You've had your pork shoulder on the smoker for 6 hours. The temperature has been climbing steadily and then — nothing. It has been sitting at 72°C for two hours. Is something wrong?
No. You have hit the stall. Here is exactly what is happening and what to do about it.
What Is the Stall?
The stall (also called "the plateau") is a period during low-and-slow cooking where the internal temperature of the meat stops rising — or barely moves — for an extended period. It typically happens between 65–75°C (150–170°F).
It can last anywhere from 1 to 5 hours depending on the size of the cut, the smoker temperature, and humidity levels.
Why Does It Happen?
The stall is caused by evaporative cooling. As the meat heats up, moisture migrates to the surface and evaporates. This evaporation cools the surface of the meat at approximately the same rate your smoker heats it.
Think of it like sweating. Your body uses the same mechanism to cool itself — moisture evaporates from your skin and carries heat away with it. The meat is doing exactly the same thing.
The stall ends when enough moisture has evaporated that the cooling effect weakens and the internal temperature can rise again.
How to Push Through
You have three options:
1. Wait It Out
The simplest approach. Keep your smoker at temperature and let the meat work through the stall on its own. This gives you the best bark and the most hands-off cook. Expect to add 2–4 hours to your total cook time.
2. Wrap in Foil (Texas Crutch)
Wrapping the pork shoulder tightly in foil traps the moisture that would otherwise evaporate, eliminating the evaporative cooling effect. The stall ends within 30–60 minutes of wrapping.
The trade-off: the trapped steam softens the bark. If bark matters to you, wrap in butcher paper instead or unwrap for the last hour of the cook to firm it back up.
3. Raise the Smoker Temperature
Increasing your smoker from 110°C to 135°C pushes more heat into the meat, overwhelming the evaporative cooling effect. This shortens the stall significantly, but can dry out the outer layers. Use this as a last resort.
When Is Pulled Pork Done?
For pulled pork, you want 93–96°C (200–205°F) internal temperature. At this point, the collagen has fully converted to gelatin and the muscle fibres have broken down enough to pull apart easily.
Don't pull pork shoulder too early. At 88°C it might read "done" on a chart, but the texture will be sliceable rather than pullable. Give it the extra time.
Rest your pork shoulder for at least 30–60 minutes before pulling. Wrap it in foil and towels and leave it in a cooler.