Hi all I did my first attempt at pulled pork with an 8 lb pork butt roast. After 13 hours it was dry as a Nun's fart and I had to toss it out.
I took the roast out of the fridge and let it sit for an hour and pre-heated the smoker to 220. I used a dry rub and placed it in the smoker and smoked for 5 hours then let it slow cook. I watched the temperature rise to 160 then it stalled out. At about the 10 hour mark I turned the smoker up to 260 to try and bring the roast up to 190 but the best it would get up to ( around midnight as we were all hungry) was 178. When I took the roast out I thought well it won't be pulled pork but at least we could eat a tender roast. NOT it was so dry it sucked all the moisture out of my mouth and was really hard to swallow. What a waste. I even mopped the roast at least 5 times once it reached 160
Any thoughts what I did wrong?
Did you keep water in the pan for the whole cook? Did you cook on the bottom rack? I've never dried out a pork butt. I use the bone in variety and cook for longer than that. More help will be by soon.
Water in the pan? Do you mean for the pucks or the drip pan under it
I did have water in the puck pan but it did dry out. Nothing in the drip pan at all
Is this where I went wrong!
I also had the vent up top closed the whole time including during smoking
Sorry I'm a newbie at this but I can only get better :-)
Was it a very lean piece of meat? I've done a few for as long as 20 hours. Always get a stall before it comes up to temp. Always nice and moist.
The vent being closed (should always be at least 1/4 open, mine is stuck in the wide open with no ill effects), and opening the door (to mop) 5 times after the IT hit 160 contributed to the length of time. Not sure what to tell you about the dryness.
Quote from: Tiny Tim on September 04, 2013, 10:49:39 AM
The vent being closed (should always be at least 1/4 open, mine is stuck in the wide open with no ill effects), and opening the door (to mop) 5 times after the IT hit 160 contributed to the length of time. Not sure what to tell you about the dryness.
This what caused ti to take so long and the temps not climbing. Keep water (liquid) in the bowl as well.
sounds like the dry water pan is the cause,,, always keep some water or flavored beverage in the pan, The process most every one follows is
Fill water bowl at the beginning of the smoking precess with water to extinguish the pucks, as soon as the smoking process is over remove the water bowl... and either clean out the bowl and replace with water or flavored liquid or put in a tray with water or liquid to help to keep the meat moist...
another option is to inject the meat with some type of liquid suck as apple juice or bbq sauce
The water bowl needs water in it at all times. After it extinguishes the pucks it needs to be dumped, refilled and is used to collect the drippings to keep them from burning, catching fire and burning up your smoker. Also, the vent needs to be open!
Remember, you asked ;), the biggest problem was poor planning and lack of patience. If you were going for pulled pork you should have let it work itself through the stall at 160 and resisted the urge to try to push it to increase the internal temperature. That is when all the magic happens. That is when all of the collagen and connective tissue breaks down and the pork becomes very moist. Trust me, the internal temp will begin to rise again but it may very well take a couple of hours. A butt or pork roast is done when it is done. I would allow for a minimum of 18-20 hours on a butt to reach 190 or so. If it gets finished sooner, wrap it in foil, then wrap it in a towel and place it all in a dry cooler.(That's the FTC process). It will hold very hot for 4-6 hours. I've had butts take as long as 26 hours.
Don't stress out over it though. We've all "been there and done that". Just another good reason to try it again!
Some really good advise!! Thank you all.
I plan on getting back in the saddle and smoking up another pulled pork Sunday. I'll let you know how it goes.
You've gotten some really good advice, I use a tea kettle to put boiling water in my buck bowl to help with heat retention and after the smoke I replace it with a 9x13 disposable cake pan full of hot water and or apple juice so that I don't have to open the door as often and mine always come out good. I think you will do fine on your second go round. :)
Hi
Sorry to welcome you to the forum in this manner.
Although it is important to keep water in the bowl to catch put out the bisquettes and catch drippings, I'm not one who subscribes to the theory "dry heat equals dry meat". So I don't feel that is the cause of the dryness. The sense of moistness in pulled pork comes form the collegan converting into gelatin. It is the coating of gelatin over the meat fibers that gives your tongue the feeling of moisture.
