extra time?

[Guest]

I have cooked many pork butts - and they all have averaged about 2 hours per pound to get the 195 - 200 internal temps... All of these I have cooked have been one butt at a time...

If I am going to do 4 - 2 on top and 2 on the bottom grate - how much more time should I plan for the cook?

Same question would apply for 2 briskets at a time - as well as cooking 4 turkey breast at a time?

As always - thanks for your help and advice...

Gary in AR

 

[Jim Minion]

I find doing 4 doesn't change the time much, there is still room for the cooker to breath.
It's when you start cooking much more than that you can find the pit has a hard time getting up to temp.
Jim

 

[Dale Groetsema]

Last summer I helped my brother cook BBQ for a fair in Fairbanks. WE had a cookshack and two WSM.

We regularly cooked 6 butts at a time on the WSM, and 3/4 of the way through the cook, when they shrink some, I would squeeze 4 on a grate to open up space to start more butts cooking.

As Jim mentioned, getting to temp is a challenge and air circulation is also a challenge--but definitely not for 2 butts per shelf.

Actually, your only concern might be that one or both butts hangs over the edge of the grate and right in line with the heat that rises up the sides of the WSM. Of course, this makes for some nice bark that mixes well with the other meat when you pull it, so it is not a real problem.

When cooking 6 butts, I did start the Minion method with a full chimney instead of just 10-15 briquets lit. Gave the fire a "running start". Time wise, it still took about 2 hours per pound for the last one to get done. We did so many and never really weighed them. We tested for doneness by the bone method--loose enough to just about pull out, the meat is done. Some got done faster cause they were smaller or spent more time in a hotter part of the WSM than others.

Dale