Thermometer and Temp Question

BigRich · April 19, 2013, 04:53:48 PM

I'm doing a butt tonight

Rubbed with Jans

And into the smoker at 220 for 4 hours of hickory

Butt, I may be having issues with my thermometer

It seemed too hard to put in, even though I tried several times. The temp after 1 hr is 167. It's a bone in shoulder.
Does that seem right?

I had a Walmart special thermometer that ruined a butt once. This was given to me as a present. I saw Maverick and thought great. But now I'm not so sure and also unsure of this particular model. Because I've already gotten burned once on a butt, I'm a little gun shy.

Keymaster · April 19, 2013, 05:14:32 PM

loks like a good start. Try poking that probe in another spot of the meat, 167 after an hour cant be right :)

ddtdustin · April 19, 2013, 05:26:41 PM

Big
The last BB I did I had two BB in a OBS w/ dual elements and PID, One 9lb 4oz and the other 7lb 14oz and a cook temp of 225F. I show an internal temperature of 175F at 7hrs on the 9lb BB. My BB started at internal temperature 37F. I did not reach 195F until 13.5 hrs (no crutch). And I could definitely tell it was fork tender. With one BB you will cook a little faster but at a minimum 1hr/per lb. I might pull the probe out and check at room temp to make sure it is correct. I think I have also read somewhere that the meat will loosen around the bone. You also want to make sure the your probe is not on the bone. Hope this helps.
DDT

BigRich · April 19, 2013, 06:39:19 PM

I'm at 165. What do you think?

ddtdustin · April 19, 2013, 07:19:18 PM

How much did the BB weight?

BigRich · April 20, 2013, 04:57:39 AM

It's a 9.6 picnic. I didn't know what that was till a friend told me last night. It said pork shoulder on it. I didn't realize there was more than one kind. So what does that mean for me?

Using a different probe, one that went to 212 in boiling water, I'm getting 165 this morning. But, it's the same probe that ruined my butt last time.

BigRich · April 20, 2013, 06:07:18 AM

Sorry for the multiple posts. I'm just adding things up as I go along.

Definitely the issue I'm having today, and the issue I had before when I thought I had a bad probe, was because of this picnic cut of meat.

Desperate not to cook it dry and gross like I did last time, I've probed it with two probes in many areas.

I've noticed most of the areas are really soft, almost like I'm going into fat. But, there is another area that is really hard, on top near the fat cap.

It seems as though its not cooking anywhere near evenly. The soft portions read 182, the tuffer portions read 165 and the tuffest portion reads 170. That's almost a 20 degree swing.

I searched the forum and found that Habs likes to take it out at 170 whereas some others let it go all the way to 200.

When should I pull this thing out for the FTC?

KyNola · April 20, 2013, 06:56:12 AM

Rich, a picnic cut can be a little more difficult to "pull" properly as you are learning by the soft vs the hard sections. The soft sections being at 182 makes sense. That portion is ready to pull. The harder sections most likely would not pull like you are looking for. This is my idea of what I would do. I would monitor the softer sections and when they get to 190-195, remove the butt and go to FTC. The softer sections should pull just fine. The harder sections may require chopping but that's OK. You're still going to have smokey porky goodness.

Don't sweat it. You've got this.

BigRich · April 20, 2013, 07:00:33 AM

Thanks!

BigRich · April 20, 2013, 08:50:04 AM

Coming along nicely

I only have one small area at 190. In thinking of pulling it because I'm going to FTC it for 5 hours anyway.

BigRich · April 20, 2013, 04:23:44 PM

Turned out good. 120 after 7 hr FTC ain't bad either. Dinner time!

KyNola · April 20, 2013, 06:29:05 PM

How did the pulled pork turn out?

BigRich · April 21, 2013, 04:33:27 AM

It was good and moist and pulled without an issue. Of course it's definitely different from a butt though. The tuff portion stayed tuff so I just pulled it off and wrapped it in foil for later. I wasn't impressed with the bark and it wasn't nearly as smokey as the butts I've done either. But compared to the first picnic I did, this one was really good.

Boston butts for me from here on out. Thanks for helping me get through this one!

KyNola · April 21, 2013, 07:20:54 AM

My pleasure.

mow_delon · April 21, 2013, 03:41:15 PM

I do bone in shoulders all the time and have never had the trouble that you describe here. Did you actually try to probe the bone? That is the only thing I can think of that would be that much harder than the good soft meat.