High humidity, low temp stall?

[AmirMortal]

Howdy folks,

So I grabbed a 22" original kettle the day before yesterday for $20 from Craigslist! Yay!

Last night I decided to experiment with my first pork shoulder. The grill was able to stay in the sweet spot of 225-250 using the snake method, but I encountered something odd. My stall seems to have been right around 130°, took literally 7-1/2hrs to hit 150-160. At that point it was already 3am, so i wrapped it in foil, set my oven to 225 and went to sleep. Woke up a few hours later to a perfect 205° and delicious pork.

Question is though, i thought the stall was supposed to hit at around 150-160. The ambient humidity was around 90%, so I'm guessing that had something to do with it, but it seems like my stall hit at a relatively low temp. Has anyone else in FL or other high humidity areas had this experience? Am i missing something? Did I do something wrong?

[56MPG]

Humidity has nothing to do with it. I believe that butt was calibrated for standard time, not daylight savings time. Had you waited until Nov 3rd, it would have stalled at the correct temp. Read the label next time, if you see "DST" next to the net weight, that's your clue. I think the "ST" butts are just going into stores now.

Kidding aside, how big was your butt? I've done some 12+ pounders that took longer than 7 1/2 to reach 150. Stalls can happen +/- 20 degrees of that mark in my experience.

Marty

[JEBIV]

I too have seen some butts in my lifetime acting strangely except I was merely gazing at them at the time !  Like Marty said they can act oddly hitting the stall, that's why it's not called "baking" on a grill. I don't think you did anything wrong and you improvised well. Remember the act of bbq'ing is #1 have fun !!

[hawgheaven]

Butts are unpredictable... I've had them done in 6 hours, or 12. A lot depends on how they were raised, slaughtered, stored, before they got to your table. Good thing is, they are GOOOD when they are finally done. I NEVER cook a butt the same day before dinner. 2Me, it's a weekend project.

[AmirMortal]

It was only a 5lb piece of meat...

[HoosierKettle]

What thermometer?  I have a feeling you were cooking well below 225-250


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[Shoestringshop]

What thermometer?  I have a feeling you were cooking well below 225-250


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X2 on this. Did you use a internal thermometer?

[JEBIV]

Good question, I merely assumed grate temp, if it was dome temp it still wouldn't be done

[AmirMortal]

Actually i was using a digital long candy thermometer through the top vent, protruding to within 1 inch of the great itself. Then used a thermo pop for internals.

[JEBIV]

Actually i was using a digital long candy thermometer through the top vent, protruding to within 1 inch of the great itself. Then used a thermo pop for internals.

Interesting, will a candy thermo read air temp accurately ? I don't know the answer to that either is why I ask

[AmirMortal]

So the reason I was thinking it may be related to humidity is that the stall itself is due to evaporative cooling. So for the same reason that "swamp coolers" (as used in low humidity environs like Arizona) do not work in Florida, which is effectively humidity saturation minimizing evaporation. Swamp cooler only work until about 35-40% humidity, then are useless past that point. I just figured there may be a correlation.

The physics of the thermometer should still be sound in the air, i would think, but then I'm not an expert in thermodynamics. 😁

[jhagestad]

Without getting into the weeds with this, I can't imagine too much humidity being an issue since it would seem to only serve to keep the pork moist.  I always add a water pan during my slow cooks to encourage a moist environment for smoking.  I'll also wrap my ribs and shoulders in foil further along in the cook in order to let the juices/liquid steam and further break down the collagens, etc.  I live north of the Mason-Dixon line so our humidity levels don't come close to Florida's. I'd love to hear what our southern brethren have experienced with this phenomenon.

[HoosierKettle]

I don't think humidity has anything to do with it. The kettle produces its own environment when cooking. The outside humidity might affect how the charcoal burns but if it's cooking at temp then there's still not a problem.

Crank the heat up next time. You can't go wrong on a pork butt.


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[AmirMortal]

Thanks for the comments everybody. On the plus side, that 5lbs ended up going for 13hrs overall, and was freakin amazing after all was said and done.

[Firemunkee]

I have cooked half a pork butt that had the bone and was less than 5# and it took 12 hours at 225. Some butts just take longer

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