Set Temp vs Internal temp.

If I recall my college physics correctly, cooking can be considered providing heat in a closed space with a substrate (meat), thereby creating an equilibrium. If something is left in the oven long enough and the thermostat is working correctly, for example set at 180, then eventually everything would reach that equilibrium. In other words, everything would be 180 degrees. The temperature would not increase past 180 unless you added more energy to the system (turned up the thermostat).

Remember, though, that the inside of the smoker will have hotter areas (bottom, near the heating element) and cooler areas (top, near the smoke outlet.) It's certainly possible that if you put the meat on the bottom shelf and the thermostat is set at 180, the temperature of the meat could go somewhat above 180, but probably only a few degrees.

Aren't you sorry you asked?

Mornin',RDB.

You already received the technical answer,but I'd have just said no.

You will find that those big hunks of pig will set at the plateau till you forgot why ya cooked 'em.

The Cookshack will help with the dryness of long cooks,the shoulder will have enough internal moisture to survive it,but I don't see what can be gained.

The collagen will be breaking down by the time you hit 180� and it will be thin sliceable or maybe small chunks.

You can gain more smoke,if you desire it, by keeping the smoke level higher throughout the cook.

The long term 180� cooker can help with stretching your timing,until you are ready to finish.

Hope this helps a little.

Hi, RDB;

Don't know if this is useful, but when I cooked a brisket this weekend I logged the internal temp from beginning to end (okay, it was a slow Sunday!).





At the beginning there's a big temperature difference between the air in the oven and the meat, so the meat warms up quickly. After a few hours, when the internal temp hits about 150, the real cooking starts. You can tell because there's almost no increase in internal temp over time...the energy that's being absorbed is doing actual work, like melting fat and breaking down collagen and muscle fibers. After a few more hours, the internal temp starts rising faster again as all that activity starts to finish. If I'd left the brisket in a lot longer, it would have gradually come up to the temp of the oven, but slowly, because the temp difference between meat and oven becomes less and less.

Cheers;
gk

GK,

Hope you don't mind. I copied the file from the other server and put on the CS server. That way, it's always with the forum. Those external sites many times change over time (hence a lot of posts in the archives have missing links).

If you have a larger version, feel free to send it to me and I can edit it. Large files are okay.

RDB,
Hey we love questions and we won't flame you. I can't provide a website with definitive scientific method, but everything I've always experienced is that the internal temp will not rise to the exact temp. Maybe if you left it in forever. But typically it never rises to within even 10 or 15 degree or so. I'm sure the meat scientist could tell us not only why it doesn't hit the set temp, but doesn't come close. That's why you use 225 to get something to 200. It will take forever to even come close to 225, by then it will be shoe leather.

Sorry for the Smokin' Length post...one of those days.

Smokin'
Smokin'

drjey,
You know what they say about a question not asked!!!

Thats it for me I'm cooking at 225.

Thanks to all who contributed and I look forward to learning a lot more in the future.

Guys

Sorry, if my answer came across a bit pompous. I was hoping for a form of techno humor, but it appeared to have failed miserably. I thought just saying "no" wasn't enough. I will try to avoid thinking "out loud" in the future. I definitely think it was a question worth asking.

Joel