozens), nor outdoor temps, nor the electricity (we are direct wired to the building). SM025
We'd love to hear the arguements ensue from this common problem.
