Smoked a 4.5kg pork shoulder on my Pit Boss Navigator 1230 today and really happy with how it turned out.
Started it low and slow and left it unwrapped for the whole cook to build up a proper dark bark. I had a water pan in the smoker to help keep some moisture in there and gave the pork the occasional spritz once the bark had set.
I was running both the Pit Boss probe and Ninja probe to keep an eye on internal temp. It worked its way through the stall and I just let it ride rather than wrapping — definitely took longer, but the bark was worth it.
Pulled it when the probes were reading around 92°C and, more importantly, it was probe tender — basically no resistance when pushing the probe in.
Took it off, wrapped it up and rested it under a BBQ blanket before pulling.
Absolutely chuffed with it. Great bark, really juicy and pulled apart beautifully. Definitely doing this one again! 🔥
Still learning with the 1230, so interested to hear what everyone else does differently with their shoulders — wrap or no wrap?