Need a little help

[Shackattack99]

I just bought the #3. I started with a few rack of ribs at 220 degrees and it seemed like it took 12 hours to get them cooked. Now I've had a 10 lb boston butt in for 20 hours and just got to 161 degrees.im not an expert, just learning but it seems like something is off... Any advice is appreciated.

 

[gregbooras]

I have a #2, but the times you are showing seem really off.

Ribs normally take 4.5-6 hours max at 250 degrees. For a 10 lb. butt the norm would be closer to 12 hours, but not all meat cooks the same.

I am sure others that have a #3 will jump in shortly, but what you are seeing is not the norm.

Greg

 

[jcboxlot]

Hard to tell from the comment.  Did the ribs actually take 12 hours?  Or did it seem like 12 hours?

My guess is you are trying to temp gauge the ribs with a probe?  Just a hunch.  Many / most here I doubt ever probe ribs to temp. 

I'll let other speak to the butt, but ribs should be about 5 to 6 hours at 220 degrees with no look/opening the box.  I would think after 12 hours there would only be rib bones in the smoker.



 

 

[Shackattack99]

Ribs literally took 12 hours. I did not probe them. Boston butt I've checked with my thermapen numerous times. Put it on at 9 pm last night. 7 am I had a temp of 145 degrees. Noon time had temp of 161. Just seemed like I wasn't getting the heat.
My research on ribs shows 5 hours or so. That's why I'm a bit concerened.

 

[gregbooras]

When you finish this smoke I would do a test run without meat.

I have attached a sheet I did for a reference and this should help you see how your smoker is performing. Note these tests were done on a #2, so the #3 may be different. There is an adjustment that you can make to increase the heat if needed.

You might also want to give Steve a call tomorrow.

Greg

 

[Shackattack99]

Thank you.

On another note. As I'm waiting for my wood chunks to be delivered, I used wood chips. I used the special wood chip screen. After 20 hours running about 30 percent were ash the rest just charred wood chips. Would you suspect that all of the chips would be ash after such a long time?

 

[gregbooras]

I have never used wood chips in my smoker, so I will leave that question to others to answer that one.

Greg

 

[jcboxlot]

I'll second that, check the temp in the box with nothing in it.  Should have thought of that before. 

 

[gregbooras]

*Note make sure you run with the firebox in the unit.

Greg

 

[Shackattack99]

Will do

 

[Limey]

Shackattack, based on the condition of your wood chips it looks as if your SI is running way too cool. This is confirmed by your cook times. I suspect that you have a faulty controller.

 

[mizzoufan]

My #1 usually does almost exactly 2 hrs per pound on the boston butt, but yeah 12 hour ribs doesn't sound good at all.  Meaty baby backs are generally right around 5 hours at 235 for me.

 

[Limey]

I often use both chips and chunks to get a progressive smoke in my #3. After two or three hours the chips are always totally ash whilst the chunks are charcoal in total or in part. You definitely running too cool-faulty element or controller I think.

 

[swthorpe]

The times described for the ribs/butt are beyond the norm, so you may have a controller issue.  Do you have a remote therm that can be used to check the box temp?  If so, try an other run with the therm in the box and set you temp for say 225F...you should see temp swings +-15F or so from your set point.    If you don't get to 225, then try ramping up the temp on the smoker to 250F and see what temps you get.    This may be as simple as adjusting the temp dial, or worse case the controller is bad.