The Stall...

[BretM]

So, last night I put three 9lb bone-in pork shoulders on my RT-700 for a dinner at the gun club tonight.

I trimmed the excess fat cap, slathered in yellow mustard and liberally coated with my homemade rub to sweat for a couple hours prior to putting on the pit...the usual.

I set the RT-700 to 225...burning Lumberjack Char Hickory (first time trying them) and also lit a smoke tube with what I had left of a bag of RT Ulimate Blend.

I put the meat on at 8pm. At 10pm, I spritzed with ACV and again at 11:30. Inserted a probe at that time. When i woke up at 5:30...9.5 hours into the cook, I checked the meat temp...150. I thought, damn this is an awful long stall. I kept monitoring until 8am...12 hours in...only 168.

I had to leave for the gun club (only 10 minutes away) and put the butts in a deep full-size hotel pan and headed over and put them in the Alto-Shaam cook and hold oven there set at 300. Left the probe in and left to shoot. Checked them at noon and only at 179. By 2:30, the were finally at 200 internal and probed tender.

I left them in the Shaam at 150 to rest until I pulled at 4:30. Result was okay, but with all the messing around, the bark was a disappointment. Not impressed with the nearly nonexistent smoke flavor of the Char Hickory either.

So taking out the travel time, the total cook time was over 17.5 hours and what I would call a stall of just over 8 hours. This is the first time I've had butts act like this. Any of you have trouble with that long of a stall?

 

[mooncusser2k]

I've had some long stalls but nothing that long. Did you cover with foil when you transferred to the pan? That would normally speed things along. Makes me wonder if cooking 3 at a time might be a factor.

Haven't cooked with char-hickory yet so can't comment on the flavor of that. Have a bag, just not used it.

 

[BretM]

I covered the hotel pan with foil when I transferred.

I've done up to eight 7-8 lb butts previously without issue. I know every piece of meat is different, but the stall this time seemed excessive.

Oh well...I did learn that I'll never buy the Lumberjack Char Hickory again regardless. Glad I only had one bag. Love their other blends.

 

[mooncusser2k]

When I use my bag I'll probably blend them with something else. It's been mentioned here that RT recommends not cooking with them. Due to being hard on the auger if I remember correctly.

 

[MonnieRock]

When I use my bag I'll probably blend them with something else. It's been mentioned here that RT recommends not cooking with them. Due to being hard on the auger if I remember correctly.

Lumberjack in general or specifically the charcoal / hickory blend?

 

[Beach Bum]

RT advises against the Char/Hickory blend. It is just that one, not the others. When I had some issues with shutdown on my Bull, that was one of their first questions. I use LJ pellets all the time with great success. I have never tried the Char/Hickory.

 

[Wslayer]

The char hickory is a harder pellet. I have not used in the hopper but have used "many" times in tube and tray ( in 590 and MES ) and really enjoy the additional flavor it adds.

 

[BretM]

The char hickory is a harder pellet. I have not used in the hopper but have used "many" times in tube and tray ( in 590 and MES ) and really enjoy the additional flavor it adds.

I vacuumed out the Char Hickory with my bucket head this morning. I'll use them in my smoke tubes.

 

[mooncusser2k]

Lumberjack in general or specifically the charcoal / hickory blend?

What they said - it's just the char-hickory. Using those in the tube is a good suggestion - better idea than mixing with regular pellets in the hopper

 

[Roaniecowpony]

The whole cook seems similar to my last shoulders I did. I had smaller shoulders, maybe around 6-7 lbs. I put them on at 10pm/225F. Come 6:00am, I was around the 150F ish area.

I don't consider 150F in the stall. From my old days of graphing on my Stoker, the stall seems more like 165F.

I think your cook was affected by the large size of the butts and the fact you removed them from the pit for transport. My experience is that an interruption in the cooking really sets the cook back.

 

[BretM]

The whole cook seems similar to my last shoulders I did. I had smaller shoulders, maybe around 6-7 lbs. I put them on at 10pm/225F. Come 6:00am, I was around the 150F ish area.

I don't consider 150F in the stall. From my old days of graphing on my Stoker, the stall seems more like 165F.

I think your cook was affected by the large size of the butts and the fact you removed them from the pit for transport. My experience is that an interruption in the cooking really sets the cook back.

I agree. It definitely wasn't planned to end up like that, but I had to get to the gun club...my squad was set to shoot the first event at 9am.

Looking back at my notes from the last time I cooked multiple large butts, I should have upped the temp for the first few hours. I had better success in getting the bark set with that on a large cook about a year ago...set at 275 for 2 hours (with 12" smoke tube too) then turn back to round out the cook at 225.

 

[llbts1]

I threw out my charcoal/hickory pellets. I didn't care for them at all. Didn't seem to add anything.

 

[Greg Jones]

Lumberjack in general or specifically the charcoal / hickory blend?

As others have already mentioned, only the Char Hickory blend. I reported here last year with the problem I had with them because of their long length, which created bridging over the auger chute. recteq strongly advises against them because the char process makes them harder.

 

[kadkins0318]

One time I had a 4.5 pound butt take 18.5 hours. The meat does what the meat wants. I’ve found that I have to wrap some, but not all.