Pulled pork not pulling

If you take it off the smoker when it hits 160 or so and wrap in foil and put it in the oven, it will braise and you'll save charcoal.

I would agree not probe tender and would calibrate check you thermometer

From my experience no matter if hot and fast or low and slow, wrap no wrap. I go by 2 things. Loose bone and at least 1.5 hour rest. That being said I HAVE not done either. Reason being the same as your equation women + alcohal = get it done now. At that point they are too discerning :-D

I put mine in a hotel pan at about 165. Always use a water pan (I know I'm one of the few). At 165 and above you lose a lot of moisture if you don;t do this or you don't wrap and a hotel pan hold it all a lot better IMHO.

Get to probe tender, and I place the entire pan in a big cooler box. I've got enough space for 4 butts, wrapped in towels. Leave for a minimum 2 hours before pulling, as much as four. It's always hot and moist yet still soaks up some sauce and seasoning nice if you want to add some.

Main thing is the resting. Don't time your cook to finish an hour before supposed dinner time. Get on hours before so you have a few hours for it to rest. Then you can sit and have a beer and entertain because all your mucking about is DONE.

Pull and serve at the last moment and you're a genius. Sometimes the guests don't even see the smoker.

FWIW, I always fill the water pan in my WSM. I believe it adds moisture to the cook and, maybe more importantly, greatly helps to stabilize the temp. I've tried not using water on rare times in the past, and got temp swings like the ones you mentioned; that never seems to happen when the water pan is full.

I never use water in my 22.5" WSM because I prefer it to run at 275-325F, hard to accomplish with a swimming pool in the bottom of the cooker lol. I don't even use the empty pan, instead I will place a cheap foil pan on lower rack to catch a portion of the drippings, if some make it down to the fire, I don't care.

Another point to throw in the discussion, make sure you probe multiple areas.

This past weekend I cooked a butt and my thermometer went off at 200. So I go to check and sure enough in the muscle it was in it was 200, BUT when I probed other parts it was only 175 and tough! Guess what? I moved my probe and and kept it on the pit until it was all done. Bone slipped out effortlessly.

Just like with brisket, you gotta check the whole hunk o’ meat. Had I listened to just that one spot, I would have had a similar result to the OP.

Carry on.....

I cook butts frequently on a kettle with no problem. I check for temp to know when I am close. I don't probe like I would a brisket. I actually stick a fork in it and twist. It's pretty easy to tell if it's ready to fall apart. (I usually do boneless butts)

I have had a couple of whole pasture raised Kurobuta shoulders that I have done and while they both probed tender and the shoulder blades and humerus bones released clean, they did not pull like Butts I have done in the past yet they were extremely tender, moist and absolutely delicious. They did pull, however in larger pieces.

Not much I can add to what has been said but I've quit pulling and went straight to chopping. Pull off the big hunks (less the nasty bits) and chop against the grain. Not too fine but avoiding the long strands of pork make a great sandwich and is perfect for pork fried rice or pork tacos. Now I'm getting hungry. :thumb:

You mentioned hanging the probe in the pit. Sometimes theres a difference in air probes and meat probes. Not sure what you were using, maybe that's an issue?

I’m with everyone else in saying it was undercooked. I’ve done it a fair amount of times.

In the water pan discussion I’d love to toss in my 2 cents. I never liked filling the pan with water. I’d have to watch it and refill on long cooks. And I didn’t like how long it took bark to set. Just didn’t work with my style. I started to put sand in it and never looked back. Works as the heat sync I was looking for and made clean up a breeze. Try a few ways and find the way you like best.


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