On Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:11:40 -0700, Grant Erwin
> wrote:

>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

You make some very good points here!

195? Or 195 pull temp? Just curious.


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