(4) 10lb butts on 18.5" WSM....how long?


 
W

Willie (Green Bay)

TVWBB Member
Fellow WSM'ers!

This Saturday the wife and I are hosting a BBQ at our home for family and friends. This will be my 4th cook on my new WSM and my first ever BBQ'ing of this much meat.

I typically smoke between 225-250 and I can maintain these temps pretty accurately throughout a cook. Temps for Friday and Saturday at high of 65 during the day and low in the 50's at night.

So my question is, what time should i start cooking on Friday if I want to serve at 5pm on Saturday? Keep in mind i would like time to pull the meat, wrap in foil and towels and put them in the cooler to rest for awhile (at least 1hr)and pull it with my claws and serve. I will be using all Kingsford blue with apple chunks.

I just don't want to be scrambling and rushing anything so that's why I am asking the experts here.

This will also be my first cook with a Maverick ET-372.

Thanks in advance!!
 
in that situation if i weren't planning to foil to push through the stall then i would start at like 2am. maybe even earlier because i dont know how thick those butts are. i'm used to cooking 4-6# butts. but i'd definitely alot at least 14 hours especially if you want them to rest for an hour before pulling.
 
My original thought was to get the WSM going and up to temp at 250 and get the butts on by midnight. But the more reading i do, the more im panicking and thinking i should start even earlier.
 
that's a good plan. they definitely won't be done before you wake up in the morning so then when you get up you can just keep an eye on them and foil if you think they're moving too slowly. it's less of a big deal if they are done sooner. they can rest in foil in a cooler for 3 hours if need be.
 
I've done this twice with my Cousins backwoods clone. Once with 4 butts then another with 8 butts. All came out great.

You want to finish early, as you can keep them warm for hours on end.

I fired up the smoker around 9pm let it get good and stable with a temp(225), about an hour.

Then I put the meat on fresh from the fridge around 10pm. Once I got a stable temp of 225 again I went to bed. This took about an hour for the 4 butts and about 2 hours when I did 8.

Woke up in the AM, checked fuel and water and bumped temp up to 250 on the smoker. All butts finished around noon. Took them off the smoker double foiled and put in a pre warmed cooler with lots of towels.

I also took the probe thermometer and placed it on the outside, under the foil, of the top butt in the cooler. This way I could mesure the surface temp.

They stayed above 160 for over 4 hours. At 4pm when I pulled them they were still too hot to handle. I would think they would have held for at least another hour or two.

FYI, when you do a long hold the meat keeps cooking so you want to pull them a touch early. I pulled mine off at 192 and they were all great!!!

One thing I've learned is don't worry about it. Pork is very, very forgiving and very hard to mess up. Anything you cook will be 100's of times better then most of what people have eaten.
 
I typically cook 8-10 lb butts, between 255 & 270, and put them on around 9 pm the night before. If they get done early (probe tender) I just hold them in a cooler while I am working on other stuff. I learned it is easier to hold them than try to speed them up. Also, if you are worried about temps while holding, leave your probe in so you can monitor the temp.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark Kennedy:
One thing I've learned is don't worry about it. Pork is very, very forgiving and very hard to mess up. Anything you cook will be 100's of times better then most of what people have eaten. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i was going to mention the same thing. you can't really mess it up unless you pass out and let them seriously overcook or pull them too early.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Woke up in the AM, checked fuel and water and bumped temp up to 250 on the smoker. All butts finished around noon. Took them off the smoker double foiled and put in a pre warmed cooler with lots of towels. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What's the purpose of the towels? And are they just regular bath towels? Gordy
 
Everyone has said it. You can hold them wrapped for a long time. That being said, I would get the meat on no later then 10pm.. Last four buts I did was being pulled right up till 5 pm the next day.
Gordy, the towels just keep the meat nice and warm. You want to rest just about any meat you cook before digging in. As long as the meat doesn't go below 140 degrees..
 
Willie, assuming you're gonna hang your probe in the vent, it'll probably read 25* or more higher than your Weber gauge overnight til the meat heats up. That's ok though, and since you have so much meat on the bottom rack I'd just allow for about 19 hrs. and shoot for 235-250* at the vent. As for pre-heating the cooker, generally with the Minion method on the wsm, it's "light and load" so you're heating the meat at the same time and not wasting fuel. That's a lot of meat though, so you might have to unseat the lid a little or crack the door some to help get up to temp. Don't freak if it takes a while, though, and you can always bump up the temp in the morning some if needed.

