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Took me 9 months to figure out why my pork butts kept coming out dry, and it was one small thing
Honestly this one still bugs me. About a year back I got real serious about doing pulled pork right, and for 9 whole months every single butt came out dry in the middle even though the bark looked perfect and the probe slid in easy. I tried everything. Wrapped in foil, wrapped in butcher paper, no wrap at all. Ran my offset anywhere from 225 to 275. Bought a second thermometer cause I was sure mine was lying. Drove myself nuts. Then a guy at a backyard cook off in Mesquite asked me one question, where I was measuring my pit temp. Turns out my gauge was sitting right above the firebox and reading 40 degrees hotter than the actual grate where the meat sat. So every cook I was running closer to 290 and drying them out. Moved the probe to grate level and the very next butt was the best one I ever turned out. Nine months of dry sandwiches over a $12 thermometer placement. Has anybody else chased a temp problem that turned out to just be where your probe was sitting?
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parker93816d ago
That line about your gauge sitting right above the firebox and reading 40 degrees hot is the part that got me, cause that's such an easy trap to fall into and it explains the dry middle perfectly. Here's what I want to know though, when you moved the probe to grate level, did you also have to change your fire management or did your normal routine just suddenly cook right at the same settings? I'm asking cause if you'd been running hot for 9 months, your instincts for how big a fire to build were probably tuned to the wrong number, so I'd figure you had to relearn that a bit. Also how close to the meat were you running the probe before, like right next to it on the same grate or a few inches off? I'm setting up a new spot on my rig and trying to get this right the first time instead of losing another year of cooks.
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