PLEASE Critique Timeline for a Big Shoulder Cook

[Rita Y]

I hate to say a big butt cook…just doesn’t seem seemly.

My overnighter a couple of weeks ago went so well that I thought I would “bite the Bullet,” so to speak, and try some really big stuff (for me). Also, it’s a practice run for pulled pork for 45 people or so (4 butts, I guess) for the Canine Assistants Training Camp a couple of months down the road. But this one HAS to turn out good…..it’s for Jack’s and my 45th wedding anniversary!

This scenario is based on all the information I’ve gathered from our old and new members -- what a group!!! Hope I’ve put it together right.

OK, here goes:

TO SERVE ON FRIDAY EVENING

TWO BUTTS -- 11.72 lbs. + 13.12 lbs. (Costco had biggies today)
ESTIMATED COOKING TIME @ 225°F -- 26 hours @ 2 hrs/lb + 2 hours WIGGLE ROOM = 28 hours...HUH????
RESTING TIME @ 150°F -- Minimum of 2 hours (preferably, and can do longer)

TIMELINE:
TUESDAY EVENING (today/getting late, but will do it) -- Rub the butts. Wrap and refrigerate.

WEDNESDAY, 11:30 A.M. -- Light coals (Marvelous Minion Method) .

WEDNESDAY, 12:00 NOON -- Sprinkle meat with a little extra rub and place (cold) rubbed meat into the WSM (smaller butt on the cooler lower grate, to finish close to the same time as the larger butt on the top grate) and cook, hopefully, at 225°F for 26 to 28 hours.

THURSDAY, 2:00--4:00 P.M. Cooking ends (after 26--28 HOURS cooking) -- Meat hopefully at 195°F
Pull off WSM, wrap with Saran Original and foil, and into a 150°F holding oven or preheated cooler) for AT LEAST 2 hours (do these larger butts need a longer resting time???).

THURSDAY, 4:30 -- 6:30 P.M. (includes 2 hours rest + 30 minutes wrapping, & fiddling time) -- Pull the pork, adding a little of the rub, but no vinegar sauce.

THURSDAY, 5:00 --7:00 P.M. -- TASTE-TEST SERVING. Add a little vinegar sauce or apple juice to pulled meat to moisten it while reheating.
PORTION (not vacuum) into FoodSaver bags and chill or freeze before sealing.

FRIDAY (BIG EVENT) -- JUST BEFORE PARTY TIME:
Wait until serving to add a little vinegar sauce to pulled meat to moisten it. Gently reheat.

QUESTIONS:

1. REPLENISHING COALS -- If I start the cook at Wednesday Noon and cook at roughly 225°F, WHEN WOULD BE THE BEST TIME TO ADD SOME MORE COALS? Will they be OK until, say, until 8 AM (20 hours)? Twenty hours seems a bit of a stretch, even for the WSM.

2. LIT OR UNLIT COALS? -- Should I add LIT OR UNLIT coals???

3. ASHES -- anything there I should look for?

4. ANY THINGS I’VE NOT FACTORED IN??? -- SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!

Sorry this is so long, but it's become an outline. Maybe this will answer someone else's questions.
Many thanks, as always,
Rita

 

[Phil R.]

Rita,

Are you sure your butts really weigh as much as you think they do? I only ask because an 11 lb (or over) butt would be from a HUGE pig. And, a lot of times the cryovakers are two butts smashed together...or maybe you have picnics?

I only have 6 butt cooks under my belt, but I think your plan sounds good. Maybe some other people will chime in regarding how long you'll have to go before adding fuel. Longest I've gone is 14 hours, and the wsm was still chugging at 250.

Good luck!

Phil

 

[Steve Petrone]

Rita, I have not had a cook go over 20 hours. The best time to add coals is before you need them. That would be just before bed time. Rake your burning coals to one side leaving a hole on one side for all the unlit coals you think you'll need. I usually just fill it up. That way you won't run out of fuel. I find that if I attempt to stir to get rid of ashes I can get the temps up. So top off the water if using it.
Finally, get some rest-it will do just fine. Happy 45th. What a milestone!

 

[Rita Y]

Phil, you are absolutely right! I poked and prodded those cry-o-vac bags and could not detect a seam. Why didn't I ask a butcher????

It's really hard to get their attention.

Guess I'll go back and recalculte my timeline based on the smaller cuts. Darn! I haven't even gotten started and I've messed up already, but at least the cook will be a little shorter.

Thanks for being so observant!

Steve, that's great information on how to add more coals, a first for me if I need them, now that I know the butts are half the size I thought they were.

Wow! I thought I had this cook down pat. Another humbling experience just when I was getting a little too cocky.

