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My pulled pork Misadventure...

highpress
highpress Posts: 694
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
Well, this weekend was supposed to be pulled pork. I had a 10# picnic. I posted earlier i was also going to be making beans, abt's, and some left over rib trimmings from a rack of spare ribs.

I started the pork on Saturday, 10.30 pm. I had cleaned the egg completely out, loaded some cowboy lump to to the top of the firebox, lit it, and got her going at 250* for about a 20mins to half hour before i put the meat on. Had my new maveric set up, everything was going perfect. After i put the meat on, dome temp dropped to 230*. I did not touch the vents. Although the maverick was reading a higher temp at the grid then my dome thermometer, which i didn't understand. It was reading 269 and the dome was 230*?

Whatever i said. Close enough. Let it go pretty much the whole night like that.


DSCN1386.jpg



So i get up the morning, the ET-73 is reading 230*, but the egg is reading about 100*. Check the charcoal, sure enough it was low. Needs more fuel. Crap. I thought i had enough by filling it to the top of the firebox? So ok, take the meat off, grid, platesetter, blah blah blah. Dump in enough charcoal this time to got to the top of the FIRERING. I don't know why i did, the meat was at 150 or so. Allthough i didn't want to risk going out of charcoal. Anyways, tried to get the temps back up and the egg got to like 400*. Closed the vents back down, let it settle at 250* dome, put all the food back on, et-73, etc. Now the maverick is reading 355* gride, the dome is 230*, and i put an over thermometer at grid level and it's reading 275*. So now i'm really confused. The meat temp is reading 145*. I checked the maverick again in a glass of water compared to a thermapen. only 2 or 3 degrees difference. .. So this has been my pulled pork misadventure. Sorry for the rant. Oh, and the couple that was coming over for all this wonderful food, cancelled. :angry::angry::angry:

here's the food now:

DSCN1387.jpg
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Comments

  • rsmdale
    rsmdale Posts: 2,472
    Sometimes things just happen,keep trying and it will get better.I have used Cowboy,and did not like theway it burned for lo-and -slo's.

    GOOD EATS AND GOOD FRIENDS

    DALE
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  • Tripmaker
    Tripmaker Posts: 124
    I've had that happen too. The Maverick reading higher than the dome with the platesetter and drip pan in place. Don't understand how that can be but I tend to trust the dome thermometer and go with that. I try to keep the temp between 225 and 275 and the pork tends to do fine. By the looks of it your pork should be good after it gets to 200 or so if it is not there already.
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  • highpress
    highpress Posts: 694
    Yeah, i thought for sure i had enough charcoal in there for this cook. I guess next time i should just fill it to the top of the firering and be done with it. Do you "stack" your charcoal for long cooks? I just dumped the bag in there to be honest. You think that would have made a difference?
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  • highpress
    highpress Posts: 694
    I think you're exactly right. Like i've said, i did check the maverick with a thermapen so i know it's pretty close. I've also checked my dome thermometer as well. It's just weird how it seams like my temps are all over the place. :S But damn the food does smell good. Will let you know how it turns out.
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  • rsmdale
    rsmdale Posts: 2,472
    I do stack the lump,I don't cook w/guru,so I want to make sure my fire is still going in the morning.


    GOOD EATS AND GOOD FRIENDS

    DALE
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  • Tripmaker
    Tripmaker Posts: 124
    Yeah. I clean the egg and stack the lump to the top of the fire ring. I don't really know if stacking makes a difference but the advice I got on here says to do it so I follow the advice of those that came before me. I've thought about just dumping it in but don't want to risk having a bad cook.
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    highpress,

    Shouldn't be too hard to find replacement guests with egged PP.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • Rascal
    Rascal Posts: 3,923
    The preferred method seems to be... large lump on the bottom, graduated on the way up with little chips last (on top). A number of years ago I decided to try using Cowboy lump in a Weber kettle. I lit a good amount and had a nice fire going when I went inside to prep the meat and fix a cocktail. When I came out a short time later there was only remnants of what must have been a blaze of nuclear proportions! Lesson was, only use it for short cooks in a conventional grill. I've used the same stuff in the EGG with satisfactory results. BTW, how was the butt? Were you able to enjoy it? Looked OK from here...
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  • highpress
    highpress Posts: 694
    BTW, how was the butt? Were you able to enjoy it? Looked OK from here...

    Well it's still not done. I got the egg back to temps, it's back on now with the rib trimmings. It's at 160 now. Not sure how much longer it'll take, thinking maybe i might bump dome temp to 275 allthough the maverick is reading 350...
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  • highpress
    highpress Posts: 694
    You wouldn't think so. But as of right now it looks like it's just be wifey and me. Looks like i'll have more in the freezer than expected. :unsure:
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    That isn't a bad thing. Every time I do it the family takes vacuum bags with them and I never have any for abts

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • reelgem
    reelgem Posts: 4,256
    I thought I was the only one that had things like this happen. I feel bad for you. I've learned to just forget about it and chalk it up to a lesson learned. Even though it's easier said than done.
    BTW - the pork is great for so many other dishes. I usually make an extra one just for freezing.
    Your friends are the ones that are missing out. :)
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    highpress, could it be your pit probe is picking up heat from between the platesetter and the firepit? Do you have your pit probe crossing where the platesetter leg is? If not I am wondering if you are picking up some extra heat. Tim

    Also, I still have a bag of cowboy in my garage I will use it sometime but, when I don't know.

    I use Greenwise from Publix Food Stores and as it turns out I is the same lump as BGE. I found out it goes another name Royal Oak. Me like Greenwise.
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  • civil eggineer
    civil eggineer Posts: 1,547
    2Fategghead has an excellent point. If your grill probe is close to the heat "wash" you could see much higher temperatures. There are only small channels for the hot air to flow from below the placesetter to the upper dome. The temp of that air will be higher then the dome temp.
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  • highpress
    highpress Posts: 694
    highpress, could it be your pit probe is picking up heat from between the platesetter and the firepit? Do you have your pit probe crossing where the platesetter leg is? If not I am wondering if you are picking up some extra heat. Tim

    I'm not sure what the problem was... I even moved the probe around and was still getting high temp readings. I finished the cook at 250* dome, allthough the grid was reading like 350. Weird.

    As far as i know, i do not have a Publix near me. I live in MD. I was having trouble finding lump charcoal in general, found some Cowboy at lowes so i stocked up. Pretty cheap, i think it was $6 for a 8.2# bag? Not sure if the BGE lump is worth the $26 or so for a 20# bag... Who knows. maybe it is.
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    highpress, I know from exprience you havt to watch how you run the Maverick probes. The reason is that I burned both of them op in one cook because they got to hot. I called Maverick and they replaced both pit and food probe.

    Maverick Industries, Inc.
    94 Mayfield Avenue
    Edison, New Jersey 08837.
    Tel: (732) 417-9666
    Fax: (732) 417-9673
    help@maverickhousewares.com

    http://www.fredsmusicandbbq.com/category_s/138.htm
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