My pork doesn't get pullable

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smqua

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2011
11
10
Cleveland, Ohio
I am having a cooks block.  I have a vertical propane smoker and have been smoking many things for several years.  I have had great luck with everything from chicken wings to turkeys to briskets but seem to fail at pulled pork.  I have tried hotter than 225, cooler than 225, cooking it longer, wrapping it in foil for part of the time and even saucing it often trying to bring in more moisture.

Thoughts?
 
First of all welcome to SMF! You should head over to the roll call section & introduce yourself so we can all give you an SMF welcome!

It sounds like your not cooking it long enough. PP needs to be cooked to 205 internal meat temp. If you cook it to that it will fall apart.
 
It isn't the temp of the cooking chamber that is the problem,  It is the internal temperature of the butt.    Cook the butt on your smoker until it hits around 180,  foil it with some moisture and take it to 205 or so.  Remove from the smoker close up the foil and put in an ice chest wrapped in towels for a couple of hours.   The temperatures I recommend are debatable but the procedure is pretty fail proof.

Welcome to the forum,  hope this helps
 
First - please stop by our roll call and introduce yourself so we can give you a proper welcome. 

What temp are you cooking the pork to? Most of us here cook it to 190 for slicing and to 205 for pulling.  
 
It is a combination of Heat and Time...Apply heat above 200*F to keep the meat between 160* and 180* for enough time for the connective tissue Collagen to dissolve almost completely, and the meat will fall apart...It has to, there is very little left to hold it together...JJ
 
I'll re-pete what the experts already said:

cook to internal temp of 175-180, wrap in 2 layers of heavy duty foil, and continue cooking until internal temp is 205. Then wrap the butt (still in the foil) in a couple old towels, and put it in a cooler for 1 hour.

At that point you wont need to pull it, it will fall apart in your hands!
 
Thank you to all!  I have to admit that I don't know what the internal temp has been when I have taken it off...  Now; if the snow would just melt around my smoker, I can give it a whirl.  I'm off to the roll call section.
 
Have the wife get out there and shoveled it for ya . what's left the heat from the smoker will melt it.
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Get a good remote thermometer and take it to at least 200. If it's bone in, then you can wait for the bone to pull back and come out clean, then it's ready for pullin, (after a rest)
 
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It sure sounds to me that you are in real need of a couple of didutial thermo probes units. One for the chamber and one for the meat. Now after you gett off of Roll Call I bet you could really learn alot of things from the E-course it's free and very informative. 
 
Thank you to all!  I have to admit that I don't know what the internal temp has been when I have taken it off...  Now; if the snow would just melt around my smoker, I can give it a whirl.  I'm off to the roll call section.


If you don't have a meat thermometer I would highly suggest getting one most everything should be cooked to an internal temperature and not by time with a few exceptions. Even the same cuts of meat just don't cook at the same pace.

If you are smoking bone in butts and don't have a thermometer smoke them until you can wiggle the bone freely and it feels like it will slip right out
 
What temp are you cooking the pork to? Most of us here cook it to 190 for slicing and to 205 for pulling.  
It sounds like your not cooking it long enough. PP needs to be cooked to 205 internal meat temp. If you cook it to that it will fall apart.
It isn't the temp of the cooking chamber that is the problem,  It is the internal temperature of the butt.    Cook the butt on your smoker until it hits around 180,  foil it with some moisture and take it to 205 or so.  Remove from the smoker close up the foil and put in an ice chest wrapped in towels for a couple of hours.   The temperatures I recommend are debatable but the procedure is pretty fail proof.

Welcome to the forum,  hope this helps
yeahthat.gif
 Is all good advice.


Have the wife get out there and shoveled it for ya . what's left the heat from the smoker will melt it.
biggrin.gif
 I think the heat from the wife will melt it before the smoker will. I know if I asked my wife to go shovel snow 
wife.gif


Get a good remote thermometer and take it to at least 200. If it's bone in, then you can wait for the bone to pull back and come out clean, then it's ready for pullin, (after a rest)
 
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