Permanant stalling issues

[zeaken]

I have been smoking various pork and beef product in the smoker for a season now and although I have been happy with the end results I have run into an odd issue which has been a source of frustration I have to overcome every time which is perpetual stalling

I use an electric smoker and what happens is I get meat just above the 160 mark and it stops, forever. This occurs when I have the smoker set from 200-235. It will never recover from said stalls without intervention and I even let one smoke run a full 24 hours to test it.

I am unsure what is causing this to happen to me, I am not sure if its the smoker not running as high as it says it is or if I am doing something wrong, Most of my smokes are with weather around 75 degrees but some as low as 32. nothing in that range seemed to have drastic impact on smoking times where I hear super hot weather can slow down a smoke. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[SmokinAl]

If your going by the factory setting on the smoker it could be off by as much as 50 degrees.

So you may be smoking at 150-185, instead of 200-235.

Get a good therm that you can put on the grate to measure the real temp of your smoker.

Also would you swing by Roll Call & introduce yourself, so we can all welcome you to SMF.

Al

 

[hb99]

I think I can say with great confidence that we've all been there.

I tried an experiment on my last 2 pork butt smokes.  Instead of waiting to get to 160 before foiling I foiled mine at 147 (both times).

The first time was a 5# boneless.  It didn't stall at all.  After foiling the temps just kept climbing and never stopped.

Many times before it would just sit there as the apple juice went from cold to warm to hot.  This time I heated 1/4 C of AJ and added it to the boat. 

The 2nd one was just under 8#.  Same thing...Texas Crutch (2 pieces of foil) at 147F, honey drizzled on the foil, brown sugar on top of the honey, meat, wrapped all but 1 end, added 1/4 C heated AJ, sealed and back on smoker...no stall.

It worked for me.  Give it a try.  You have nothing to lose.

 

[gearjammer]

Yeah, what Al said.

You need a good thermometer with dual probes.

I'll bet that's where your problem is.

  Ed

 

[SmokyMose]

Maybe you should try cooking at a little higher temp?

 

[stickyfingers]

I agree. Better thermometer and a higher temp.