Drip pan and 4 butts...what to do?


 

Willie (Green Bay)

TVWBB Member
Ok, i am cooking for a large BBQ this Sat and I am doing (4) 10lb butts on my WSM. Tyipcally i only do 1 or 2 butts which allows me to put them on the top rack and my drip pan on the 2nd rack. But now that I am doing 4 and using both racks for meat, where do i put the drip pan??? I use the waterbowl so putting something there is not an option.

The only thought i had was the put my meat on the lower rack, set the upper grate on top of the meat and make some quick hangers so that I can basically hang the lower rack from the upper rack. Then i could just use my grate from my 18.5 kettle above the water bowl with my drip pan.

Anyone else ever done this or have a better idea?

I need to catch those drippings...that's half the goodness right there!!
 
hi, i would suggest you use a third grate ...

but not how you describe it !!!

put the drip pan on the bottom grate and then put the grate of your 18.5 kettle right on top of it, there should be enough space left to add your meat ... so here you go ... a grate, a pan, a grate, meat, a grate, and meat again ...

no hangers needed !
 
Originally posted by Louis:
hi, i would suggest you use a third grate ...

but not how you describe it !!!

put the drip pan on the bottom grate and then put the grate of your 18.5 kettle right on top of it, there should be enough space left to add your meat ... so here you go ... a grate, a pan, a grate, meat, a grate, and meat again ...

no hangers needed !

I wouldn't. Ten pound butts are pretty THICK.

Actually, I wouldn't worry with any pan, other than the water pan of course. If you cook to the optimum tenderness and compare with and without the drippings, I honestly think you'll probably find they're over-rated. I'd flip and rotate the butts 180* sometime about an estimated third of the way into the cook, not only for evenness, but better bark since there'll be little or not space between them at the beginning.

Give yourself plenty of time on this cook, and if done early, tent 'em for a while to let cool a bit before wrapping up in foil and throwing in a cooler. Residual cooking with that much hot pork can turn some fine bbq into "a little dry and kind of mushy" quicker than you'd think.
 
I don't understand..
You are cooking 4 butts on an 18 inch WSM.
IF so, you don't need a drip pan. You will have the water pan between the coals and the two racks.
So it would be coals, water pan, middle grill rack, top grill rack..
Two butts on the top, two butts on the bottom rack...
Or am I missing something?
 
@ Louis. I thought about your idea, but the reason for the hangers was to try and hopefully get some airflow between the drip pan and the bottom of the butts directly above the pan.

@ Dave & Brian. The reason for the drippings being added is due to dryness. When I went from smoking on my 22" OTG to a WSM i found that doing everything exactly the same (temp's, time, etc) the meat was coming out dryer on the WSM than what I used to get on the OTG. The only difference being that i would not put the drippings in after on the WSM. So basically, if I don't add the drippings in when cooking on the WSM, my meat after shredding is dryer than what it used to be.

I typically smoked them at 225-250, did NOT rotate them at all, pulled them at 190 and wrapped them in foil then in some towels and put them in the cooler to rest for 1hr and then shred them. The only difference being the addition of the drippings.

I have never done 4 butts, but i was figuring on starting the smoke the night before around midnight so that i could rest them for 1hr, shred them and have everything ready for 5pm.
 
Originally posted by Willie (Green Bay):
The reason for the drippings being added is due to dryness....I typically smoked them at 225-250, did NOT rotate them at all, pulled them at 190 and wrapped them in foil then in some towels and put them in the cooler to rest for 1hr and then shred them.

HMMMM....The focus on time and temp and use of "shred" makes me think you're not cooking long enough. The word "shred" is the farthest thing from how I'd characterize proper pulled pork. "Pulled" means that the pork just needs a little help to get to avg. thumb-sized chunks (which don't dry out as fast as shreds) since the meat falls apart on it's own. You're not trying to rest for hours in a hot cooler so I have no reservations in suggesting you cook til you can poke the butt with a fork and twist it. The final IT when tender and cooked evenly is gonna be more like 195-200*, 190* being workable if coolering hot for a few hours, but that's another variable I'd rather not play with if at all possible. Hope this helps.
 
Willie, I should add that you'll find that not only will the pork have a softer texture, but it'll definately have more moisture, and I'm really pretty sure cooking longer will give you satisfactory results.

