Pork Shoulder - 17 hours at 225

[nroberts0222]

I was cooking three 9-10 pound pork shoulder for Independence Day. At 225 (bumped to 250 when they hit 170 degrees), it took 17 hours to reach 195 degrees. Is this typical? My father-in-law said it took him about 8 hours. It was tender and delicious, but wondered if anyone else experiences these long cook times.

 

[Sodaking27]

I did one 9lb shoulder yesterday and it took 19.5 hours. 225 until the IT reached 165, them bumped up to 245. Longest cook time I’ve ever experienced on a shoulder that size. It turned out really tender and juicy though. Grill temperature was spot on.

 

[Omega1xg]

At about 6 hours in or so I will pull the shoulder off and wrap it in foil and pour in a small bottle of Martinelli's apple juice. Then let her keep going until 200 to 205. Perfect every time.

 

[drnez0205]

Had this happen to me a couple times. It hits the stall and just sits there. I've seen a normal size pork shoulder take 20 hours.

This seems to happen with particularly fatty pork shoulders. Its essentially an extended stall that is cooling your pork as fast (or faster) as the smoker can heat it.

One time, I was having a get together with a bunch of people, and had 6 pork shoulders on my smoker. 5 of them finished at somewhere around 10-12 hours, the last one was a trooper and was STILL GOING at 19 hours, was only at around 175 internal temp. I ended up pulling it off the smoker, wrapping it (i never wrap my butts), and throwing it in the oven at 375. It finished in about an hour after that.

 

[GrillMeister]

My pork butts take 22 hours on the big green egg at that temp.