Pulled pork not pulling

Try water in the pan. I don't think you could hit 350 if you tried.
Also, you did not mention resting the meat. It is essential for the connective tissues to soften up. At least an hour after it comes off the smoker tightly wrapped in foil and placed in a warm oven or a cooler packed with towels.

One other thing, is the thermometer you are checking with accurate?

I don't think the fluctuating temperature has anything to do with it. Likely you're pulling it too early... I 100% rely on the "probe test" for tenderness, but sometimes I get a "false positive" if I probe a thin piece of the butt. I will probe it in 4 or 5 places, and at different angles, to ensure that it's fully tender all throughout the whole butt. If it's not tender in all of the areas I put it back in the cooker.

What is your process after you pull it off the smoker? Are you letting it rest at all, or are you pulling it immediately? A water pan isn't going to make the meat more tender it just helps speed up the cook by having a humid environment. Water does not make meat juicy...rendered fat makes meat juicy.

westcoastmanz said:

I have never used water in the pan, does this method really work!?

I let it rest for about 15-20 minutes but the girls were getting drunk and hangry had to feed em!:laugh::laugh:

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Weber put that water pan in there for a reason. I did not claim that it makes the meat jucier, but it does make regulating temp easier.
A 15 minute rest is no rest at all.

I'm with the others that say you did not cook it tender. Holding it in a cooler for a couple of hours minimum really helps too. Not all of a pork butt will shred all of the time. Some muscles tender up sooner, and actually better than other muscles do. And there are a lot of muscle groups in a pork butt. I like to initially break down butts into larger pieces and let the pork tell me what sizes that will be. Sliced pork is actually quite good so when you get to part of the butt that won't pull, set it aside for slicing.... otherwise it will look like spaghetti and be dry. Here is a cross section of a butt.

Just throwing it out there but make sure you’re using a true butt, which is the upper portion of the picnic. The picnic and ham will be dryer and harder to pull. Only mentioning this because when I first started I did not know this lol!

Otherwise I agree a good long rest helps the meat relax and settle.

rovster said:

Just throwing it out there but make sure you’re using a true butt, which is the upper portion of the picnic. The picnic and ham will be dryer and harder to pull. Only mentioning this because when I first started I did not know this lol!

Otherwise I agree a good long rest helps the meat relax and settle.

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I made the mistake of letting wife get one cause I was out of town. However I cooked it 9 hrs and let it rest 1hr and it pulled like butter. Then made carnitas with it for lunch today. It was my 1st pulled pork.

thirdeye said:

I'm with the others that say you did not cook it tender. Holding it in a cooler for a couple of hours minimum really helps too. Not all of a pork butt will shred all of the time. Some muscles tender up sooner, and actually better than other muscles do. And there are a lot of muscle groups in a pork butt. I like to initially break down butts into larger pieces and let the pork tell me what sizes that will be. Sliced pork is actually quite good so when you get to part of the butt that won't pull, set it aside for slicing.... otherwise it will look like spaghetti and be dry. Here is a cross section of a butt.

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I think you left out the pic, Wayne...

I am with thirdeye. I have had some of the meat pull easy and other parts feel like they needed to cook longer. You probably could have used more time. Maybe probe tender needs to be a little softer? Not sure.

Moose said:

I think you left out the pic, Wayne...

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Oops, you're right



westcoastmanz, the muscle groups around the blade bone, and on the other end labeled Coppa and money muscle are the favorites for flavor and texture. the center muscle group labeled 'loin', is paler in color and is the last to tender up. As you're probing, use the bone as reference and work yourself across the butt.

+1 for undercooked.

When it hits temp at the center of the meat, always poke the meat with the temp probe in several places to see if it is done before removing from the smoker.

The temp swing shouldn’t be the problem. I lived with 50°f temp swings back when I used $35 brinkman water smokers and the food always came out fine.

How are you getting such big swings on a WSM? If you get it set right it should sit on temp for hours. Water in the pan does help to stabilize the temps but you’d have to add water sevreal times during a cook that long.

My read is that you cooked too fast/hot. Eight hours is an awfully short time for a whole Boston butt (assuming that is indeed what you were cooking). It was underdone, despite the high finish temp.

