Why?

[picksbigwagon]

I put two butts on the amoker last night at 10:30, knowing when I wake up at 6:00, there will still be lots of time to wait and enjoy the smellls. Well, I set the smoker at 205 (green mt. Pellet grill) go to bed and wake up to one butt at 188 and the other at 167. Obviously one stalled and the other one did't. I injected both butts, the only difference was one butt was pretty solid and the other one had a pretty good, well split down the muscle line (I could feel the bone). The "solid" butt never stalled, the split one is still on the smoker, and will probably take 12 hours to hit 203.

Why does one butt stall and the other one doesn't?????

[Jameson]

just a w.a.g., the split allows the one to have more surface area, so the surface area to mass ratio was altered in a way that it effected the temps.

[highlife4me]

The amount of moisture in the meat and the air flow inside your smoker greatly affects the stall. Just like us, the meat will sweat out moisture and the airflow will increase the cooling effect. If one butt contained more moisture and/or had a draft contacting the meat it prolonged the stall.

[JP Z]

That's just one of those smoker things. You can have 3 identical butts on the smoker, and none of them will be the same. I think if that were to happen you might want to grab a lottery though.......just sayin.

[vister]

I agree. I've had 6 8-10 lb butts in a smoker at once before. Would rotate on racks every 2hrs. In smoker for around 15 hours, with 1.5hrs difference in cook times, to get to my target temp.