Finally figured out why my pork butt stalled at 165 for 45 minutes

Turns out my cheap thermometer was reading 15 degrees low the whole time, and I only caught it after burning through a whole evening and three beers.

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel1401mo ago

Got burned by the exact same thing last summer. Had a pork shoulder that just would not get above 170 after hours of waiting and I thought I was going crazy. Turned out my probe was off by 12 degrees and the actual temp was already at 185 the whole time. Ended up pulling it way earlier than planned and the meat was still pretty good but not fall apart like I wanted. I even checked the thermometer against boiling water after that and found out it was a whole 10 degrees off there too. What kind of thermometer were you using?

danielnelson1mo ago

Got a ThermoPro TP19 from Amazon, figured it was good enough since it had decent reviews. After that cook it went straight in the bin though, learned my lesson about cheap probes the hard way. Switched to a Thermoworks one after that and the difference is night and day, zero issues since.

mary_west1mo ago

Did you happen to check it in boiling water before you used it? I've been there too, it's a real letdown when you think you've got hours left and it turns out the meat was actually done.