Although when cooking low/slow it is best to maintain the temperature as consistant and steady as possible, bumping it to 260°F the way you did would not have a major impact on the outcome. You are still way withing the range of low/slow cooking.
Sometimes it just comes down to the particular carataristics of that piece of meat. But I do have to ask, are you sure you had a butt roast, and not a roast from a different area of the pig? If so that will produce some dry meat.
dry as a nun's fart
LOL - I've never heard of that one. Thanks for the morning laugh.
I'd guess the main reason for the dryness is trying to rush it through the stall phase. Also, "if you're lookin' you're not cookin'." Resist the urge to open the door 5x and mop it when it gets to 160. I don't mop mine at all.
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 05, 2013, 02:57:59 AM
But I do have to ask, are you sure you had a butt roast, and not a roast from a different area of the pig? If so that will produce some dry meat.
I was wondering the same thing. I primarily smoke butts for pulled pork and have never had a dry one. If anything they may get too moist or greasy if you do not trim enough fat off.
I just did a test on my thermometers. have a look at the post I did in general discussion. I wonder if this is the problem
Some butts just take a long time. 13 hours is not long for a butt.
I think that once you go past 160 degrees, you will have pretty much a dry pork roast until the temp gets past 190 or so and the meat is fit for pulling.
Good to see your here mate !!! 8)
These boys wont Bash you to much unless u forget pics ;)
I agree and disagree with some of the comments I always have water in the bowl and I use apple juice in it and spray the meat down ( not mop ) with a mixture of apple juice and cider vinegar .
I also roll smoked for the whole cooking time
at the end of the day its what works for you best
Try the way we chatted about on the phone and gimme a call in the morning !!
Hey Tim! lots of great info on this site and I appreciate your help.
Going to try again tonight starting at 11:00pm. I'm taking all of your advise and getting back on the saddle.
Going to see how moist I can get this Nun to fart :P
Well it's happening again
It's still cooking 10 1/2 hours
Just my luck the power went out last night. But I caught it fairly quick.
I started smoking at 11:30pm last night. I noticed the power was out at 2:30 but it was only off for a short time I refilled the water and noted that the IT temp was 112
At 9:00 am this morning the IT reads 149
I checked it with a 2nd theremometer and it reads 160
So now I'm scratching my head. I am going to still take your advise and just cook it till at least one theremometer reads 190 but is sure looking done to me
This is at 11:30pm just putting it on
(http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Funinbc_honky/84214797-33C3-4EFB-B36A-3DFDBC951719-4383-00000356C1F39CD4_zps501d23a3.jpg)
This is 9:00am this morning
(http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Funinbc_honky/CE9139CA-5DFF-42C0-ADBF-5D28389FB2F2-4383-00000356D005735A_zpsa1d900f3.jpg)
Here are the temp readings
(http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Funinbc_honky/1BAEE948-F4D2-4232-9968-A55A6A9A2A05-4383-00000356D806EC4C_zps736399f4.jpg)
(http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Funinbc_honky/A74B3418-4CEB-4157-B9AB-AF1031EEFD47-4383-00000356DF2B61CF_zps7f5341ec.jpg)
Ill keep you updated as I go
Be patient Grasshopper, the pork will be done when it's done, it's looking good but not cooked in a pulled pork sense. Let the stall play out with a full bowl of hot water and all should be well in Piglandia.
Now that you have opened the door and found out your thermometer is correct leave it alone and stay the heck out of the cabinet and leave the door alone pretend its on a time lock and wont open till 190 degrees. Then when it does double wrap in foil and wrap with a couple of old towels and stick it in a cooler for a couple hours to let everything get happy happy happy. Your lucky you have a netting around it so it wont completely fall apart when you unwrap it!
Well here we are at 3:30 and I just pulled it out of the smoker. That's 16 hours and I still didn't get a reading of 190
Yes I took it out before 190 but really 16 hours?????
