What is the limit for time in the cooler. What about aiming to pull somewhere between 12 - 2 am and riding it out til noon in the cooler?
So long as the temperature does not fall below 140, it can be held indefinitely from a safety standpoint. The quality will start to diminish though. The longest I have held is about 6 hours and at that point, it was starting to turn into a roast.
Haha just giving you a hard time. I started with multiple cooks of 4-6 lb pork butts way back in the day. 225-275 is a good range for pork butt. If you can, keep it at 225, but don’t worry if the temp spikes or goes up. It’s a very forgiving piece of meat
The grill temp is getting a little carried away on me, almost at 275. Is there a way I can lower it easily? I just opened the lid for like 5 secs and closed it back up.
Try shutting the bottom vent off completely for a few minutes and leave top vent on lowest open setting
It's just sitting at 277, is that gonna fuck anything up? It's been on an hour prob and the internal is at like 117.
It will not fuck anything up. It’s a very forgiving piece of meat. You can keep adjusting the vents, but don’t get too concerned with the temp unless it’s going out or really really spiking
Franklin's started shipping 5 lb briskets bc of the corona. $250 with free shipping, sold out pretty quick https://www.goldbelly.com/franklin-barbecue/whole-brisket-texas-bbq-sauce
I just feel like its dropping faster than it should be. Currently 239, internal temp of 154. So in a half hour it dropped 30 degrees.
This is called dialing in your smoker. Learning how the vents control air & heat. Keep tinkering with it.
Totally agree, with smokers, the temp takes a while to respond to your changes, so if you make huge changes and wait, it will create huge swings in temp. Sometimes that is needed if that is your goal. Most of the time, make small simple adjustments to vents and see what happens. If the temp gets too high (315) open the lid to release the heat and close the bottom vent. As a.tramp said, best advice is to keep tinkering with it to get an idea for what the vents need to be set at to hit the temp you want. Remember, as the outside temp changes (as it gets colder outside) you may need to open the vents a little more to keep the same temp.
I’m not laughing at you, just thinking back to my first few times smoking where I was fidgeting with the vents every 15 minutes scared that I was going to lose the smoker and ruin the food. It happens to everyone. As a.tramp said, this is all part of the process of figuring out the smoker. You’ll get it
Haha it's all good. I've had this Akorn for quite a while and just now really learning to use it. I got the temp to go back up a tad, so we are good to go!
The worst thing about learning to smoke is overthinking and therefore overdoing. It is a relatively simple process at its core that has been done for 100s, if not 1000s of years. The hard part is creating unique recipes or rubs or sauces that you constantly chase to perfection. The smoking is easy.
It's stalling at 158 right now, I've read you can either wrap it to get it through the stall quicker or just let it go without wrapping? Does it really make a difference besides getting through the stall quicker?
If some parts are 195ish and others are in the 170s, will the rest cook thru as it rests or should I still let it go for a little longer?
You should probably throw it out and start over. With those temp fluctuations, that thing is gonna be awful. Telltale sign is the different temps across different parts of the butt. Don’t worry about it, Baron and just give it another go some other time. It’s never happened to me, but I’m sure others can talk about failed cooks.
I honestly had no idea there were that many different places to probe a 4lb butt. Are you doing direct or indirect heat Baron ?
I was doing indirect. It looks pretty good but was still resting when I had to run out. I have not pulled it apart or tried it yet. Will report back.