HackintheBull
New member
- Messages
- 4
- Grill(s) owned
- Bull
I am a proud owner of a New RT700, just got it 2 weeks ago, and am also a total newb when it comes to Smoking. I got into it because my teenage son and i love smoked food and its something nice for us to do together. I am concerned though that i am either having temp issues or just newbie problems and wanted to get the Forums thoughts.
So far i have had 3 cooks on my Bull, first was a 6.5lb pork butt for pulled pork, second was some chicken cordon bleu chicken thighs wrapped in bacon, and 3rd were two whole spare rib racks. The chicken thighs were cooked at 300 degrees for 2 hours and came out fantastic.
The pulled pork and whole spare ribs however took way longer than i ever expected. The pork butt took about 5 hours to reach an internal temp of 150 degrees and stalled for 2 hours, this was my first experience with the stall, very frustrating but part of the game so ive read. I finally wrapped the pork at 165 and cooked until internal temp of 195 for a total cook time of 10 hours. Considering this was my first cook i was relatively pleased, there was some very tender pork but not the fall apart pulled pork i was expecting. I have read that in general pork butt cooks at about an hour per pound, this seems like my cook time was fairly long. I chalked this up to learning and moved on. For Super Bowl i decided to cook a couple of racks of whole spare ribs, i decided to go unwrapped and figured i would smoke for no longer than 5 hours at 235 degrees. Well i was wrong, at 5 hours i did the bend test to see if the ribs were done and they were still stiff and not done. I ended up leaving them on for another 2 hours with the internal temp only reaching 175. The ribs were good and flavorful but again not as tender as i was expecting for a 7 hour cook.
So here is the deal, im thinking that my internal temp probe is off, so yesterday i test both probe A and B in ice water against an instant read thermometer i have and they both matched my instant read. Now i place a brick in the center of the smoker and place both probes and another thermometer on the top of the brick and wait to see what the internal temp of the grill is near the cooking surface. I started my Bull and turned it to 250 degrees, after 1 hour both probes and the thermometer finally hit 250.
Thanks for bearing with me to this point, here are my questions: 1) Should it take an hour for the cooking surface to reach temp? 2) Do these cook times seem long to anyone else? 3) Should i try cooking at a higher temp, say 250? Am i just overthinking it and this just comes with the territory of being a beginner? 4) Or is they something else i am not thinking of or doing right?
Thanks for any help or incite.
So far i have had 3 cooks on my Bull, first was a 6.5lb pork butt for pulled pork, second was some chicken cordon bleu chicken thighs wrapped in bacon, and 3rd were two whole spare rib racks. The chicken thighs were cooked at 300 degrees for 2 hours and came out fantastic.
The pulled pork and whole spare ribs however took way longer than i ever expected. The pork butt took about 5 hours to reach an internal temp of 150 degrees and stalled for 2 hours, this was my first experience with the stall, very frustrating but part of the game so ive read. I finally wrapped the pork at 165 and cooked until internal temp of 195 for a total cook time of 10 hours. Considering this was my first cook i was relatively pleased, there was some very tender pork but not the fall apart pulled pork i was expecting. I have read that in general pork butt cooks at about an hour per pound, this seems like my cook time was fairly long. I chalked this up to learning and moved on. For Super Bowl i decided to cook a couple of racks of whole spare ribs, i decided to go unwrapped and figured i would smoke for no longer than 5 hours at 235 degrees. Well i was wrong, at 5 hours i did the bend test to see if the ribs were done and they were still stiff and not done. I ended up leaving them on for another 2 hours with the internal temp only reaching 175. The ribs were good and flavorful but again not as tender as i was expecting for a 7 hour cook.
So here is the deal, im thinking that my internal temp probe is off, so yesterday i test both probe A and B in ice water against an instant read thermometer i have and they both matched my instant read. Now i place a brick in the center of the smoker and place both probes and another thermometer on the top of the brick and wait to see what the internal temp of the grill is near the cooking surface. I started my Bull and turned it to 250 degrees, after 1 hour both probes and the thermometer finally hit 250.
Thanks for bearing with me to this point, here are my questions: 1) Should it take an hour for the cooking surface to reach temp? 2) Do these cook times seem long to anyone else? 3) Should i try cooking at a higher temp, say 250? Am i just overthinking it and this just comes with the territory of being a beginner? 4) Or is they something else i am not thinking of or doing right?
Thanks for any help or incite.