Arranging pork butts on the WSM?


 
T

Tom D South Jersey

New member
I'm fairly new to the smoking art. I started smoking meat on my WSM about January. I have never smoked more than 2 butts at a time. We have a graduation party coming up and I have been called to duty. I want to smoke 4 butts this time. The question is should I put the larger pieces of meat on the bottom or top cooking grate. I want to pull the top pieces off first which will give me access to the two on the bottom grate. Your inputs are appreciated.
 
I just did a 9 pound pork butt and even though it fit on the top gille alright, it took 20 hours to smoke. I suggest smoking them at 235 and when they reach about 195 internal meat temp, take them off and let them cool down untill you can start "pulling pork". Also, the smaller they are, I "thin" you will get a better bark on the outsie, which is what I really like.

Good luck, and let us know how they turn out.
 
I usually get 3 8.5-9lb butts per rack on my 22. This gives enough room for good bark and smoke and keeps them more room toward the center to keep them safe from the direct heat up the sides. Packed tighter and you decrease the bark and have more uneven temps in the butt.

If you do both racks, yes keep the smaller on top. They may finish a little before the bottom, doing top/smaller and bottom/bigger is usually to even out cooking times. Have a cooler and HD foil around to pull and hold them as they come off. Double wrapped in HD and towels/blankets in a cooler will keep the meat for several hours before you pull.

For butts I shoot for 255-265 and figure 1.5 hrs/lb. If you get behind on time do the double wrap HD when the butts hit 160-165 to speed up the process, otherwise let them go to 195-198 if you go by temp.
 
Put your LARGER pork butts on the bottom grate.

I've only tried using a dry pan for a couple of pork butt cooks, BUT...even though HEAT RISES, I can tell you that as long as you use water in the pan to help keep the lower rack avg. temp. down, the top rack meat will be done at aproximately the same time or before the bottom rack butts.

For a typical pork butt cook in my 18.5", I'll try to find a couple averaging 9 lbs. for my bottom rack, and a couple averaging 8 lbs. for my top rack. Hope this helps.
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Put your biggest pieces where it's the hottest. If you use water in the pan then it's at the top. If you cook without water then its the bottom grate
 
The trick with doing a large cook is also in finding the right pieces of meat. If you are able to get butts that can stand on their thinner side (usually skin side) it's surprising how much you can fit on. There is ample vertical space in a WSM... the trick is using it!

As long as you are slow smoking them, even having a corner touch won't matter as they shrink up over time.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Put your biggest pieces where it's the hottest. If you use water in the pan then it's at the top. If you cook without water then its the bottom grate </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Using water in the water pan, as long as BOTH of my 18.5" grates have TWO pork butts on, I don't find much difference really.

However, on my last cook, I must say that I was surprised when my pork butts on the bottom grate were already done when my top grate brisket was tender. I suspect cooking a little hotter than my usual temp attributed to this since, although the water never exceeds 212*, the zone outside of the pan definately gets much hotter with the fire.
 
I did 16 butts on 3 WSMs over the weekend (also for a grad party).

Butts were arranged 3 on top, 2 on bottom of 2 cookers (dry water pans)and 3 & 3 on the other, also with a dry water pan, and all 16 butts were done just about the same time.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Clark "Harbormaster" Hodgson:
I did 16 butts on 3 WSMs over the weekend (also for a grad party).

Butts were arranged 3 on top, 2 on bottom of 2 cookers (dry water pans)and 3 & 3 on the other, also with a dry water pan, and all 16 butts were done just about the same time. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Clark. WHOOEE..That's a lot of smokin' going on. I'm curious. Did you put two large ones on the bottom racks and three smaller ones on top?
 
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