Pulled Pork - FINALLY finished!!!

Hillbilly-Hightech

Howdy,

So this is the original post regarding my 1st attempt @ Pulled Pork:

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1139417/pulled-pork-what-type-of-rub#Item_9

Well, now it's done... and WHEW - what a day!!!  :-w

Cleaned & prepped the Egg last night, as well as rubbed the shoulder down & stuck it in the fridge so that I could just light it & stabilize it this morning.  After Egg stabilized, added some last minute rub to the already pre-rubbed shoulder... Got the Shoulder on @ around 9-ish... Only had to do some minor tweaking to the vents on a few occasions throughout the day - but for the most part, the Egg held her own & kept a stable temp ALL frakkin' day!! 

So, here's the details: 

Dome Temp = 275 (fluctuated between 275-300)
Meat Internal Temp = 195-200
Rub = 70:30 - Bone Suckin' Sauce Rub + DP Jamaican Firewalk
Method = Indirect w/ drip pan
Smoke = Cherry (~3-4 chunks)
Meat Size = ~6# boneless shoulder (one half of a "2-pack" from Costco)
Time to Cook = 11 HOURS!!!
Taste = Great pork / smoke taste, but a tad dry!!  :(

The only thing that was a surprise was that it actually hit TWO stalls (the first was between 155-165, which I expected as THE ONLY stall)... then, unEGGspectedly, there was another "mini" stall at 190 (and this one really sucked cuz my GF had already put french fries in the oven cuz I told her that it should be at about 200 in about 1/2 hr, which didn't happen - going from 190 to 200 took another hour & a half!!)... :((

By this time, we were all very hungry, and it was getting to be close to 8:00 in the evening, so I just opened up the vents wider (Egg got up to about 350) & powered through the second stall.  But, it did make me curious as to WHY that happened though - Anyone ever have TWO stalls happen? 

Also, this was the first "low & slow" where I've basically got NO gasket (had somewhat of a gasket b4, but I did a high temp burnout a couple weeks ago & fried any remaining remnants of gasket).  Anyway, I noticed smoke coming out of the gap, so I'm wondering if maybe the extra air dried out the pork, as well as made it have a 2nd stall???? 

Or is cooking to 200 actually OVERcooking it?  Did sitting at 190 for an hour & a half dry it out?  Did bumping the Egg up to 350 to power through the 2nd stall cause it to dry out? 

What's the preferred pull temp???

Anyway, as I said, it tasted good, wasn't "too" dry, just drier than what I'd hoped for... but thanks to everyone who helped w/ their advice!!!

MikeP624

I am actually thinking of doing my first shoulder this weekned.  So i would be interested in hearing the responses.  I did have two additional questions.

How big of a shoulder should i start with to feed 8 people?  How much of the initial weight is lost?  I was thinking of a starting weight of atleast 8lbs.

Also is there in draw back of doing (2) 5lbs instead of one 8 to 10lbs shoulder.  I am thinking that the two smaller shoulders would be best to help reduce the estimated cooking time from 20hrs to 12hrs.

Thanks for the help.

stike

bigger means more moisture left.

to take it to an extreme, you could cook 8 one-pounders, but they would be drier than one 8 pounder

Hillbilly-Hightech

P.S.  Because it was getting late, I pulled it as soon as I took it off the Egg, rather than letting it rest. 

Is that normal to do, or would that have caused it to be dry as well? 

HELP ME GUYS!! hehehe... I have 2 issues, which I told my GF you guys could solve:

1. why was there 2 stalls?
2. why was it dry?

TIA,

Rob

Little Steven

HH,

I have no idea why there would be two plateaus. Never had pork shoulder dry out either and I buy mine completely trimmed. Sorry

Squeezy

I'd have taken it off at 190 ... close enough!

 

Hillbilly-Hightech

I'd have taken it off at 190 ... close enough!

 

ok, that's one of the things I wanted to know - wasn't sure if it would "pull" properly @ that temp - but now I know (could've saved a lot of time & grief last night had I just listened to my GF's son when he suggested I pull it "early" & I said that I needed to wait till 200)...

Hillbilly-Hightech

HH,

I have no idea why there would be two plateaus. Never had pork shoulder dry out either and I buy mine completely trimmed. Sorry

No prob - just tryin to figure this out & have a "lessons learned" so as to NOT make the same mistake again...

There's the other half of that 2-pack, and if (when) I decide to try it again, wanna make that one PERFECT - as it is right now, the GF is still on the fence about pulled pork on the Egg - she feels she did a better job by doing hers on the Crock Pot (which, because of how it turned out last night, I can't say I disagree w/ her @ this point)

lousubcap

I have experienced the two stall pork shoulder cook a few times...but usually around 180*F-I plan on 2 hours/# at a dome temp of 250*F (+/-) so your cook time was right in line with that.  For future reference, search "turbo butts" and you will find methods to cook at higher temps and much shorter times.  Every hunk of pig is different...

Hillbilly-Hightech

I have experienced the two stall pork shoulder cook a few times...but usually around 180*F-I plan on 2 hours/# at a dome temp of 250*F (+/-) so your cook time was right in line with that.  For future reference, search "turbo butts" and you will find methods to cook at higher temps and much shorter times.  Every hunk of pig is different...

Thanks for the verification that I'm not the ONLY one to have experienced a 2nd stall.  It was weird, and frustrating!!

Hillbilly-Hightech

What caused this supposed second stall are:

1) the lower temperature differential means the butt heated up more slowly. Think asymptotic.
2) A watched butt never finishes.

The 2nd stall took 1 1/2 hrs to move 10 degrees.  This even AFTER I opened up the vents (about 1/2 hr into the stall) from 275 to 350. 

I thought that the "first" stall was supposed to be the "only" stall, and was totally unprepared for the 2nd one (both in terms of time allotted to finishing the cook, as well as timing of the sides). 

In short - the 2nd stall really caught me off guard & screwed me...

Rob123

I am pretty sure you were supposed to take it off at 190 and let it sit so it was cool enough to pull and serve.It is safe to eat at 190.

Rob123

My question is this,after starting your fire and reaching 600 or 700 degrees,how the hell are we supposed to get the cook temp down to 215 or 225 for pork butt.I had both top and bottom vents barely open and the lowest temp I could get was 280 300.If the vents are closed to go lower wont the fire go out?

Chubbs

Just buy bone-in and pull it when the bone slides out without struggle. Usually around 195 for me

Mighty_Quinn

My question is this,after starting your fire and reaching 600 or 700 degrees,how the hell are we supposed to get the cook temp down to 215 or 225 for pork butt.I had both top and bottom vents barely open and the lowest temp I could get was 280 300.If the vents are closed to go lower wont the fire go out?

Don't overshoot your temp....catch it on the way up. I start closing the vents when I'm 50 or so degrees off target temp.