# HELP My pork butt won't come to temp.



## bryantom

I am extremely new to smoking and having trouble with a pork butt,  I was trying to make pulled pork, seasoned it yesterday stuck it in the fridge, got up this morning and had it on the smoker by 730, here it is 630 at night and the internal temp is only 170, it is a 5lb butt and i was smoking it at 225,  what did i do wrong?  i am using a Masterbuilt Electric smokehouse.  Thanks for the input.


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## les3176

First thing are you SURE that your thremos are accurate???

Did you get to 140 in 4 hours? for saftey?

Was your smoker up to temp when you added the meat?

Sounds like a awfully long time for a 5 pound butt


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## bryantom

Yes the smoker was up to temp before i started, to be honest with you I'm not sure what the temp was at the 4hr mark, and yes used two different therm on the meat and both were the same,  moved the meat to the oven at 630 set the oven to 250 and its still only at 170 any ideas?


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## bryantom

Yes the smoker was up to temp before i started, to be honest with you I'm not sure what the temp was at the 4hr mark, and yes used two different therm on the meat and both were the same,  moved the meat to the oven at 630 set the oven to 250 and its still only at 170 any ideas?


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## rbranstner

Were you opening the smoker at all causing the smoke to lose heat? You used two thermometers on the meat but do you have a tested thermometer in the smoker? If you are going by the stock thermometer that comes with the smoker most times they are off and you could be at totally different temps than you think.


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## pineywoods

Stab it with a big fork, wrap it in foil with a little apple juice or coke and put it back into the oven at 250


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## les3176

try wrapping it with foil then put it back in the oven.....How long has it been in the oven? something is amiss here if its still only at 170


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## TulsaJeff

I had an 8 lb pork butt take 20 hours last week.. first time it's ever taken that long and I have cooked way too many pork butts to even count. When smoking meat, it is not uncommon to be thrown a curve ball and you just have to run with it sometimes and other times you just have to change something to get it done.

Doing the foil wrap with apple juice at 250 or even 275 will definitely speed things up.

I just happened to have the time to wait the other day and I chose to maintain my low temperature (225 degrees) and let it just take as long as it needed but if dinner is waiting then you may have to turn things up a bit so as to not keep folks waiting.  In my experience, folks get really grouchy when they are hungry and the food is late especially if it's family members


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## mikeh

I would check your MES temps with a stand alone thermo because I just bought a MES 40 a week ago and the digital controller temp reading and the actual temp my thermo reads is alot different.  I put in a pork butt at 5 am this morning and my MES was struggling..........  The controller was reading 275, but I was barely getting to 225 on my thermo.  So, I would check to see what your unit is actually heating up too.  You might be like me and have a huge difference...  good luck

Mike


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## les3176

How's it coming along?? Any progress??


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## SmokinAl

Is it done yet?


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## mole177

my first pulled pork took 17 hrs to cook alone...

it was rough, staying up over a day.


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## fpnmf




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## paris401

we did a 9lb shoulder last weekend... I marinated it the day b4 with a coating of French's mustard, then a dry rub of brown sugar ,salt,pepper, paprika , onion n garlic powder, then in the fridge overnite.. preheated my masterbuilt elect smoker to 225, and smoked it for 10hrs, 190d... (8hrs uncovered, 2hrs wrapped in alum foil), starting at the 4hrs, basked it every 60mins with apple cider and apple juice...let it sit in a cooler for 1hr... it did not shred, instead had to use a knife to cut it...  and it had little bark

not having much luck with getting pork to shred lately... the previous time, we got the temp only up to 185 and had to take it out of the smoker (people were hungry)... let it sit for 30mins... did not pull and was on the dry side... how much drier would it have been if I left it in the smoker another 1-2hrs to reach 190/195... I think real dry..

I have also tried injecting the butt with a combo of applejuice and apple cider... don't think it added any flavor, and didn't make it any more moist... 

maybe it the elect smoker??? maybe should get a off-set smoker???

as to the temp, I know its spot on as using the internal probe, as well as a handy-dandy hand one..

any ideas??


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## boog22

paris401 said:


> we did a 9lb shoulder last weekend... I marinated it the day b4 with a coating of French's mustard, then a dry rub of brown sugar ,salt,pepper, paprika , onion n garlic powder, then in the fridge overnite.. preheated my masterbuilt elect smoker to 225, and smoked it for 10hrs, 190d... (8hrs uncovered, 2hrs wrapped in alum foil), starting at the 4hrs, basked it every 60mins with apple cider and apple juice...let it sit in a cooler for 1hr... it did not shred, instead had to use a knife to cut it...  and it had little bark
> 
> not having much luck with getting pork to shred lately... the previous time, we got the temp only up to 185 and had to take it out of the smoker (people were hungry)... let it sit for 30mins... did not pull and was on the dry side... how much drier would it have been if I left it in the smoker another 1-2hrs to reach 190/195... I think real dry..
> 
> I have also tried injecting the butt with a combo of applejuice and apple cider... don't think it added any flavor, and didn't make it any more moist...
> 
> maybe it the elect smoker??? maybe should get a off-set smoker???
> 
> as to the temp, I know its spot on as using the internal probe, as well as a handy-dandy hand one..
> 
> any ideas??


