Pork butts side by side or one high one low


 
C

Chris Cov

New member
I am cooking two butts tomorrow on my 22.5. Since, there is a difference in temperature between the top and bottom grate, is it better to cook them side by side on the top if they will fit?

Chris
 
You didn't specify the size of your butts, but they should be able to fit side by side on your 22.5 I would think.
 
Sorry, they are 12 lbs each, thinking my temperature probe for the smoker might get sandwiched between the two pieces of meat, that might lead to some incorrect smoke temperature. I guess I could just put the temperature probe by itself on the bottom rack and know the top is around 10 degrees higher.
 
12 lb.s each? wowza those are some big butts....

I would put both on top if they fit. seems easier to manage
 
Once taken out of the packs, one piece is definitely a little larger than the other, so that settles that, big one up top and the smaller one down below, hopefully they stay close together in temperature. Should be a good smoke tonight!
 
I always do mine side be side if I can fit them on the top rack. One less thing to deal with (cleaning the grate, taking the top grate off to deal with the bottom butt . . .). However, if they are far different in size, it is better to put the larger one on the lower rack IMHO. Since I don't use water, I think my lower rack is hotter which makes the cooking time between the two butts closer.
 
Put them on around 10:00 PM, so they have been on the smoker about 8 hours, will check some tempts in a little while to see the difference between the top and bottom. My water pan is foiled as well, smoker has been running great all night!
 
I haven't used my CL 22 WSM yet (this weekend is the maiden voyage) but in my 18" WSM with a foiled empty water pan i noticed that if the top rack was at my desired 275 the lower rack was around 250. The empty water pan acts as a heat deflector and affects the bottom grate more since they are closer together. The top grate is further so there is less heat deflection and heat naturally rises so i have found the top is hotter.

For a cook like you are doing i would really try to do two on top if possible. As long as the pit probe is a few inches away from the meat you'll be ok. If you cannot do two on top and you go one up one down, i would rotate as you cook to offset the temperature difference.
 
I do 2 butts about 8 pounds each on the top grate of my 18" no problem. It may be a tights squeeze at first but they shrink down as the fat renders off. That way you also know they are cooking at the same temp.
 
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