Not reaching correct temperture on the BGE for Pulled Pork.

Mooseally

I'm looking for advise on cooking a pork shoulder on the BGE, l have cooked two already and have not been successful in both, it never reached the meat temp of 195F (for pulled pork) on them both it only reached the temp of 165F/169F, taking the first one off after 24hrs and the second one of after 18hrs. The first pork shoulder had the bone on it and was very moist, but for the second one l got the bone removed which turned out very dry and very disappointing. What am l doing wrong? Any advise would be very much appreciated.

Little Steven

What temp are you cooking at? how much lump are you putting in? Have you cleaned your ash out?

Mooseally

Hi Steve, Cooking temp at 225F, lumpwood piled up to rim of fire box and fire ring. Ash removed each time l use the BGE. I forgot to mention weight on pork shoulder was 6 lb.

DMW

Mooseally said:

Hi Steve, Cooking temp at 225F, lumpwood piled up to rim of fire box and fire ring. Ash removed each time l use the BGE. I forgot to mention weight on pork shoulder was 6 lb.

If 225* was your dome temp, its too low, bump to 250*.

Mooseally

Thank you for that info DMW, much appreciated!

henapple

6 lbs at 18 hours? Probably overdone. Have you calibrated all thermos?

Little Steven

Mooseally said:

Hi Steve, Cooking temp at 225F, lumpwood piled up to rim of fire box and fire ring. Ash removed each time l use the BGE. I forgot to mention weight on pork shoulder was 6 lb.

You don't need to clean ash every time. I'm overdoing it if I clean it in 15 cooks. That said  you should so it before a low and slow. 225 should be hot enough. If you have a thermapen, pull your dome thermo out and stick the thermapen in the hole. That should give you an accurate reading. Re-install the dome thermo and calibrate to what the thermapen read.

henapple

I cleaned mine out today

Little Steven

Mine are worse than that. Is it stable if you stack it?

Mooseally

henapple said:

6 lbs at 18 hours? Probably overdone. Have you calibrated all thermos?

Hi henapple Thanks for that, how long would you suggest l cook it for? I did calibrate the dome temp once before and mentioned this to the store owner l bought the BGE from and he told me l never have to calibrate it. So now l'm confused! I do have a Thermopen and l think l will use this for reading the dome temperture.

Mooseally

You don't need to clean ash every time. I'm overdoing it if I clean it in 15 cooks. That said  you should so it before a low and slow. 225 should be hot enough. If you have a thermapen, pull your dome thermo out and stick the thermapen in the hole. That should give you an accurate reading. Re-install the dome thermo and calibrate to what the thermapen read.

Little Steven said:

Mooseally said:

Hi Steve, Cooking temp at 225F, lumpwood piled up to rim of fire box and fire ring. Ash removed each time l use the BGE. I forgot to mention weight on pork shoulder was 6 lb.

You don't need to clean ash every time. I'm overdoing it if I clean it in 15 cooks. That said  you should so it before a low and slow. 225 should be hot enough. If you have a thermapen, pull your dome thermo out and stick the thermapen in the hole. That should give you an accurate reading. Re-install the dome thermo and calibrate to what the thermapen read.

Steve, That is great info, yes l do have a Thermapen and will do that. Thanks!

henapple

You will need to calibrate it...I do every now and then. I'm not sure why he told you that. I'd check it. Usually, even at 225 a butt is around 2 hrs per lb. Do you have a maverick?

Little Steven

Checkin' it ain't the same as calibratin' it. All this crap got started when BGE was using a cheap adz thermo. I haven't had to touch a Tel Tru

SkinnyV

You have to wait, I did a few that I had to chop but when they hit the 195 ...they pull and are so much better.
Get your temp squared away and you will be fine.

Mooseally

henapple said:

You will need to calibrate it...I do every now and then. I'm not sure why he told you that. I'd check it. Usually, even at 225 a butt is around 2 hrs per lb. Do you have a maverick?

No l don't have a Maverick!

Mooseally

Little Steven said:

Checkin' it ain't the same as calibratin' it. All this crap got started when BGE was using a cheap adz thermo. I haven't had to touch a Tel Tru

Are the Tel Tru's already calibrated, l am going to look for one of these on Ebay!

Little Steven

I assumed you already had one. BGE switched to them around 6 years ago. It should have the Tel-Tru logo on the face unless your egg is older.

Mooseally

Little Steven said:

I assumed you already had one. BGE switched to them around 6 years ago. It should have the Tel-Tru logo on the face unless your egg is older.

Great, l just noticed l have the Tel Tru thermo, have a question though, does the dial(arm) look correct to you and would l be correct is saying after calibration the dial should be at 50?

