Pork butt, Foiling VS not Foiling

[Coastal]

Cooking a pork but two different ways and I have 1 that is foiled after three hours at 225 and the other is not. After 5.5 hours the foiled one is 192 degrees and the non foiled is 165.

Is it normal to have this temp spread between foiling and not foiling?

 

[SoDakSmokerGolfer]

I think that would be normal. The foil speeds up the cooking process... Once you hit a internal temp in the 160 range you are in the "stall" or the point at which the heat you are putting in the meat is being used to convert the connective tissue to gelatin and not raising the internal temp of the meat. Once most/all of the connective has been converted you will start to see the internal temp start to go up (and this can happen fairly rapidly) again.

By wrapping the meat in foil you are speeding up the time it takes to get through the stall.

 

[Big Poppa]

actually the old story is the connective tissue but really it is evaporative coolling the liquid rests on the surface of the meat and until that dissolves the meat stalls...the foil affects the bark (less) but speeds and evens the cook out.

 

[SoDakSmokerGolfer]

My bad I stand corrected.... Here are all the details BP is talking about... Thanks to Meathead for the write up.

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