6 butts, 18.5 WSM, unsatisfactory results


 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Why would four butts take any longer to cook at 250 than two butts at the same temperature? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Your right Nate! It does not take longer to cook once you have reached your cook temp whether it be 225, 250 or more. It's the come up time that takes longer! I have done many big cooks and once up to my temp (250ish) they take 1.25-1.5hrs at best. I would highly recommend a dry foiled pan if doing more than 2 butts!
 
Nate, how cold were the butts when you put em on??? Very cold takes very long!

With six butts you have maxed out a small wsm. Do run the temps higher 250-275-thats what I use almost all the time I do butts. This is assuming a piedmont pan or similar no water technique. I started with 220-230* cooks. I relaxed with time now aim for 250 and do not worry about 275.

Finally, you may need to rotate top shelf butts to lower shelf...to get an even cook. In my cooker, there is a difference in cooking on different shelves so one rotation works for me with a big cook.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Petrone:
Nate, how cold were the butts when you put em on??? Very cold takes very long!

With six butts you have maxed out a small wsm. Do run the temps higher 250-275-thats what I use almost all the time I do butts. This is assuming a piedmont pan or similar no water technique. I started with 220-230* cooks. I relaxed with time now aim for 250 and do not worry about 275.

Finally, you may need to rotate top shelf butts to lower shelf...to get an even cook. In my cooker, there is a difference in cooking on different shelves so one rotation works for me with a big cook. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Steve, thanks a bunch for chiming in! I regularly do four butts w/ no rotation or turning. However, you confirm what I think I should've done on my last butt cook. I had five on w/ three on the top rack that cooked pretty unevenly. On two of them, the bone was practically falling out, but the side that was toward the center (all leaned up on sides against a beer can chicken stand) wasn't quite ready to pull.

Do you shoot for 250 measured at the vent?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Finally, you may need to rotate top shelf butts to lower shelf...to get an even cook. In my cooker, there is a difference in cooking on different shelves so one rotation works for me with a big cook. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Correct! The reason for this is the bottom gets the heat 1st then whats left over the top rack gets. The last big cook I done (8 8lb butts) I rotated the top 4 with the bottom 4 about 2/3 through the cook. However this time I used my middle rack for the bottom 4 and they came out better than the bottom rack near the pan.

Thanks for pointing this out Steve, I forgot to mention.
 
This is an interesting thread, I guess I have had great luck with my 22. I have done multiple cooks of 4 butts per rack and have never noticed a difference in the finished product. It does seem like a little more effort to keep the temp up, but I have managed to pull off the cooks with a 20lb bag of K and maybe a handful or two to get it to the finish line. I use water in the pan and cook 225-230 for right around 12 hours. I do foil at the halfway mark which I think helps with the cook time. I am going to give that stacking method a shot and see if that changes how much time I get out of the same amount of fuel. All in all, I couldn't be happier with my 22. I use the heck out of it and can't believe how much product you can get on it. Thanks for all of your input on this thread, always like picking up a new tip.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by c bay:
This is an interesting thread, I guess I have had great luck with my 22. I have done multiple cooks of 4 butts per rack and have never noticed a difference in the finished product. It does seem like a little more effort to keep the temp up, but I have managed to pull off the cooks with a 20lb bag of K and maybe a handful or two to get it to the finish line. I use water in the pan and cook 225-230 for right around 12 hours. I do foil at the halfway mark which I think helps with the cook time. I am going to give that stacking method a shot and see if that changes how much time I get out of the same amount of fuel. All in all, I couldn't be happier with my 22. I use the heck out of it and can't believe how much product you can get on it. Thanks for all of your input on this thread, always like picking up a new tip. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Relatively speaking, eight pork shoulder butts on the big WSM shouldn't be much more of a load than four on the little wsm, although I'm hearing it's much more prone to needing refueling.

Anyway, with up to 8 on the big WSM, or up to 4 on the little wsm, all the roasts are flat w/ a little space between them. However, when you squeeze three butts to a rack on the little wsm, or five to a rack on the big WSM, that's where you're gonna get a lot less heat circulation around the meat. I'm sure somebody would say that it would be better to add a third rack instead of having more than 2 or 4 on a rack, respectively.
 