Rita

 

[Chris K]

You have everything as close to calculated as you can. BBQ has a way of throwing a curve ball here and there. I typically put my butts on the smoker at about 4 or 5 PM then add more charcoal when I wake up in the AM, about 14 hours into the cook. One other thing you may notice on a cook as long as this the bottom shelf may not be any cooler after a few hours. I find that they usually equal out after 2 or 3 hours and stay there for the duration of the cook. Good luck, you have a good game plan.

 

[Matthew Appler]

I routinely do the cook you are about to. If you bought them from Costco, there will absolutely be 2 butts per package.

My TYPICAL timing goes like this:

One day prior to cook (or maybe right before I cook..) Rub the butts.

8 P.M. - Fire up 20 coals and set up smoker for Minion Method.

8:30 P.M. - Load the smoker up

10:30-11:00 P.M - Go to bed. 2 hours is usually enough time for temps to stabilize

~9 A.M-10 A.M Butts done.

Rest for 1 hour or so.

Pull pork. Place in large bowls. Put in fridge covered.

~3PM or so fill the FoodSaver bags.


The reason I start at 8/8:30 is for 2 reasons. 1) I want temps to stabilize before going to bed and 2) I really don't want the pork done before I wake up the next morning. I don't think I've had a butt go over 14/15 hours, but I guess it would be possible. Most of mine seem to take 12-14 and I always do 4 at a time. I aim for 235 for the overnight cooks, assuming that the temps will start to drop at the tail end of the night. I use sand in the pan, so I don't have to wake up and refil water. If you use water, I would think temps woudl be more likely to go up than down towards the end of the night.

-Matt

PS: I find that I don't have to add coals for this length of cook if it is warm out (ie: this time of year)

 

[Bob T.]

Happy 45th anniv. there Rita!

I thought I was doing good after my 19th in April!
Goodluck on your smoke, sounds like you are set now.

 

[Paul G.]

Rita

So I guess you're starting your cook around noon today and have determined you are cooking 4 butts. I've done that a few times and I think your schedule is reasonable.

I would add more unlit, maybe a dozen tonite, early enough so that you can be sure the pit gets stable before you turn in. Then, check the temp in the a.m. to see if you need to add a few more. If the temp isn't below 200, I would add unlit and leave the door open for 5 to 10 min. to let them catch.

Your hold time can certainly go beyond 2 hours if you finish earlier than you anticipate tomorrow.

I would put the pulled pork in zip lock freezer bags in the frig, not freezer, if I were going to serve on Friday.

You'll have a big build up of ashes but I believe you can get away without having to disassemble and dump them. That can be dangerous.

Hope your event goes well and I bet it will.

Paul

 

[adam clyde]

Originally posted by Rita Y:
I hate to say a big butt cook…just doesn’t seem seemly.

Rita... who is afraid of big butts?

I ditto exactly what Matt Appler said... that is my philosophy. I do 2 butts at a time, throw them on around 9 p.m. or so, enough time for temps to stabilize, and they are usually ready to eat/pull/whatever around 3 p.m.

All that said... you've probably already started. Hope things are going well.

Oh and last... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

Congratulations. We are about to celebrate our anniversary too (though minus 40 years or so). Congrats. That is awesome.

 

[Brian Misko]

Hey Rita,

Congrats on the anniversary.

I have wanted to get a better grasp of the yield from different cuts of meat - i.e., PB and thus have tried to get the measurements down...

From your details what I've calculated is that you have 25 lbs of raw meat or 400 oz. It seems the general "loss" factor is 40-50% for cooking pork butt or vice versa, you yield 50-60% of the raw weight. Thus, the 400 oz should yield 240 oz or so on the high end or 200 oz on the low end. This would be a serving of 4.4 to 5.3 oz per person. That should be a solid portion for most people unless everyone is looking for the carnivore feast and there are little side-dishes. Four oz of shredded PB on a hamburger bun, with or without coleslaw, is a full sandwich.

I hope that helps with the planning.

Brian
House of Q

 

[Shawn W]

Hi Rita,

It's great to have a plan and it looks ok ... just remember the butts don't give a hoot.

My longest cooks have been from trying for 225F and ending up ranging from 210F - 220F average.

I would try for a 235F - 250F pit range and plan on 14 - 16 hours max cook time.


Congrats on your 45 Anniversary and I'm sure your meal will come out great!

 

[Bill Wooten]

I have a question for those that have cooked 4+ butts and used the lower rack.

I've done a couple of cooks with 2 butts on the top rack. If I added another two on the bottom rack, how much longer should I expect them to have to cook to get up to temp? Do you rotate them mid-cook or anything like that?

I'd be interested to hear how others have done this.

 

[Rita Y]

Oh my! There is so much good advice here that I copied the whole thread to my Pork folder for quick reference! I wish I could thank each of you individually, but time is getting a little short right now.

Bob, we've been enjoying your lively greetings, so very thoughtful. I haven't seen anything like that in a post before. They'll still be dancing for our 50th! Thanks to all for your wishes. 45 years has gone by so fast...when you're having fun, right?

