Pulled pork temp question

[Water101]

I seem to be having a problem with my smoker. I've had it running at 250° for over 2 hours now with nothing in it but 2 foil wrapped bricks and it wont go above 221°. It reads 221° then 219°, then 221° and then 219° within a few seconds. I have couple of butts ready to go in. I was thinking I would smoke then at 219° since that is as high as it will go. Then leave them in over night at that temp then move to a 225° oven in the morning when I get up. Will that be Ok, thinking the temp may drop down to closer to 180° or 190° once the butts go in. The weight of the 2 butts is about 16 lbs to maybe 18 lbs. Will this be Ok, my thoughts is it should work would just take way to long at the lower temp or will is cause an issue if it sits in a 190 degree smoker for 10 hours.

Thanks
Water

[Water101]

Turned the temp up to 320° with vent fully closed and it started to raise quickly up to about 240° in a few minutes. Put the butts in and opened the vent half way and dropped temp to 250°. Temp is now 200° which seems not bad with the amount of meat that just went into it. Will check the temp in about 10 minutes or so to see what it is at.

[Water101]

27 minutes in and the temp is up to 207° which I can live with it if stays at that.

[Wildcat]

I try to average a cabinet temp of 205F when I smoke butts. Most on here go for the 220 to 225 range. I personally get better consistent results at the lower temp. If you maintain the lower temp, once the meat temp reaches about 170 you can start doing the fork test. With the lower cooking temp I am generally able to stop the cook at a lower temp.

[Water101]

Thanks wildcat. I usually go to 203. Gonna have to try the fork test, guessing that with 2 8 lbs butts in there it might take about 20 hours or so. Still in time for dinner tomorrow

[Water101]

About an hour now and the temp is at 210° when set for 250° but I will keep it set at 210° and see how it goes. I like the low and slow, if I need to speed it up tomorrow afternoon I can put it in the oven done that in the past and it is much faster.

[TedEbear]

In the past I always cooked mine at a chamber temp of 225.  On my last butt, I experimented with a setting of 210 and check it with the fork twisty test when the IT reached 190.  It was quite tender at that point and very moist.  I think from now on I'm going to smoke them at a 210 chamber temp instead of the higher setting.

[Water101]

The temp held at 207 when set at 210 over night. 13 hours in the butts are at 160 so it's looking good for a early evening finish and a great dinner. I think the issue was with the seal on the top of the door not fully sealing. A firm push and it has been great.

[watchdog56]

I would open your vents all the way,sound weird but it works.  With the vent even half closed it keeps the moisture in which lowers the temp. Also you may get black droplets on your meat which is called black rain and it has a bitter taste to it. You will get a major stall around 165 which might last up to 4 hours but it will eventually rise in temp again. I pull my butts out at 195 and foil them for up to 3 hours wrapped in a towel and in a cooler. They come out excelent.

[Wildcat]

I highly recommend the fork test for doneness. When cooking at 225 then a meat temp of around 190 - 200 is great, but if cooking at 205 a meat temp that high can actually be a little on the mushy side.

[Dano]

I usually pre-heat to 260F then load the smoker and let the temp drop to 220F. I try to keep it around 220F until it's done. I found it takes about 2.5 hrs / lb.   Watch out for the plateau at 160F. It can stick around there for a few hours. The larger the pork butt/shoulder the more variance. You may be looking at roughly 3 hrs / lb but honestly, don't worry about the time. Just monitor temp. :)

Good luck!

[Water101]

The 210° cooking temp worked like a charm. Moister then any PP I have done in the past. Now to wait a few hours while it FTC's and then on to a great dinner.

[Dano]

Awesome!   :)

[Water101]

Gave me some great meat candy from the bottom of the racks to add into the final product if I don't eat it all first.

[Water101]

The two butts yielded 12 lbs of some of the best PP yet. Bear paws made the pull very quick and easy. 210° is now my go to temp

Thanks
Water