I cook butts in a WSM 22.5 without water in the water pan. Water is just an unnecessary mess, plus it increases fuel consumption. Pit temp fluctuates a little, but not too bad. I aim for 250 F and can usually keep it between 240 and 260, with maybe one or two very brief runs outside that range.

Also, even though it's heresy around these parts, I mostly base my determination of doneness on the internal temp of the meat. I never could get the hang of the probe tender feel, although I do check the bone wiggle and whether the muscle groups are starting to come apart when I try to lift the butt. If the temp says it's done but the bone doesn't wiggle and the butt doesn't act like it wants to fall apart, I'll re-position the thermometer to make sure I'm not in an air pocket or something.

An 8 to 10 lb butt cooked at 250 is done when the IT hits 200 F, which usually takes 12 - 13 hours. Occasionally I'll run into one that falls up to an hour outside that time range.

I find that a lengthy rest is not necessary, but if the butt finishes early, holding it in a cooler for a couple of hours doesn't hurt anything. Otherwise, a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes on the counter is all it needs. That gives it time to cool enough that the meat can be handled and doesn't dry out too much as I'm pulling and chopping.

There are a million different ways to skin the cat, but by following this method, my butts always turn out moist, tender, and flavorful.

I disagree with too fast, too hot. I cook all my butts at 300F+. I do agree that it probably wasn't cooked long enough for the temps it was cooked at. One fact that people overlook is when cooking at higher temps, the final "done" temp will be higher than it would be if it was cooked at 225F. It is possible that a pork butt may not be "done" till it hits 210-215F internal when cooking at higher temps. This why people suggest the bone wiggle test or probe tender test to tell when the meat is done. I also agree that a large hunk of meat like a butt will benefit from an extended rest/hold. I like to rest mine a minimum of 2 hours, but prefer 4 hours before pulling. 15-30 minutes rest is not enough time for the magic to happen.

Even if you cook 2 butts at the same time, they will often times be "done" at different internal temps since every animal is different (they don't all cook up exactly the same). I would suggest ignoring internal temp except as a guideline to start checking for bone wiggle/probe tender. And plan in a few extra hours for the extended rest/hold. If it is done early, there is no harm in letting it sleep for a very long time. I've held for over 6 hours before with excellent results.

El Ropo said:

I disagree with too fast, too hot. I cook all my butts at 300F+. I do agree that it probably wasn't cooked long enough for the temps it was cooked at. One fact that people overlook is when cooking at higher temps, the final "done" temp will be higher than it would be if it was cooked at 225F. It is possible that a pork butt may not be "done" till it hits 210-215F internal when cooking at higher temps. This why people suggest the bone wiggle test or probe tender test to tell when the meat is done. I also agree that a large hunk of meat like a butt will benefit from an extended rest/hold. I like to rest mine a minimum of 2 hours, but prefer 4 hours before pulling. 15-30 minutes rest is not enough time for the magic to happen.

Even if you cook 2 butts at the same time, they will often times be "done" at different internal temps since every animal is different (they don't all cook up exactly the same). I would suggest ignoring internal temp except as a guideline to start checking for bone wiggle/probe tender. And plan in a few extra hours for the extended rest/hold. If it is done early, there is no harm in letting it sleep for a very long time. I've held for over 6 hours before with excellent results.

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I don't necessarily disagree with you. I think what we're getting at is that low/slow and hot/fast require different methodologies. Hot/fast requires a higher finishing temp and a longer hold for the butt to reach the pull apart stage. With low/slow you're basically doing the hold while the meat is still in the pit. When I'm cooking at 250 F, it's not unusual for the IT to take a few hours to go from 190 F to 200 F, which sort of mimics a hold.

The OP's mistake was trying to combine hot/fast pit temps with a low/slow finishing temp and resting time.

Just my opinion, but I don't think it matters whether you cook at 225F or 350F, an extended rest/hold is still highly beneficial in my experience. Going though the end of the stall while cooking at a low temp is nothing like an extended hold. The purpose of the hold is to allow the meat to relax after the cook, and allow the juices to redistribute within the meat. There may well be a slight amount of cooking momentum in the beginning of the hold, but that is not the purpose of an extended rest/hold.

I'm no expert on cooking science. All I can say is that in my experience, I haven't noticed much difference between hold and no hold on pork butts cooked low and slow, other than a slight softening of the bark on butts that have been held.