Gonna use water in the pan?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">This will also be my first cook with a Maverick ET-372. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

First, I would suggest not putting the pit probe on the grate. Hang it in the vent. 4x 10 lb butts is going to take up every bit of both racks in an 18”.

I cook at 250° - 260° (at the vent) w/ a foiled saucer in a foiled water pan, no water. This usually ends up at 1.5 hrs / lb for me. I usually cook 8-10 lb butts. This weekend I cooked a couple at 240° and it was about 2 hr / lb.

I am not sure how many of your first 3 cooks on the WSM were butts, but putting this much meat in there means it is going to take longer to come up to temp. Therefore you will want to start with more lit charcoal than you would if you were cooking 1 or 2 butts. Once you are up to the temp you want, it pretty much takes the same amount of time whether you have 20 lbs or 40 lbs.

If I were doing this cook, I would get everything ready while it’s still light out Friday evening. At 9:30 I would fire the chimney and have the butts on there by 10. Watch the temps as they are coming up and make you vent adjustments and go to sleep. If I was at temp when I was going to sleep, I would cut them down to a third open each. Wake up and see where you are at. If you are at 280, cut the vents down more. If you are at 220, open them up. You will have enough time for any adjustments in the morning to make sure they will be done in time. Once down, wrap in foil and into a cooler for a couple hours.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gordy Anderson:
What's the purpose of the towels? And are they just regular bath towels? Gordy </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just to help hold the temps. If you fill the cooler with towels it's a better insulator then just empty space.

I've see people wrap with foil and then newspaper also. Anything to keep the butt warmer longer.

BTW, pre warming everything helps a lot also. I've went as far as putting the towels in the dryer if I knew I had to hold for a long time. It's really amazing how long they stay hot.

Just make sure you take the probe out of the meat and place it on the surface. The center of the meat will be the last to loose temp, were as the outside of the meat will cool off first.
 
It doesn't really matter. Forty pounds of hot pork butt will stay plenty hot for hours, and residual cooking is more of a potential issue with that much meat than simply seeing how long you can keep them hot. The grates are gonna be FULL, and if you start at 10pm. and shoot for 250* at the vent you shouldn't have to hold for long anyway.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
It doesn't really matter. Forty pounds of hot pork butt will stay plenty hot for hours, and residual cooking is more of a potential issue with that much meat than simply seeing how long you can keep them hot. The grates are gonna be FULL, and if you start at 10pm. and shoot for 250* at the vent you shouldn't have to hold for long anyway. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If i put meat on at 10, what's your guesstimate on the time i'd be pulling it on Sat?
 
Make adjustments like Josh said. I believe he's done this much in an 18.5" before and he knows what he's talking about. I believe the most I've done was five butts (three on end on the bottom rack), and it took eighteen hours. If you start at 10p and cook at an avg. of 250* at the vent I'd guess it's gonna be about the same or 4pm before it's all done. You can bump up temps some the next morning if needed since temps start evening out in the cooker the longer you cook, but I'd shoot for 250* for the overnight, and I'll reitterate: Flip and/or rotate the butts six hours or so in for even cooking, especially in your case since the racks will be packed.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Willie (Green Bay):
If i put meat on at 10, what's your guesstimate on the time i'd be pulling it on Sat? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would say around noon but it's aways different.

As for temp your concern isn't about pulling temp it's making sure it doesn't get below 150ish, for food safety reasons. Read the sticky at the top fo this board for more info on food safety.

Also, just noticed your in Green Bay. Disregard everything we've said. You want to cook at 300 for 20 hours, with no peeking
icon_wink.gif
That Green Bay weather can be brutal. --From a life long Bears Fan!!!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark Kennedy:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Willie (Green Bay):
If i put meat on at 10, what's your guesstimate on the time i'd be pulling it on Sat? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would say around noon but it's aways different.

As for temp your concern isn't about pulling temp it's making sure it doesn't get below 150ish, for food safety reasons. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Mark, never heard of anyone cooking forty pounds of pork butt in an 18.5" wsm to pulled tenderness in fourteen hours, or even sixteen hours, but I guess anything's possible.

That's a LOT of pork for a small cooker though, but I'll tell you what. Keeping that much pork hot for a reasonable holding time is NOT a problem. I can guarantee though that IF the butts are truly tender at noon and you pre-heat a cooler and take every precaution in keeping them hot til supper...well, let's just say there'll be a LOT of drippings left in the foil when time to pull, and we know why meat produces drippings. It's being cooked. Been there, done that, and thankfully I finally put two and two together. Gotta watch that residual cooking if you want consistantly moist and not mushy pulled pork.
 
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