A quick update: I opened those (boneless, unfortunately) butts and the best I can say is that they were pretty well butchered. I was up until 5 this morning tying and rubbing them and I just might have more pounds of twine than of meat to barbecue

Thanks again, friends, for so much help! I'll report in after the "event."

Rita

 

[Joe McManus]

The thing I've found when cooking any number of butts, 2, 3, 4, 6, is they seldom get done at the same time anyway. After 12 hours or so I begin checking temps in each one and testing for doneness. Very seldom do I pull butts at the same time. Sometimes I'll let one continue to cook while the other is finishing, or pull one that's still cooking just because I'm lazy.

I don't bother to rotate or mop either. I do use water in the pan, sand might require rotation, don't know.

 

[Paul H]

Rita, been following your cook intently. I'm doing my first butts this weekend. Haven't decided if I'm going to do it overnight or not yet. I just want to know if that was "swine twine" you were using to tie them thar pieces o" pork together

Originally posted by Rita Y:
Oh my! There is so much good advice here that I copied the whole thread to my Pork folder for quick reference! I wish I could thank each of you individually, but time is getting a little short right now.

Bob, we've been enjoying your lively greetings, so very thoughtful. I haven't seen anything like that in a post before. They'll still be dancing for our 50th! Thanks to all for your wishes. 45 years has gone by so fast...when you're having fun, right?

A quick update: I opened those (boneless, unfortunately) butts and the best I can say is that they were pretty well butchered. I was up until 5 this morning tying and rubbing them and I just might have more pounds of twine than of meat to barbecue

Thanks again, friends, for so much help! I'll report in after the "event."

Rita

 

[Chris K]

I do almost the same as Joe. No mops, and no rotating. My technique differs in that I pull the meat all at the same time. I figgure after 20+ hours another 45 minutes on the smoker isnt going to change things a whole lot. I also end up mixing all the pork together in the end so if somehting is on the cooker a little longer I really couldnt tell. Very solid advice here, you should hae a good cook.

 

[Rita Y]

Paul, it's 100% vegetarian "swine twine" now, in any case.

This is my first Big Load overnighter. I did a 5-pounder overnighter a couple of weeks ago as a test run and I feel comfortable with it, especially after all the great help I've been getting.

Jump right in and do it! And good luck to you (you won't need it, I'm sure).

Chris, that's sort of my mind set at the moment. I'll just have to see if the 5-pound piece finishes a lot sooner than I expect the 7-pounder to be ready. Don't want to push that smallest piece too long. I'll be mixing the meats too.

Of course, if the twine gets done before the meat, I might have something to worry about. We might have to start a new forum for Pulled Swine Twine.
Rita

 

[adam clyde]

hey rita -

I had boneless ones from costco recently that, like yours, required some significant butchers twine to put them back into a cohesive shape of any kind.

One thing to keep in mind... taking that darn twine off removed quite a bit of bark with it... big pieces will get stuck on it. But you can pull them off the twine, then throw them back in the batch of pulled pork with out too much problem.

Did you rub the inside parts as well (the ones no longer exposed after tying)? I didn't do that, but may the next time I do boneless, just to see if it adds more flavor to the pork (since more surface area can come into contact with the Rub...

 

[Rita Y]

Yes, Adam, I was somewhat disappointed too. Since it is such an odd-shaped bone, it might be difficult in a commercial environment to remove it as neatly as we would do at home.

Next week, I'm thinking of talking to the head butcher at my Costco and will mention how we use these shoulders and see if he'll carry some bone-in cuts as well. Also, it would be nice if they would print on the label that there are TWO cuts in each cry-o-vac package. It's been a couple of years since I've bought any shoulders and it slipped my mind when I bought this batch.

I intended to sprinkle some rub in the deep cuts, but at 4 or 5 a.m. it was all I could do to harness those butts and get any rub on them at all.

Rita

 

[Matthew Appler]

Originally posted by Bill Wooten:
I have a question for those that have cooked 4+ butts and used the lower rack.

I've done a couple of cooks with 2 butts on the top rack. If I added another two on the bottom rack, how much longer should I expect them to have to cook to get up to temp? Do you rotate them mid-cook or anything like that?
QUOTE]

I don't rotate, mop, or anything. I like to pull them off at 195. IF it seems like the smoke is going really long, OR the meat is radically differnt weights (> 1lb difference) I might check the bottom with a thermometer, but more often then not I don't bother. Sometimes the ones on the bottom take a little longer, but I don't think I've ever gone over 1-1.5 hours with that (and that is rare).

adamclyde/Rita: I put rub everywhere I can (why not...) and I don't bother to tie them up. Even when they are HEAVILY butchered, I just balance them all in there. I'm not going to move them (I don't rotate or flip them) anyways.

-Matt