DMW

It won't be at 50*C unless its a very hot day or there is still fire in the egg. Boil some water on the stove at put the thermo probe in the boiling water. It should read 100*C. If it doesn't use the nut on the back to adjust.

Skiddymarker

No question if you have a 6 pound piece of meat with a 250º dome temp, it will be over 200º IT within 8 hours maximum. I'd think the issue is temp not being correct. My Tel-tru was off after the first cook, but has been rock solid since. 

Make sure the probe is clean and that it is not touching the meat. 

50ºC (122ºF) is much more than a hot day - it is downright life threatening, at least to us Canucks.  

pretzelb

This sounds like the exact same issue I had with my brisket. My dome is about 30 higher than my grate. So I was cooking at 190 or 200. I bought a Thermaworks dual probe that measures grate and meat. Now I know when I'm cooking at 250 by the grate temp. Working good so far.

My advice would be save up and buy a pit controller some day. I regret the thermometer I bought. It works great and solves the problem but for more money I could also let the controller do the work.

Mooseally

DMW said:

It won't be at 50*C unless its a very hot day or there is still fire in the egg. Boil some water on the stove at put the thermo probe in the boiling water. It should read 100*C. If it doesn't use the nut on the back to adjust.

Thanks DMW for that, I had to smile re hot day, been from Ireland we don't get many hot days.

Mooseally

Skiddymarker said:

No question if you have a 6 pound piece of meat with a 250º dome temp, it will be over 200º IT within 8 hours maximum. I'd think the issue is temp not being correct. My Tel-tru was off after the first cook, but has been rock solid since. 

Make sure the probe is clean and that it is not touching the meat. 

50ºC (122ºF) is much more than a hot day - it is downright life threatening, at least to us Canucks.  

Thanks Skiddymarker for the info, it all helps with me solving my problem!

Mooseally

pretzelb said:

This sounds like the exact same issue I had with my brisket. My dome is about 30 higher than my grate. So I was cooking at 190 or 200. I bought a Thermaworks dual probe that measures grate and meat. Now I know when I'm cooking at 250 by the grate temp. Working good so far. My advice would be save up and buy a pit controller some day. I regret the thermometer I bought. It works great and solves the problem but for more money I could also let the controller do the work.

This will be my fourth time calibrating the Tel Tru dome thermo, and l use the Polder probe thermo for the meat. I would consider in the future investing in the pit controller. This will be my fourth time calibrating the Tel Tru dome thermo, and l use the Polder probe thermo for the meat. I would consider in the future investing in the pit controller, though alot more expensive here in Ireland!!

retiredcg

You want the temperature of the PIT at the meat level to be 225.  I use a STOKER and set the pit probe on the grill.  Load up the lump charcoal, set it for 225 and leave it.  I have cooked many pork shoulders and they always come out excellent.  The stoker is worth the investment.  I have cooked 3 shoulders at one time in my large BGE and found that each one cooks a little differently.  Depends on the fat content. 

SmokinTiger81

I have had to calibrate all 3 of my tru tel thermometers.

Mooseally

After reading all your comments with some suggestions of investing in a Stoker or a CyberQ wifi, I would be very interested in purchasing one of these, but after doing some research online, l discovered there are no dealers here in Ireland/England, l could purchase from America but the power adapter would be different to here. Any suggestions how to get around this would be very much appreciated!

DMW

If your concern is the difference between dome and grid temp, just assume 25* lower at grid. If you want a temp controller, most all of the "wall warts" that ship with these things will accept 110v or 220v AC as input. All you need is cheap travel "prong" adapters. Confirm the input voltage range of the power supplies from respective manufacturers before ordering but I think all you would need would be a cheap prong adapter.

You could also opt for the BBQ Guru PartyQ, which operates off AA cell batteries.

cortguitarman

Your dealer doesn't know what he is talking about. The Tel True thermometers are good but need tweaking now and again.

GeorgeS

After hearing you guys talk so much about how far out the Tel True can be I checked mine before doing my Boston Butts this weekend and it was off by 40 degree's! Glad I checked before my low and slow.

TheShaytoon

Mooseally said:

After reading all your comments with some suggestions of investing in a Stoker or a CyberQ wifi, I would be very interested in purchasing one of these, but after doing some research online, l discovered there are no dealers here in Ireland/England, l could purchase from America but the power adapter would be different to here. Any suggestions how to get around this would be very much appreciated!

It's 12V and I think 2amp power requirement.  You should be able to find a power adapter to bring down to that level.  That is for the CyberQ that I use.