Greetings, first time poster, long time reader...
There's some information on here and other forums about smoking meats at altitude but some of it is a little inconclusive. I live south of Denver at an elevation of 6,800 feet, and water boils at 190 for me. I'm new to smoking, and as I learn more I'll try to share what specifics I discover in case it's of benefit to others.
Last weekend, smoked a pork shoulder for the first time. I'm using a Masterbuilt Electric (yeah, yeah, yeah... Hey, I'll be the first to admit it - I'm lazy :) ). The cut was 3.5 lbs on the nose (it was a 7.5 lb that I cut roughly in half as it was only three of us sharing it).
Started out at 225, smoked with a mix of hickory. Stopped the smoke at about 140.
Internal temp got to the high 150's and stalled f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Not unexpected. Spent many hours in the high 150's to the low 160's. I eventually turned the temp up to 275 for the last hour or so, and pulled the shoulder off at about 192. I wanted to get to 200, but what can I say, we were hungry. :)
At 192 it was right on the edge of fork-pullable. I was able to pull it with a couple forks, but it wasn't the easiest thing in the world - not "falling apart" - but it was delicious and everyone enjoyed it, not dried out at all. Smoke amount was perfect, not overpowering, glad I stopped it at 140.
All told, the 3.5 lb shoulder was on for 7h45m to get to 192. The "hour for every 1.5lb" rule DOES NOT apply, that's for sure - not unexpected. I think next time rather than going longer, I will turn the heat up to 240 - since generally baking requires a little higher heat at our altitude, I'm guessing the same will be true here.
I'm thinking that I will probably do baby backs this weekend, 2-2-1 won't cut it, so not quite sure what I'll do there (any suggestions for time and temp for baby backs at this altitude?)
There's some information on here and other forums about smoking meats at altitude but some of it is a little inconclusive. I live south of Denver at an elevation of 6,800 feet, and water boils at 190 for me. I'm new to smoking, and as I learn more I'll try to share what specifics I discover in case it's of benefit to others.
Last weekend, smoked a pork shoulder for the first time. I'm using a Masterbuilt Electric (yeah, yeah, yeah... Hey, I'll be the first to admit it - I'm lazy :) ). The cut was 3.5 lbs on the nose (it was a 7.5 lb that I cut roughly in half as it was only three of us sharing it).
Started out at 225, smoked with a mix of hickory. Stopped the smoke at about 140.
Internal temp got to the high 150's and stalled f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Not unexpected. Spent many hours in the high 150's to the low 160's. I eventually turned the temp up to 275 for the last hour or so, and pulled the shoulder off at about 192. I wanted to get to 200, but what can I say, we were hungry. :)
At 192 it was right on the edge of fork-pullable. I was able to pull it with a couple forks, but it wasn't the easiest thing in the world - not "falling apart" - but it was delicious and everyone enjoyed it, not dried out at all. Smoke amount was perfect, not overpowering, glad I stopped it at 140.
All told, the 3.5 lb shoulder was on for 7h45m to get to 192. The "hour for every 1.5lb" rule DOES NOT apply, that's for sure - not unexpected. I think next time rather than going longer, I will turn the heat up to 240 - since generally baking requires a little higher heat at our altitude, I'm guessing the same will be true here.
I'm thinking that I will probably do baby backs this weekend, 2-2-1 won't cut it, so not quite sure what I'll do there (any suggestions for time and temp for baby backs at this altitude?)
