Grid temperature 65 degrees below dome temp?

Pacuare

I have a pork butt I put on the egg at 9:45 pm last night. When I went to bed at 1 am the grid temp was holding steady around 225 and dome temperature had been running 25-50 degrees above grid temperature. When I just checked on it a little bit ago the dome temperature was reading around 150 but the grid temperature was still at 215. I opened up the daisy wheel because I was concerned that maybe my fire was going out and the grid temperature started climbing immediately. The dome temperature has started climbing a little bit too. It is 43 degrees out right now and that is what the temperature was last night when I lit the egg. Any ideas what is going on? Also, I might be running a little short on time. I need to feed people at 11:30 this morning. The internal temperature of the butt is 160. At what point should I wrap the butt in foil?

Pacuare

An hour later now the grid temp is 248 and the dome temp is up to 260.  Whatever the issue was earlier, if there was one, has been resolved.  I am still curious if anyone has an idea what was going on before.  The internal temperature of the butt is at 163.  I am thinking about wrapping it in foil soon if I am not out of stall soon.

Buckdodger

I have had the stall last two or more hours....I wouldn't pull and wrap until at least 195* int.

Pacuare

I was thinking of wrapping it to power through the stall and pull it off at 195-200 degrees. I am worried about running short on time. Internal temp is 169 right now and I need to pull the butt off the egg no later than 11:15 am.

Buckdodger

Have seen some threads on doing a "turbo butt" by ramping up the temp at the dome to 350. Won't hurt the butt at this point.

Pacuare

I had debated switching over to turbo- foil and ramping up dome temp to 350. After you mentioned seeing threads about it I went back through and read some more threads on it. I just wrapped the butt and opened up the DW and bottom vent. Thanks for the input.

Crispix49

The difference between the grid temp and dome temp is much more dramatic right after you put the meat on; after a few hours (and not opening the dome) they should merge a little closer together.  Even then the dome maybe 20* + or - above the grid.  Enjoy!

Pacuare

One hour and twenty minutes after wrapping the butt and increasing dome temp to 350, I pulled the butt off the egg with the lowest internal temp of 198 and several places it was higher. The Thermapen slid in and out very easily. It looks good. Now it will wait for the birthday party guests to arrive. My oldest is four today and happily agreed to having pulled pork for her birthday party.

Buckdodger

Sounds good....enjoy the day and take plenty of pics. (Time flies)

DMurf

Congratulations! Have a great day and celebration.

lousubcap

@Pacuare-good call on cranking up the temp and foiling to get to the finish line.  Now, about your initial temp difference this AM-I suspect your fire was on the way out (dome thermo) but you had a hot heat deflector (platesetter or other rig) which kept the grid temp higher.  Not there so only a guess but "all's well that ends well".  Congrats on the B'day party and enjoy the butt.

Skiddymarker

Good job on your first Texas Crutch......Enjoy the day and the eats!

Pacuare

@lousubcap - that is a good thought. If that was the case I caught it at a lucky time. The pulled pork was a huge hit at the party. Everyone kept saying they couldn't believe how good the pork was and ate a lot of it. I won't hesitate to wrap in foil again at that point when pressed for time. Best of all my daughter had a fabulous day and really enjoyed herself.

gerhardk

Were was the probe?  If it is too close to the meat or touching it you won't have realistic readings.  Glad it worked out for you

Gerhard