New Smoker - Please Help

[MNCook]

Hi.  I am new to the smoking world.  I got a Bradley 4 Rack  Original Smoker for Xmas and decided to smoke something for the game tonight.  I have a Pork Butt and a Rack of Pork Spare Ribs.  I am cooking the Hickory Pulled Pork from Bradleys site.   

In the recepie it says to cook the pork @ 220-250 for 8 hrs or until the internal temp reaches 160.  Its been in for 3 hours, temp is at 150 already and climbing fast.  Any thoughts on what I should do to slow it down?  Is it ok to turn the heat down, when I did for a bit, the temp on the smoker dropped below 200. 

I thought I had timed it right on to have it done by game time, but that rate it is going, it will be 3 hrs early.  Thoughts?

Please help the rookie!

[Saber 4]

First move your probe around and make sure it's not in a fat pocket or near the bone both of which can give higher readings than the meat around them. At around 150-160 you will hit a point where your meat will "stall" this is normal and when the good stuff occurs, I also don't think your going to have a very pullable butt at 160, you can do the fork test by sticking a fork in the butt and see if it twists easy or not at that point but I suspect you will need to get closer to 185-195 for a good pulled pork. At 160 it will be cooked fully for slicing. If you do hit the IT you want and like the texture early you can do the FTC Method by wrapping in a couple of layers of foil then wrap in towels and put it in the cooler until you need it, some will put apple juice or adult beverage in the foil at this time.

Others with much more experience than I should be along with their advice as well, pick what works best for the results you are looking for.

[ragweed]

Saber's got you covered.  Welcome to the forum from Nebraska.

[TedEbear]

I thought I had timed it right on to have it done by game time, but that rate it is going, it will be 3 hrs early.  Thoughts?

I don't know why Bradley would post that a pulled pork is ready at 160 degrees IT.  That's just when it starts into the stall period and is the most important stage of getting it tender.  It will stay there for hours but don't rush it through by turning up the chamber temp.  If you're cooking at 225-250 degrees it won't be anywhere near ready when the IT reaches 160 degrees.

On the FTC posted above, I've wrapped butts for up to 4 hours and they were still steaming hot when I unwrapped them and pulled.  I don't think you'll have any worries about it getting done too early but more likely too late.

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