I set the smoker at 220 but around 11:30 bumped it up to 260
The three reading when taken out were
184 176 183
Interesting enough the first two where accurate with the water test yet the first and third read close
It's now wrapped in FTC for a couple hours
(http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Funinbc_honky/2E1AEBE2-0D0B-47D9-B721-EB9FEC193FAA-4839-0000039AF9792B61_zps64ec86c9.jpg)
The vast majority of my butts take roughly 18 hours. Some around 16 and some up to 24. It will not hurt it to cook for a long time and in my opinion it usually turns out better.
Ive been lucky not to have mine take 18+ so far i guess, but I would definately consider just throwing em in earlier if it's taking a lot longer in yours.
Do you have an ambient temp probe for the inside of the smoker? I know this thing has issues of temp swings like crazy of what the display is telling you and what it actually is, again i think i got lucky with mine and it's usually pretty accurate to my setting not to the readout of the temp.
Like most have said, I'd halt on the bumping of the temp and let it do it's thing, it's all just trial and error really but every piece of meat has its own mind and will be done when it wants to be.
Also from the pics it appears you are oppening that door a lot, i open mine to spray it down every once in a while but once it gets around the 150 mark i don't touch the door. if the heat inside drops below the temp your meat is at it makes the stalls last a lot longer. and just to double check was the vent wide open? and did you refill the water bowl with boiling water?
Just my 2 cents, i'm fairly new to this as well, but have gotten all my info and most of my techniques from the smoker gods and goddesses here. hope it turns out, that ftc should bring the temp up a little bit too.
2 hours wrapped and we were ready to eat
But again it was too dry. Not as bad as the first one but some parts wouldn't pull and tough
Yes I had the vent open and water in the tray all the way through
I think for the next one ill cook at 260 all the way through. I'm wondering because I have a 6 rack I should turn the temp up more
Oh and the door was shut. I opened it I think three times quickly
ok, again just an assumption, that shouldn't have made much of difference. I also have the 6 rack and again just a lucky one i'm guessing but ive never gone above 220 on my pork and it's always come up to 190, I think out of the 8 butts i've done so far the most it's gone is about 16 tops, and none have been above 8#s. I do inject mine though with a mix of apple juice and jack danials the night before which helps with the moisture. I'll leave it to the more exp. at this point cuz i'm clueless as to what could be causing it.
I've had pork butts go 26 hours before. Patience is not one of your virtues.
If your pork turned out dry twice you need to find another source for pork or your cut of pork is not a pork butt. I don't know how else to help you but I do know this. You keep smoking your pork at 260+ and you might as well just roast it in your house oven.
Cut that Butt in half. I smoke my butts (around 4-5 lbs each) for only 10 hours, then FTC for 2 hours. Internal temp 195 before FTC.
If you want quicker cooking time, then smoke a smaller chunk of meat...
Quote from: smokeinBC on September 07, 2013, 03:31:03 PM
Yes I took it out before 190 but really 16 hours?????
I set the smoker at 220 but around 11:30 bumped it up to 260
Others have repeatedly offered suggestions on how to slow smoke it to turn out moist and tender. If you will eventually start following their advice those dry, tough butts should turn out better. You obviously are not doing that yet. Third time's a charm?
I generallly don't like photos and prefer to read, but in this case, the photo may actually help. The meat does not look like a shoulder cut, but one from the hind leg. It is still hard to tell, because the rub may make the meat appear darker then it is. To me that cut looks more like a butt end cut of the ham. If so, that may be the reason you are producing a dry product.
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on September 08, 2013, 01:35:31 AM
I generallly don't like photos and prefer to read, but in this case, the photo may actually help. The meat does not look like a shoulder cut, but one from the hind leg. It is still hard to tell, because the rub may make the meat appear darker then it is. To me that cut looks more like a butt end cut of the ham. If so, that may be the reason you are producing a dry product.
Bingo!
That hunk of pork looks more like a "Sirloin" roast to me
It is usually prepared by roasting at say 400 F for around 2 hr slow and low will produce a dry and tuff hunk of meat
I would try a different store that sells a true "pork butt"