A bad experience / too many shoulders / bbq guru

david71171 · June 2016

I have had success preparing a pork shoulder. I was asked to prepare three 8.5 pound shoulders for my niece's open house. The meat covered 95% of the grill surface. I figured I would do an overnight cook like I have before with one shoulder. I also tried my new bbqguru blower for the first time. The temp readings from the guru probes were about 40 degrees higher than the readings from my dual temperature probe and the dome thermometer. I tried to adjust my target temp on the guru to get the grill to be around 250. After fighting for a couple of hours, I thought it was regulated and went to bed. 4 hours later, the alarm on my dual temp probe went off and the temperature was dropping below 200 and still dropping. I decided to take cook apart and check the fire. Somehow the center of my charcoal pile had burned up completely during that time frame. ( I had laid all new, large bricks in a pyramid). I then added my fuel and lit the fire again. I put the meat back on and pulled the guru off relying on my vents as I have always done. I went back to bed and a 3 hours later, the meat sensor told me that the meat was at temp. It seemed to cook faster than I expected.

Looking for tips / feedback on the different issues to learn from my mistakes. The meat was still very good, but I was tending the fire way too much and feel like I may have wasted $300 on the guru blower.

GATraveller · June 2016

I have a BBQ Guru and have never experienced this. That said.....the only thing I can think of is a lack of fuel. Did you fill the fire box full to the top of the fire ring?
As far as the temp difference - I always go by the Guru - not dome.

Ozzie_Isaac · June 2016

Measure temp at grate surface for guru. Dome will run higher until everything is heat soaked. Can take hours.

Also make sure your dome thermometer did not stab into a shoulder.

david71171 · June 2016

To clarify the temp difference. I have always used the wireless dual probes and hooked them up this time as well. So the probe from the wireless system was consistent with the dome while the 3rd reading from the guru was higher than the other two sources.

Wardster · June 2016

Sounds like one of them is off. Boil some water and see what they read

fishlessman · June 2016

ive had this happen with big cooks, i dont have a guru. i have been fooled by false readings, kept opening vents for more heat, opened and watched a thousand degree fire form below while my grate and dome temps were under 200. there is no good place to sit a probe in an egg full of cold meat. your guru was also fooled by this. ive learned to just stabilize the temps, put the meat on and just believe everything is alright for several hours till the meat temps come up and im getting better more trustworthy readings

Foghorn · June 2016

When you load a lot of meat into the egg it is common to have wide variability in temperature around the cooking chamber. The most common in my experience is when the dome temp remains fairly low because it is sitting directly above and near 20+ pounds of cold meat. If you adjust the egg to get the dome temp to 250 or 275 just after putting the meat on, you will burn the bottom of the meat. This can also happen if your grate thermometer is in the center of the grate between two big pieces of cold meat - while the hot air is rising on the outside around the silhouette of the platesetter.

dldawes1 · June 2016

I've been cooking a lot of multi-butt cooks. I always stabilize temp before putting meat on....then trusting my egg capability to stabilize, and my Maverick and Dome readings.

I agree with many comments above, especially fishlessman and Foghorn .

gerhardk · June 2016

I don't have an electronic crutch but I found if I stabilize the temperature before adding the plate setter, the grill and the meat it works great. It will take an hour or even more for the temperature to come back but it always has come back to the stabilized temperature. Trying to micro manage the temperature seems to end in frustration every time.

Gerhard

dfrelich · June 2016

I've successfully cooked 5 shoulders w less than 7 lbs average per shoulder many times. Recent one was at 8lbs each totaling 40lbs (IMHO that's pushing it). I set 3 on the lower tier and 2 on the top tier. That's in my large egg.

Prior to cook, I keep my shoulders in large 5 gallons food grade with the rub already rubbed in. Leave it on counter for several hours. This way all shoulders are almost equal temp.

Not too long ago, I started to set my controller at 205 degree with the pit probe hanging in from the daisy. Just a couple inches down. Once the meat hits 180 or more, I adjust temp to 225 to finish the cook.

For this reason, I found that one or two shoulders will play catch up with temp at around 170-180. I rather have all shoulders finish approximately same time.

Yes, it takes more time to cook but I rather start my cook around 7 - 8:00 p.m. in the evening and finish the cook around 2 - 3 p.m. the next day. This is better than starting around 11 p.m. to 12 midnight for 2 - 3 p.m. finish time.

FYI -- I've noticed cooking anything more than 240 or more degree with several shoulders. You get mild fat dripping smoke flavor rather than wood smoked on these shoulders. (although I have drip pan underneath)

westernbbq · June 2016

yep i concur with the experienced crew here. Alligator clip the guru probe at grate level

One thing i always do is stabilize the temp for about an hour before any meat goes on. In fact, when i have an ealy morning cook, say meat needs to be done at 4 pm amd it goes on at 4 am, i light the fire around 10 pm. Plenty of fuel for a 12 hr cook at 210 to 250

Also when ramping up, set guru temp 15-20 degrees UNDER target temp as it is always easier to raise temp versus lower it. Lastly, watch daisy wheel settings. If you have them closed off your fire will go out. If too open, temp will go too high

Jameson19 · June 2016

I also light my egg and let the heat soak in for an hour before turning on the guru and/or putting the meat in. This by far, for me, produces the best food and the guru isn't climbing that hill all night.

SkinnyV · June 2016

Operator error, happens. Try again and dial it in. My $300 guru works like a champ.... But yes we all have some lumps before getting things down.

SmokeyPitt · June 2016

I have read about this before referred to as a "straight down" burn where only the middle burns. I don't think the guru is necessarily the culprit. Some thoughts:
-Make sure the air holes in the fire box are not clogged, and you don't have a build up of ash around the firebox blocking air flow.

-Perhaps you stacked the lump too carefully with big pieces. I think it is good to put some big pieces at the bottom for airflow, but I think you could take it too far and you end up with large gaps in the lump.

caliking · June 2016

Re: the "core burn" I have had this happen before with low and slow cooks. I now light 3 spots at the periphery of the lump pile, with a weedburner. The problem has not recurred since I started doing this. If I'm grilling at higher temps for a shorter period, lighting one spot in the middle works well.

Smoked a 14lb ham overnight this past weekend, and went off without a hitch.

Another thing to consider also is that a large amount of meat like that likely "sweats" a lot of drippings, and can kill the fire. I usually use a drip pan (with an air gap underneath), especially when cooking large amounts of meat.

Carolina Q · June 2016

I always light the lump in 3-4 places, regardless of cook temp. Never had a fire go out or vertical burn.

I clip the Guru pit probe to the dome thermo probe. I don't care what the grid temp is.

Don't bother to "arrange" your lump. Just stir whatever's in there from the last cook, dump more out of the bag and light. Fill to near the top of the fire ring for a lo n slo.

Smoking an 8 lb butt right now. My Guru has been on since 11:30 last night, 12 hrs so far. No problems. I have a Maverick remote, but haven't used it in years. Slept all night and checked on it about 7 when I woke up. I've been out a couple of times this morning... 250°, right where I set it, meat temp plodding along. 170-ish now. Perfect, as usual.

I've never cooked as much meat as you're cooking at once. Maybe it makes a difference, but I would think clipping the pit probe to the dome thermo would cause the Guru to behave better. For me, I don't care what the grid temp is, but I want the dome at 250°. And it always is.

A bad experience / too many shoulders / bbq guru

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X-Large & Large
Frederick County, MD

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A bad experience / too many shoulders / bbq guru

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X-Large & LargeFrederick County, MD

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X-Large & Large
Frederick County, MD