Inaugural smoking..

[Busanate]

Hello everyone..well as I've posted before I'm new to smoking so new in fact that right now as I'm typing this I'm smoking my first .....well first anything..lol based on everyone's recommendation I chose a 6 lb pork butt..so far it's been going well been holding a steady 270° in my newly built UDS (thanks to my awesome dad "fishhook") I have had a few "hmmmm" moments I started my cook at noon using a maverick 733 my temp at that time was 270° so I set my meat probe and put the butt on after rubbing it with Oakridge beef and pork rub I let it smok for a hour at 270° without incident or temperature changes then I spritzed it with apple juice closed the lid and watched the temp rise to 305°..lol I know right well I shut the intakes off and gave it a few minutes till it came back down to around 275°..I am using cherry to smoke with and continued to spray it once a hour it is now roughly 4:30 and after 4 1/2 hours I am at 260° smoker temp and 162° meat temp and it is stalling quickly..although I know 160° is the technical done temp for pork I would like to get it up to 180° or so just to make it real tender and easier to pull apart..but then again I may be wrong what's everybody's opinion on this.? Is seems like I'm stalling out now my temp is down to 253° and 162° on meat my intakes are wide open but the temp keeps falling..any suggestions.????

 

[Fishhook]

Hey hotshot, bump the drum and crack the lid just a touch and your temp should come back up...

If it doesn't start coming up in about 15 min , add the fan

 

[CookinScuba]

Sometimes I have to give my uds a shake or little kick to get the ashes off the charcoal and then with intakes wide open it usually jumps back up in temp. Might help, or might not��.

 

[Joe Black]

It's good to have you here. The best advice that I can give you is to find a competent mentor to help you. By all means, don't listen to any fish type folks.

Good luck, stick with it and keep smokin', Joe.

 

[WHS88]

Take a deep breath, all is good! Your temp is still good. I wouldn't be concerned with your temp unless it starts dropping below 225. If it does, do what other have said before and crack the lid a little until it starts coming back up. Close the lid when you get about 10 or so degrees from your target. The meat temp often stalls around 160 or so. Keep at it and continue to cook until a probe slides into the meat with little or no resistance. Could take a couple of more hours. Pork is done at 160, but I can assure you, it will not be like you are wanting it until it gets to around 195 or so. Key is when it probes right. Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[pjtexas1]

300 will not hurt a butt. Don't panic if the temp jumps. Close the intake a little bit and it should start dropping after a few minutes but never close them completely or the fire could smolder from lack of oxygen and put bitter creosote on your food. It won't be pull apart tender until closer to 200. Start checking for probe tender after 190. If it's bone-in then check for the bone to wiggle at the same temp. It'll all work out.

 

[BillN]

Ok, soooo how'd you do?