So I smoke meat all the damn time but this is only my second time to do pulled pork.

My first time came out great. Bought a small one (3-4 lbs) and used a digital thermometer and on average it took about 2 hrs per pound at 250 degrees.....got it to 195 before I took it off. Hit the stall in the 160s and hung there for a bit. Went as expected.

Now.....

Got one that's close to 9 lbs. put it on at 1 am. Here we are at nearly 5 hours later and it's at 176. I use the Weber igrill thermometer so I have a graph of the temp for the whole time it's been on, and it's climbed steadily the whole time....no evidence of hitting a stall.

I moved the probe once already thinking maybe I had it in fat or against the bone and that only dropped the temp by a few degrees at 5:30 am.

Last, I'm doing this on the medium green egg. I have the oxygen chocked off so much if I move the grate any farther I'm going to kill 100% of the oxygen to the fire, and the temp is at 300 degrees.

I've had this issue from time to time when cooking large meats on this small of a smoker and not being able to keep it around 250-275.....but even still at 300 there's no way (at least I wouldn't think) a nearly 9 lb pork butt would be this high only after ~5 hours.

This sucker ain't supposed to be done until about 6 pm. Any suggestions or thoughts?

I usually smoke at 275 for 4 hrs then wrap tightly in foil for the remainder of the cook. Keep a temp probe in it and pull at 198 to 205. Waiting to bust through the stall unwrapped, in my opinion, serves no purpose. Won't take on any additional smoke at this point. You'll cut 4 hrs off your total time by wrapping.

Are you saying when you wrap it, it cooks faster? I don't want it to cook any faster it's already jumped up there quite a bit in a short time. I'm worried it's gonna cook too fast. It hasn't even hit a stall seems like it's pushing right past it.

I have butcher paper that I wrap when I do a brisket. Seems to work pretty good. If you're suggesting wrapping it will make it cook slower then I'm all for it but sounds like it's the opposite.

Agree though only after so many hours it's not getting any more smoke to the meat.

It's almost impossible to screw up a pork butt...

(I've cooked one for almost 24hr @225F on my kamado that was delicious).

My pork butts generally take 6-8 hrs at 250. I usually do a 6-7 lb butt. I've never done a 9 pounder but 1am to 6pm seems like waay too long.

Might be.

I was going by what I had read that they take about 2hrs per pound at 250 and the first one I did (was small) did just that at 2 hrs per.

So I just did the math....8.7 lbs x 2hrs per lb = ~17.5 hrs

But again, this one is cooking at a little higher temp, but doesn't look like it'll stall. Bout to go downstairs and check to see.

Yup.....no stall. At 185 after ~5.5 hours.

Sorry, read it as taking too long. No, wrapping would definitely not slow it down.

Agree with the above.

I usually do a 7+ pound one, 250-275 degrees temp and it's usually 1 to 1.25 hrs per pound. Don't think you needed to start at 1am.

And if you are making pulled pork out of it, take it a little higher to 200ish like a brisket and it will pull better.

I know you said you can't pull the grate back anymore without cutting off all oxygen, but I'd find a way to do something to knock the temp back. You need to be 50 degrees less than what you are now. Get your temp down to prolong the cook.

Only other sugggestion I have is to start warming up a cooler to hold it/let it rest. Dump some hot water in it several times or I even use a small electric space heater with the lid cracked and heat that sucker up, then line with towels and foil when you pull the butt as it finishes and don't open the lid until you have to. That will buy you several hours too.

Edit: try a different thermometer and measure the internal temp like a handleheld one if you have another. probes can definitely break so you could be getting a false reading.

No problem. I figured as much but still wanted to check. I'm assuming we're all operating on low sleep right now.

Do you have an ambient probe being used on your temp sensor as well? Could be the actual temp is significantly higher than 300. I can't believe 300 would blow past the stall like that, especially a butt that big!

Ya I'm thinking that's what I'm gonna have to do.

I think part of the reason why I can't get the temp down is my egg is on the smaller side. The medium is only at 14 inch diameter cooking grate. I figure get a large piece of meat putting off a bunch of heat in a small space jacks with the temp of the whole grill and gets it took longer.

These ceramic cookers are almost TOO GOOD at keeping in heat in this case (open the lid for about 10-25 seconds then close....drops to about 260....then a minute later back to 300 )

Any idea though why the first one I did was right at 2 hours per? Did I just strike lighting in a bottle on that one cause the general consensus it seems it that it shouldn't take that long.

I go to 203. But if you have a few hours of smoke in it, you can always put it in the oven. I never wrap mine, btw, or go the oven unless it starts to rain. It also sounds like you are opening the lid a lot. "If you're looking, you ain't cooking". If you are done before you need it, pull it around 198 and reheat an hour before. Nobody will know the difference. Just serve more beer and bbq sauce.