I give my self 16 hours of a window when doing a butt. Had a 6 lb on take 15 hours before. Its better to be done well before you plan on eating since it will stay hot wrapped in foil wrapped in old towels inside a cooler for a few hours.

The meat would not of got drier if you left it on longer. You need to reach 200-205 so the fat renders down making the meat moist. Best way to know is if the bone pulls right out.


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## paris401

boog 22... thanks... I plan on another butt next weekend... this time i'll make sure its up to 200+ b4 taking it out of the smoker, and let u know outcome...thanks


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## oldschoolbbq

I've only one suggestion for you . . .Patience ! ! !


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## sauced

Pineywoods said:


> Stab it with a big fork, wrap it in foil with a little apple juice or coke and put it back into the oven at 250


This will work, I always use this method. Smoke for 3 to 4 hours, off and wrapped then into 250 degree oven, mop every hour!!


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## GaryHibbert

Yep.  You need to let that butt reach 205 deg and it will be moist, juicy, and easy to pull.

Gary


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## paris401

GaryHibbert said:


> Yep.  You need to let that butt reach 205 deg and it will be moist, juicy, and easy to pull.
> 
> Gary


many thanks guys... one other question is  will the shoulder develop a better coat of bark by leaving it in to 200-205??? last weeks shoulder lacked it


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## GaryHibbert

paris401 said:


> many thanks guys... one other question is  will the shoulder develop a better coat of bark by leaving it in to 200-205??? last weeks shoulder lacked it


Hey paris.  I hate to tell you this, but I use a MES 30, and like just about ALL MES' it never gets good bark.  On the bright side, bark looks great but doesn't really add to the flavor.

Gary


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## chef jimmyj

GaryHibbert said:


> Hey paris.  I hate to tell you this, but I use a MES 30, and like just about ALL MES' it never gets good bark.  On the bright side, bark looks great but doesn't really add to the flavor.
> 
> Gary


There may be a little mix-up here... An MES will never give a Smoke Ring and Smoke Rings don't contribute a whole lot to flavor, but Bark is another story.

I have been smoking Butts in my MES40 at 225 for 4 years and get Great Bark. I don't foil and let them go to 205°F, planning on 2 hours per pound. The bark does soften if the meat is done early and I have to wrap in foil and go in the cooler. The Pork is the main flavor once the butt is pulled and all is mixed together, but ALL the Spice and Smoke flavor comes from the Bark. My Finishing Sauces add additional spices and enhance the meat flavor. If the Bark added no flavor, we wouldn't taste the smoke or the Rub and we might as well just roast Butts in the oven naked.

My Daughter, Ski302, just smoked a Butt last weekend in my older MES40 I gave her. She got a late start, called from PA and asked what to do. I had her cut the Butt into Fist sized chunks and smoke at 250°F. The Pork was done in 5 hours and she reported awesome Bark. She said it was the best she ever had and was going to do all her Pork Butts in this manner because of the extra Bark and flavor...JJ


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## Bones816

Wow, old thread but I'm having the same issue!  This my first pork shoulder.  I'm using a Traeger.  It's a 4 pound butt and has been on for 8 hours at 225*.  Still only has an IT of 167*.  People coming over in an hour.


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## Bones816

I mean, everything I read said 2 hours per pound.  Dang.


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## Bones816

I know I'm new but hoped for a response.  Anyway, I read about "the stall" yesterday and wrapped it in foil and the temp came up fairly quickly after that.  Which section of the forum is most likely to receive attention?  Which is most used?  Thanks for your responses.


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## sauced

Bones816 said:


> Wow, old thread but I'm having the same issue!  This my first pork shoulder.  I'm using a Traeger.  It's a 4 pound butt and has been on for 8 hours at 225*.  Still only has an IT of 167*.  People coming over in an hour.



Raise the temp of your smoker....I run my smoker around 280, food cooks much quicker and no difference. If you have to, put it in the oven, wrapped at a temp of 300 - 325.


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## joseph gulino

it will defintely bark up at 205... stop opening your smoker
trust the meat and watch the heat


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## Bones816

I did not open my smoker.  I have a Traeger and it has probes that go in the meat and back to a digital readout of the IT.  I had read it would take 1 1/2 - 2 hours per pound and invited some people over at he 9-10 hour mark but the meat was still sitting at 167* after 9 hours.


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## llbaker2

I smoke a 5 lb butt the other day. Would not go past 190 degrees. Smoked it for 14 hrs, thats almost 3 hrs/pound. Cranked it up to 280 or so for last couple hours or so but would not go over 190.  Not my first roast. Never had one stall at the end like that. My roast have always been nice and moist. Outer 1/2 inch was dry and tough like it was overcooked.  Roast pulled OK but not great. Was using a Yoder offset stick burner. Have never found it necessary to wrap a butt and have always had good results but think I should have wrapped this one because of stall at the end. It sat at 190 for 2+ hrs even with chamber temps near 300 for last couple hours and internal temp didnt change more than a degree or two. End result was an OK roast except for the outer 1/2-3/4 inch which was dry and overcooked.


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