The "stall" is kind of freaky!!

[niceguy0427]

I smoked a 6.25 pound Boston Butt (bone-in) yesterday. I brined it for about 13 hours prior to smoking then rubbed yellow mustard and Dave's rib rub on it. I used Tonys pork brine recipe with one change. Since I used the InstaCure I added only 1 cup of salt instead of 1 1/8 cup. It took 12 hours (about 2 hours per pound) It "stalled" at 169 for about 4 1/2 hours. That's kind of freaky to watch the temp in the box go up and down with no change in the IT temp.  It took all my will power to not go down to the smoker and start tweaking it.  The butt came out great. Sorry no pictures this time.

What is the reasoning behind the "stall"? Why does it do that?
Just curious.

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[DivotMaker]

Yeah, Don, the "stall" is definitely real, and will weird you out until you understand it!    The stall is nothing more than "evaporative cooling."  As the meat cooks, the internal fat begins to render, and the juices flow out to the surface of the meat.  As the air flows over the meat, it cools - just like we do when we sweat.  This will "stall" the temperature climb, but the meat is still cooking.  You may even see the temp go backwards!  This is actually pretty common - and unnerving!  During the stall, the "magic" is happening!  All that internal fat and connective tissue is melting, and being absorbed by the meat, making it tender.  This is also why the wrap & rest are so important, at the end of cooking.  During the rest, you "reverse" the flow back into the meat.  Meat that has been properly rested won't have much liquid in the foil - it's back in the meat!

You'll really only see the stall with large cuts, like brisket and butts.

[NDKoze]

The "Magic" that Tony is referring to is all the more reason to embrace the stall and not use methods like the Texas Crutch and turning up the temp to push through it. This is where the Magic happens, so embrace it and know that it is turning your fatty hunk of meat into BBQ gold.

[TmanEater]

Found a very interesting article and some discussion about the science behind the stall.  Smoke it and Sous Vide it!

http://modernistcuisine.com/2012/08/barbecue-stall/


http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?52886-Calculating-Humidity-insert-new-graph-on-HM-homepage&highlight=beer

[DivotMaker]

Tony, here's another really good article on the stall by Meathead, over at amazingribs.com:

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/the_stall.html

He recommends the Texas crutch (foiling) to speed the stall, but I disagree with our smokers.  Pretty much any other "traditional" smoker?  Absolutely.  Smokin-It?  Not needed.

[TmanEater]

Thanks for the link Tony. Very interesting reading. I'm learning new stuff every day!

[DivotMaker]

Sometimes, Tony, the science behind the Q is really fascinating.  I love stuff like this!

[Durangosmoker]

Interesting... I would think that because our units are reasonably airtight, and especially if you are using a water pan, there would be enough humidity in the box to prevent evaporative cooling.  I'm wondering whether the stall would be shorter if you didn't use a water pan, and therefore any evaporation would happen more quickly?

[TmanEater]

I think smoking meat would be similar to using a steam room at a gym. Your body (meat) is still sweating trying to cool itself even when the humidity is SUPER high in that room. There is a tipping point in which you have no more "moisture" to give up (the stall) and then you start rising in temperature again because you can no longer regulate to stay cool. I'm not sure you'll see much difference in stalls with or without a water pan. It should vary with hunk of meat to hunk of meat depending on the amount of internal moisture content and size of meat.

[NDKoze]

Don't look at the stall as a bad thing or a thing to try to push through. The stall is when that connective tissue is being broken down and this is really where all the magic happens when smoking these large fatty types of meat.

So, EMBRACE the stall knowing that it is making magic happen.

[jbauch357]

My brisket hit 177, then dropped all the way back down to 169 during the stall, which lasted hours.  The flavor and tenderness tell me to not screw with a good thing 

[es1025]

I have yet to embrace the stall, I am still a foiler and am ok with the fact.  I respect the patience that my fellow smoking brothers have.  I have been using parchment paper instead of foil and it works great.  I am going to order some brown paper like what Aaron Franklin uses.