I would have to agree, Dave. Honestly, I don't know how you would get 5 on a rack, small ones I guess. I usually get 7 pounders or so from Restaurant Depot and 4 is capacity. Seems logical there isn't a way around refueling when cooking a larger load. I think it's safe to say when cooking a full load there will be a little refueling involved. I get a pretty good stretch of "cruise control" once my WSM gets up to speed though, and it's a lot less hands on than firing up the off-set.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Nate L:
Dave: I've tended to do fairly large (8+ lbs) bone-in, cooked to 195-200 degrees and, yes, they usually go a solid 16 hours. I've got a thermometer at the top (the old standard "good" kind we had to drill in--I can't remember the name) and a thermometer at the rack. Maybe things just cook slower up here in Vermont.
Anyway, I'll reread all the posts but my basic question stands: why does it matter how much meat you have in the smoker if you've hit the desired temperature in the chamber? Why would four butts take any longer to cook at 250 than two butts at the same temperature?
All this is making my hungry. We're supposed to have nice weather this weekend (after two days of ice and snow) and I'm doing some ribs on Sunday...
cheers! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

4 butts are a LOT more thermal mass to absorb heat. Kinda like the differance between adding water to the pan or leaving it dry. So getting up to temp takes longer, but once the butts all get up to about 150° or so I imagine at that point they would start tracking time wise with a smaller load.

That being said it's not like you double your time or anything crazy with 4 butts vs. 2 butts, but I would allow for an extra hour or two - especially in cooler weather.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by c bay:
I get a pretty good stretch of "cruise control" once my WSM gets up to speed though, and it's a lot less hands on than firing up the off-set. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm with ya, there! I love firing up my stickburner for ribs, but I wore myself slap out last time I smoked butts and briskets on it.

I've got a sixteen pound packer to smoke under a couple of butts next week, and I can sleep soundly know the wsm will get it done right.
wsmsmile8gm.gif
 
I've had some of the same problems cooking for a big group. I don't cook with a water pan, I let temps get to 250 before the meat goes on but I've still had a lot of time variation, some if it disastrous (dinner 2 hours late).

so now I leave myself 18 hours for these type of cooks and haven't had a problem since.
 
Again, great feedback on this topic. The 'cue from the dreaded 6 butt smoke has received great reviews so maybe I was a little paranoid about too much smoke. I'm getting ready to get back on the horse as it were and have a 4 butt smoke lined up for this weekend (maybe 2x4 butts back-to-back). Based on this thread, it sounds like the recommendation is to lose the clay saucer, keep the pan dry, and let my WSM get to 250 before loading. That should get me back into the 12-14 hour cook times which are easier to fit in with respect to the resting, pulling, and packaging. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Todd
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"><snip>That should get me back into the 12-14 hour cook times which are easier to fit in with respect to the resting, pulling, and packaging. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Todd </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

.....what temp are you cooking at? I'd have to assume >275 for that timeline. My cooks (smaller load, maybe 2-4 max) always seem to take 16-19 hours.
 
Todd I just did 6 this weekend on a 22". I put them on with about 15lbs of tightly packed K with maybe three Applewood chunks about tennis ball sized buried near the top. Started it with half a chimmey of coals placed in the center. I foiled the water pan and had the clay pot in place. Closed one wheel and left two others open about a 1/4.

Each butt was anywhere from 8-12lbs Very close to 60lbs!!

External temp outside was around 45deg. Leveled the temp out at 250 per ET-73, pulled the butts out of the fridge (46deg) and placed them on the rack at 11pm...Put the smaller butts on the bottom rack because my WSM tends to run cooler on the bottom rack. Once the meat was placed on there the temp settled in at 239deg. Went to bed, ET-73 woke me up at 5:30am because the temp had hit 210. Added a few handfuls of coals.

Butts (all of them) hit 190 right at about 12pm so they were on for 13 hours... Pulled them at that time, double foiled them, wrapped them in towels, and placed in a cooler for 2.5hrs... Internal temp was still reading 176 when we started pulling..

They came out very moist!.. Not sure if this helps but thought I'd share.
 
[/QUOTE]
.....what temp are you cooking at? I'd have to assume >275 for that timeline. My cooks (smaller load, maybe 2-4 max) always seem to take 16-19 hours.[/QUOTE]

I like to use 225 as a soft target. The 250 temp would be to allow for the heat sink effect of 4 butts. There are folks who routinely cook theirs at 250 all the way. From what I understand, the butts are pretty forgiving with respect to cook temp. My normal 2 butt cook takes me 10-12 hrs at 225-240.

Todd
 
Bill, sounds like the perfect cook. That's how my 2-butt cooks usually come off. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back in the groove this weekend with an intermediate 4-butt.

Todd
 
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