6 pork butts, need your opinion


 
B

B. Kaylor

TVWBB Fan
Next weekend I will be smoking 6, 8-9.5# butts. I have done 6 before - 3 to a grate, on their sides. Now, I have a 2nd. bottom grate that can be attached to give me 3 cooking levels. Do you think that it would be better to use 2 grates w/ 3 butts each, or stack the 3 grates w/2 butts each?

I will be cooking them for 13 hours, at 250*-275*, coming off at around 2:00 P.M. With a 2 - 2.5 hr. cooler rest, I want to pull around 4:30 to serve at 5:00. I know that, done is done, and a longer cooler rest is O.K. I can not get them on any sooner than 1:00 A.M., as I work a 2nd. shift job.

Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated. My main consern is, if using 3 grates, will there be enough air flow between the layers? And with 4 butts "over head", will the bottom 2 have too much pork juice dripping down on them?

Don't you just LOVE springtime....with all of that BBQ smoke wafting in the air?? [wafting...that's an Ohioism]
 
I doubt it matters. Personallly my approach would be to do 3 on each grate since you can access two levels more easily than three(depending on how your mod works).
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Matt A 3:
I doubt it matters. Personallly my approach would be to do 3 on each grate since you can access two levels more easily than three(depending on how your mod works). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's what i'd do as well. No point in using 3 grates when 2 will work just fine.
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Thank you for the input! That was my plan in the 1st. place, but then I thought that sometimes a different method just may work better. It's just nice to hear it from others. Thank you.
 
How does your cook time/temps differ with that many butts? I usually do 2, but am going to be doing 4 next weekend. I was thinking that my cook times would probably the same, but wanted to double check.
 
Mike, I usually cook with "stuff"on both grates, and it will take a bit longer [say 30 min.] than with using 1. The extra meat increases the heat sink, and a little longer ramp up time for the temps is needed. I added a 2nd. top vent and that really helps to get temps up quicker. Or just offset the lid [BSM=Bryon S. Method], that works well also. I'm short on time for this cook, so I'll bump up the temps a bit. Hope your cook goes well!!
 
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