pork butts

I've smoked single ones before but plan to do 4
What suggestions do you have placing the meat thermometer and the grill thermometer?
I have a maverick for the cooking and a thermopen Mk4 (which I think is worth the price)
I have a 22" weber smoker and plan on having 2 on top grade and 2 on bottom grade.
I imagine the upper will be hotter, Iv'e used water in the pan before , not sure if I need to , cooked with cherry and hickory wood
Will probably take off at 150 or 160 , wrap and finish in oven. I use mustard and a dry rub, have never trimmed the fat but scored it for the rub.
appreciate any suggestions

I love the thermopen. I've got an original, I'd love the Mk4 but that ain't happening until this one dies. Are all the butts roughly the same size? I'd put the smaller ones on the bottom, because as you said the upper grate should be hotter. I'd put the meat probe maybe in the smallest one and then just check the others for temp with the thermopen when that one reaches 160. The smoker probe could go either way. I'd probably just put it on the top rack.

You might want to consider swapping the upper and lower roughly halfway through. That's probably less important if you finish them in the oven. If you were doing the whole cook on the smoker I'd definitely advise the swap. Not swapping can end with the lower ones taking several hours more than the uppers.

Following some advice I read here, on my last cook I just stuck the grill probe through the grommet. It stayed in place and was well out of the way. It wasn't much closer to the edge than it would have been had I used the grate mount so I think the temp reading was fairly accurate.

For the meat probe just be sure you aren't too close to the bone. Since you're planning to finish in the oven, aside from that, I don't think it matters all that much.

I only use the meat probe as a general guide for when to start checking for properly done state. When it hits about 195F I start using a handheld probe to see if it feels like butter all the way through the center. Wrapping the butts will make this a bit more complicated.

I used peach, apple, and a bit of half-spent cherry on some pork butts yesterday. It was the first time I've used all fruit wood. The smoke flavor seemed a bit more subtle but that may have been just suggestion from what I've read online. I'd need to do a side by side comparison to know for sure. At any rate, I did like the result. Not that there's anything at all wrong with a mix of cherry and hickory. I'd just use more cherry than hickory.

Welcome RC!
I just did 4 a few weeks ago for a party on my 22.5" WSM. No water just an empty foiled pan. Two per grate and started at 6.00PM and pulled off at 10.00am.
I don't do probes any more, just a turkey fryer therm stuck in the top vent. WSM ran 250-275ish for most of the night, had to reload charcoal once at 5.00am and a little more round 8.00am.
I did each one in half pans and when probe tender I foiled the top and slid em in a Cambro that my BIL had.
I started pulling one at a time round 2.00 pm and they were all still piping hot.
I used KBB and lumb on this one and the smoke flavor was Hickory, Oak, Pecan and Apple, Cherry ( It's what I had, and since was only my third overnite, I really wanted to load up)

Tim

I just started using my 22 and if I was doing 4 butts I would do it on the top rack. If you stand two butts on end and push two bamboo skewers through them they will stand. You do the same with the other two and they should fit on the 22. I know it sounds crazy but if it works life gets simpler. I cooked 3 standing up on the top grate of my 18.5 WSM.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Great site , I'm sure I will learn a lot

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