Discovered a surprising fact about pork butt stall temps last night

I was reading through an old BBQ science blog post from 2019, and I found out something that totally caught me off guard. They had data from like 50 different cooks showing that the stall temperature on a pork butt isnt always around 160 degrees like everyone says. Turns out it can vary by almost 15 degrees depending on the humidity in your smoker and how much fat cap you leave on. I ran a test on my 22 inch Weber Smokey Mountain yesterday with a 9 pound shoulder, and mine stalled right at 168 degrees. I always thought it was a fixed number you just had to wait through, but now I get that its more about the moisture loss rate than some magic temp. Has anyone else noticed their stall temp drifting around based on different conditions?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron77017d ago

Honestly that is wild, I had no idea the stall temp could swing that much based on humidity. Definitely makes me want to pay more attention to my cooker conditions next time.

barnes.jamie16d agoOG Member

Man I've definitely overcooked a brisket blaming the stall when really my humidity was just all over the place.