If you want meat drippings though, about the only thing I could suggest would be to wrap the butts once the bark looks good, but I'd really advise against it. You might just take a good red sauce and thin it some with vinegar if you want more moisture in the meat. I typically don't see the need, though. Those big butts will hold more moisture since there's less surface area. Do turn and rotate though for even cooking. Good luck with it, and again, hope this helps.
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Willie I am with Dave...don't worry about drippings, either foil the water pan or fill it with hot water. You really don't need drippings with pork butts. On the WSM those babies will end up melting like butter in your (and your guests) mouth.

Have a red KC sauce and a vinegar Carolina sauce available, maybe some Cole Slaw, pickle chips, good buns, and you will be in like MONEY. Make sure to give the butts a good dose of smoke early (first couple of hours.) Hold the temp around 225 to 250 and don't look back!

JJ
 
Tell ya'll a good vinegar sauce if you want to splash a little on before serving. I wouldn't use too much or use as a "moisturizer", though.

It's Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q Vinegar Sop Mop, but I have no idea where to find the "colored vinegar" it calls for. You can sub regular white, though. Maybe Big Bob was trying to hide the fact he wasn't using cider vinegar, or simply hide all the cayenne. For 7 cups of sop mop, it's:

6.5 cups white or colored vinegar
1/2 cup cayenne pepper (Yes, 1/2 cup cayenne pepper, not red pepper flakes!)
2 TB salt
3 slices of lemon

Make a couple of days before the bbq and tell any chili heads to shake it up and use liberally. Just let the other guests try it. It's amazingly tame since the cayenne is mostly at the bottom of the jar, but it my favorite vinegar dip now and far surpasses any Carolina dip IMHO. Chris Lilly says it'll keep in a jar for up to two weeks at room temp.
 
@ Dave. Sorry, my fingers were misbehaving and foolishly typed shred vs. pulled. I do all my pulling with a set of bear claws and the only time i do a fine pull is if i'm feeding alot of old people (last thing i need to worry about is cracking ribs at a BBQ
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So, if it were you, how would you approach this cook. (4) 10lb butts with bone in and fat cap on. They are calling for 40 degrees Friday night and high of 67 on Saturday.
-What time would you start cooking?
-Would you pull at 190 and rest in cooler longer than 1 hr or cook till 195 and only cooler it for 1hr?
-Im picking the meat up Friday afternoon, should i let it sit out and get to room temp or put it on chilled?

Thanks in advance.
 
Willie, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I suggest starting a new thread on the Barbecuing forum titled something like "Four 10lb butt suggestions for the 18.5?" You'll get a lot more help that way, especially from the few that have cooked that much.

Basically though, if your cooker has good fit and you've had no trouble managing temps, I'd suggest using a clay pot base instead of water in the pan. (I think a 14" would fit in your Weber pan, but I use a Brinkman pan with a 12" one.) If you're nervous about that, only start off with one gallon of hot tap, and then add more after the cooker gets up to temp.

I measure with a probe in the vent and try to keep 235-250* after initial heat up. If you go by the Weber dome therm, you'll be able to relax some once it reads 200*, and I'd be fine as long as it doesn't go over 250* since you've got a full bottom rack. As for temps and times, I'd probably allow for at least an 18hr cook, maybe one or two more depending on the weather; flipping/turning the butts 180* 6 hours or so into the cook and hopefully they will have shrinked some so that you can make sure there is some space between them. (I'm sure others might know better since I've had no more than two nine pounders or so on a grate and can always make a little space between 'em.) The cooker will be slow to come up in temp, but that's ok. Don't be afraid to leave the vents open for a long time. I've done overnight cooks a couple of times where they STAYED 100% open til the next morning, but like I said, my cooker is pretty tight and cooks low.

I wouldn't let the meat sit out except for maybe half an hour, so it takes the rub easier. This all depends on your schedule, and it's perfectly ok to pull butts out of fridge and out of bags, let sit on counter while you mix a rub up, rub, then throw on the cooker.

I use a torch and usually water in the pan on a rather slow cooker, but if going dry on my cooker, I'd probably start with 1/2 a chimney. Every cooker is different, but my basic idea is to try not to have 275*+ heat hitting the bottom rack outside the pan, and this can be checked by use of a fairly accurate cheap oven therm placed on the bottom grate right inside the door. If you're careful, you can rotate the cooker on the base and check all sides, but don't worry about it too much. Pork butt is pretty forgiving. More people undercook than overcook, and if you're cooker has been on the "slow side", you might want to allow for a full 2hrs/lb since they'll be no space between the two on each rack.

