Time of cook

[scubapreacher]

Does anyone have a problem with their cooks taking an exceptionally long time? Like an 8.5 pound bone in pork shoulder smoking at 225 for 28 hours and not getting above an IT of 177. I have a permanent probe installed, bypass and auber. I had 2 8.5 pound butts in pans. One on top shelf. One on shelf below it. The lower one reached an IT of 195 in 19 hours. The second one was at 170, but 9 hours later was only at 177. The probe I used to monitor the IT of the first butt was left in the smoker on the same shelf. It was on the grate near the door. It read about 200 though auber was set at 225.

Are the temps in the box supposed to vary that much?
I did baby backs and St. Louis ribs once. After 10 hours at 225 they were not finished.
I did a 12 pound packer brisket. At 225 it took nearly 23 hours.

 

[old sarge]

I have not cooked in pans before, always naked on the rack.  I suspect the pans might have some negative effect but not sure.  I suggest you run the auto-tune on the Auber and a dummy load simulating meat (loaf pan with damp sand) in the smoker.  With the Auber the temperatures should be nearly right on the money within a degree or two of set. Beyond that I hope some others with a similar set up come along to help.

 

[scubapreacher]

Thanks, Sarge. I did the autotune before using the first time. Using the pans to capture juices for reheating. My old Masterbuilt was no problem with pans. I'm trying to learn the best way on the SI 3

 

[SconnieQ]

Yep. I read the post and my first thought was...the pans. I'm sure the SI can do just fine WITH "pans", if you find the use of pans necessary for some reason. But the vast majority of time/temperature guidelines you find on this forum are based on "no pans", with the meat placed directly on the rack. The SI maintains such a moist environment, that cooking in a pan is not necessary like it might be with other smokers. So you might assume that something is wrong when your cook takes longer when you use pans. In reality, your smoke might turn out just fine WITH pans, but it's going to take a lot longer, and because most people don't use pans, you'll probably need to blaze your own trail as to the amount of extra time such a smoke might take.

 

[NDKoze]

My first thought was the pans too.

The pan on the lower butt served as a heat sink that prevented the heat from getting to the top butt.

The key benefit of the #3 over the smaller models is that you can smoke two butts on the same shelf. I do this quite regularly and my butts are usually done at pretty much the same time.

The thought of my meat smoking and sitting in the fat doesn't sound that appetizing to me. I'm not sure if your MB was an electric or propane, but in the SI you will not have a moisture issue and the extra fat is not needed for reheating. You will have plenty of moisture in the meat without needing to add more fat juices. Your desire for the juices leads me to believe that your MB might have been a propane model which is a drier environment that caused the meat to dry out resulting in the need to capture the fat and do things like spritz juices and foil your meat. All these things are not necessary with the Smokin-It smokers because of their insulation and moist smoking environment. For example, the 2-2-1 and 3-2-1 methods that are commonly used for ribs are rarely used by most SI users. There are a few diehards that don't care about bark on their meat and want their ribs to be fork tender. But most find these methods contrary to the Lazy-Q way of smoking that we have come to love.

I don't mean to insult or demean your smoking acumen because you may be a very experienced and accomplished smoker. The point is that there is a small learning curve when coming from other smokers such as propane, charcoal, stick burners, and some lower quality electrics that have drier smoking environments. A lot of the methods used in other smokers are either not necessary or could actually be detrimental in the Smokin-It smokers.

 

[scubapreacher]

Thank you for the feedback. Next time it will be without the pans! Gregg, I welcome learning so thank you! Kari, thank you for the suggestions. I am relatively new to smoking.

 

[RG 2.0]

That's what makes this place special, Scuba. Three people giving invaluable advice, in depth and logical at that! Welcome to the group we have here, we all look forward to seeing your cooks

 

[DivotMaker]

We'll get you turned into a Pit Master in no time, Mike!  Great to have you with us!