Tim wrote:
> My first attempt at pulled pork was disappointing - tasty, but
> disappointing because the pork was not very tender. Thanks to you, I
> tried again today with the following changes:
>
> - One 8# Boston butt ( instead of 2 6 1/2# )
> - Sand instead of water in the water pan, pan covered with foil ( I
> have to admit, I still don't understand why sand - but it worked )
> - Final internal temp of 188 instead of 165
>
> It only took me about 10 minutes to pull it apart using two forks.
> The only bad thing - it's not being served until tomorrow dinner, but
> I had a few samples pulling it ...
>
> One question: what should the smoker temp be if I I want ~190 for the
> final internal temp? I didn't let it go above 225 or 230 for the
> first 10 hours and the internal temp wouldn't go past 175. Then I let
> it go up to about 280 for the last hour and a half, and I finally got
> to 188.

I suspect your temp measurements. Possibly you are measuring temps up high but
the meat is down low where it's cooler. Or maybe your thermometer is out of
calibration. You can test this latter by sticking it in a cup of ice water,
where it should read close to 32, then in a pan of boiling water, where it
should read close to 212.

Most guys use a real cooker temp of 225-250.

I take pork shoulders (butts) to 195 minimum.

GWE