Expect your bottom rack butts to be done first since the rack will be so full, and that's what the door is for. (Position the butts so you can check both through the door.) Personally, I'd rather cook til tender where you can turn a fork in 'em and have no guesswork on the residual cooking. In other words, after they're done, tent with foil a while after cooking and then hold in a cooler for hopefully no more than two or three hours. You just have to use your judgement when deciding how hot to hold and when to cool and reheat if a cook gets done way too early.
 
Well, I'm going to comment. Here goes.

I would use water in the pan. Clay is an inefficient heat sink. And you do not need inefficiency that close to your lower butts. I would exchange and rotate but not until after about half the projected cooktime has past - maybe slightly sooner. Just take a look at the lowers and go from there. Looking crispy? Rotate.

I would not save drippings because I find them too oversmoked to be useful. (They collect smoke big time all cook. Not interested.)

I would not let the meat sit out either. Fire your smoker using more lit than usual (like half a chimney, as Dave suggests) and rub the meat while the lit is getting going. When you pour the lit, assemble the cooker and add the meat.

I'd shoot for 250-265 temps if wishing to go low/slow. I see no advantage in going lower.

I'd rotate butts again 2-4 hours after I rotated the first time, and probably another time or two after that, at the 2-hour mark.

I'd plan 22 hours. It's all temp-dependent.

My two cents.
 
Kevin, thanks for the input on this. I'm sure I'll try a forty pound cook myself some time in the future.

I suggested rotating the butts six hours in for the purpose of getting more bark started as well as more smoke exposure. Going by your suggestions for multiple rotations though, it confirms my thoughts that it would be good to rotate at least once more. Do you suggest flipping in these instances as well?

As for your 22 hour estimate, I think I see the logic...no space between butts, cool weather, slow start-up, especially if filling that giant '09 wsm water pan up. Just a FYI though: my own "maximum" cooks of 32-35#'s that went eighteen hours seem to confirm other posts that the OP should have no problem getting the butts done in eighteen hours if keeping the temp at the vent in your recommended range. If memory serves, it seems like many of the posted 18 hr/35lb-ish cooks and my own were actually more like 225-250*, but even though it takes a while to get up to 250*, I whole-heartedly agree with the 250-265* range recommendation. It's just very hard to achieve on a tight cooker full of meat with lots of water, even in good weather, and that's the reason for my suggestion to possibly skip the water or start with just one gallon. I know that on one or two of my big cooks with water I had to leave the vents open 100% all night long, and so many folks post that the clay pot base helps even out temps between the grates and it works for them.

I've used my 12" clay base a couple of times and saw that vent changes were noticeably slower to take effect and that the temp recovered significantly faster as after checking meat; thus the clay must act as a significant heat sink, although admittedly, not near as effective in keeping temps down as water. With forty pounds of pork in a cooker though, that's already a lot of water when you think about it.

As suggested, the OP posted on the BBQ forum and got some input from others, including Josh, who seems to have posted more about cooking full grates of pork than most anyone else lately.

Sorry so long, but like I mentioned at the top, would you go ahead and flip when you rotated and why or why not? I used to flip at least a couple of times on my old UDS (starting fat down) and butts seemed to cook very evenly. I really value your opinion and have learned a lot from your posts. Thanks a bunch.
 
Ok, now I'm kinda leaning towards at 8-9pm start time for getting the meat on the grill.

I should have my Maverick ET-372 today, so hopefully i have time tonight to master that thing. Are they usually pretty accurate out of the box or do I need to test it ahead of time?
 
I don't flip butts. One can, nothing wrong with it, I don't. I will rotate, i.e., reorient so that inner is now outer, and exchange, i.e., butts on the bottom move to the top, but I don't flip. I don't like messing up the bark.

I tend to figure cook time generously. Yes, you're right in figuring out my logic. There are a lot of variables that can slow a cook of this size. Not so many that can speed it up.

I agree with the water recommendation. I'd either go with less or none, and possibly not add any at the outset, but I usually do anyway - very hot. The water disallows crustiness on the bottoms of the lower butts allowing some time to pass before exchanging - you can actually forgo it entirely in most cases. I dislike how ceramic radiates heat, especially so close to the lower grate. I do not care at all about evening the temps between grates and, frankly, do not understand why anyone would.

Adding air to the draft after the initial rise can boost cooktemps, if necessary to get up to a higher range.
 
Thanks, Kevin. Really appreciate it.

Willie, I always check therms in boiling water to see how close to 212*F it reads. Just don't submerge past the probe. Good luck with your cook, and hope you see lots of clean plates and messy smiles.
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