I don't but I can pull the probe to check real quick.

I hope to Christ it isn't higher than 300 but I see your point. But if that's the case I just got to pull it and throw it in an oven cause I can't choke it back any more

NAH only to move the probe a few times. I keep the lid shut all the time when I smoke.

Hell I only open the hood twice when cooking burgers.

I have cooked 1000s of pounds of meat. At cook offs, home , catering, etc and have never had 10 cook any cut past 10-11 hrs to get it done. What does happen though, is that each piece stalls at different temp and for different amounts of time. It doesn't surprise me that your meat may have passed a stall at 160 only to stall at 185. It also wouldn't surprise me if it stayed at 185 for several hours, where another piece might only stay for 30m. My point is that there are no hard and fast rules other than cook between 225-250. A 9# butt today might take 8hrs and tomorrow a 6# butt may take 10. That's why I love to smoke, you just never know. My guidelines are; forget about it until cold piece of meat hits 160-170, once it does check periodically for color (don't care about stall), when reaches desired color wrap it up until 200ish degrees, remove and rest on countertop for 2 hrs, do not put in cooler. Anything other than that is up to the fire, the meat, and God.

I would double check all your temperature equipment and get an ambient probe for your igrill or a stand-alone grate thermometer.

Grate temp where you are cooking is frequently 40+ degrees hotter than dome or door temp. My two thermometers that I made sure were calibrated right said 250, but for some reason I was cooking 14 pound briskets in 7 or 8 hours in my pit. Got an ambient probe for the igrill and it showed that deeper inside my pit I was really at 310+ instead of 250 like I thought.

As to why your first one took longer? Like the guy above said, every piece of meat is different so you might have just hit a weird one. Most of the time a pork butt isn't going to take 2+ hours a pound unless you are smoking way down at ~200 or something.

Finish it, double wrap it in heavy duty foil and stick it in a cooler full of towels. It's a little on the longer side for this but I bet it will still be close to too hot to handle when you take it out to shred it this evening.

Oh it's up to God now alright.

This sucker is done. Got it wrapped and tucked away with my probe still in it. If the temp drops a bunch I'll throw her in the oven but for now it's wrapped in butcher paper < foil < blanket < warming pack for food < small cooler.

I've never had a problem this bad with grill temp. Normally with a green egg you can set your watch to the darn thing. The only thing I can think of is with starting the fire early this morning combined with it being colder outside, got a little aggressive with the oxygen vent to crank it up to 250 faster, which built up the fire larger than ideal so when it hit 250 it was still creeping up.

Whelp. This has been a gas

Thanks for the insight and tips y'all. Next time will definitely go back to doing a small one to play around and might just keep to those for a grill this size.

SATX, why not a cooler/cambro to rest?

OP needs to take the done one, start pulling it, whip up some eggs and make pulled pork breakfast tacos. Then go to the store, get another butt to get it on about 10:00 am for that one to be done for dinner. Then around lunch use the rest of the first one for sammiches. I fail to see the problem.

Now that's thinking with your multiplication table Mathguy!

Damn fine idea. Only problem is I had to leave the house an hour ago and not planning on getting back until later.

We'll see what temp it's at later

For me it is several reasons.
1) really no need. A brisket, turkey, pork shoulder or butt will stay above food service temp for hours if you don't cut it. Letting it rest a good amount of time will help retain juices. Keeping it near cooking temp in a cooler will actually work to dry it out.
2. Coolers keep super hot. IMO you can way over cook your product by letting it stay so hot for so long.
3. I have never placed in a BBQ cook-off when the meat has rested in a cooler. (I know, super anecdotal but it is true for me)
4. Most importantly, that is not how I was taught to BBQ by the old Germans that I learned from years ago. I was taught over direct heat using coals, never an offset style machine, and they never rested meat of any kind in a cooler prior to service.

Not saying it's right or wrong, just how I do it. I will say that the best BBQ in the state comes from the area around giddings and central Texas. that's how all the old guys do it.

Well, how'd it turn out? Better than the game I hope?

Next time you try to cook a 9 pounder, you'll put it on at 9 or 10 am and it won't be ready until midnight.

EMY92 said:

---

Next time you try to cook a 9 pounder, you'll put it on at 9 or 10 am and it won't be ready until midnight.

---

No, with a pork butt, you just raise the temp on the pit. Way more forgiving than a brisket with higher temps.

Glad it worked out. Most of the advice above is dead on, and I will only add this...

Thermo probes are prone to go out at the worst times. I check mine every few cooks in boiling water before I start. If I have a long stall or it does not seem right I'll check it with my old standby analong.