New to offset smoking. Help / Advice

[BigBunny]

Hello Folks,

I am very new to BBQ smoking, low and slow, so I hope you will forgive a few basic questions.

My previous BBQ Smoker (Mecco) finally rusted through after 18 years of loyal service to the family. So as it is nearly be birthday I decided on a new BBQ Smoker (Landmann Kentucky). This one has an offset firebox for smoking, whereas the Mecco was a box style (fire below the grill).

So I have been doing a lot of reading and research on the web and this weekend decided to dive in and try some pulled pork.

I very successfully cooked this last year on the Mecco for the first time.

So I built the fire, setup the water pan, seasoned the pork the night before and away we went. I used a digital probe in the pork joint. Approx 4lb in weight.

I maintained the fire at 100 – 120 Degrees C (according to the lid thermometer).

My problem was that my meat temperature got to 60 degrees and then stopped. Which I was expecting at some point as it hit “the stall”. But it did this for approx three hours.

Unfortunately after 9 hours in the smoker I ran out of time and had to stop and finish off in the oven. It was very nice all the same……. but I must be doing something wrong for the offset smoker.

Here is my setup. Which now thinking about it may have been my problem.



My smoker have two shelves in the main body (the lower one being for charcoal when using it as a BBQ). Should I have put the water on the bottom under the chimney and the meat nearer the fire / smoke inlet ?

Or is this configuration correct, and perhaps the lid thermometer is useless.

Many thanks in advance for any help / advice.

Cheers
Si

[MyLeakyBucket]

I had a similar problem with pulled pork in my old horizontal barrel BBQ when offset cooking - used to take an age, so eventually had to give up and finish it in the oven. Still produced excellent pulled pork, but not quite the experience I was hoping for.

I think the lid thermometer is most likely to be the issue. My lid thermometer used to run at about 40-50F hotter than the temperature at meat level, which I discovered when I invested in a Maverick remote thermometer. That piece of kit was well worth the investment.

Don't think the configuration will be the issue, but others may have more expertise.

Also need to be patient with the stall -- more than three hours wasn't unusual in my experience, and some times I ended up with stalls at multiple temps, depending on the cut of meat. I have read some recommendations about foiling the meat to cut down this time, but tried to resist that if I could.

Good luck!

[BigBunny]

Thanks for your comments, very much appreciated.

Had a BBQ today, so took the opportunity to test a few things. Since last week I got another digital thermometer from Amazon.

The setup this time.



This time because I was cooking burgers etc the fire was in the main body. I put two probes at grill level and monitored the temperature throughout. Probe 1 was my control, slightly offset from the fire's direct heat. Probe 2 tracked the temp of Probe 1 but 10 degrees lower. Being further away from the fire.

The lid thermometer showed 20 degrees higher than the grill temp and fluctuated throughout.

So next time I try Pulled Pork I will have a second digital probe at grill level and ignore the lid thermometer.

Thanks again, hope this helps some other folks.

Cheers all,
Si