Help! 32lbs of Pulled Pork on a Campout!


 
C

ColbySheridan

New member
Hi Guys – need some advice.

Heading out for a Cub Scout camping trip next weekend, where I volunteered to help with the food. Pulled pork and beans are for dinner on Saturday night, and I’m thinking through logistics. Given 60ppl, I’m thinking somewhere on the order of 32 lbs total starting weight, which factors in a 40% loss. I have not purchased the butts yet, but assume they will be 8-9 lbs / piece, all smoked on an 18” WSM. As a practice, I smoked a 3.75 lb butt today. I kept very thorough data, and it took 9.5 hrs(!) to hit 195 (avg. pit temp was 254).

Questions:
-While it went on the smoker it was very cold (36*) Why did the small butt take so long to finish today? Ambient was 47, low to no wind. Charcoal ring was about 2/3 full of Kingsford. Empty, foil lined pan.

-If I’m shooting for around 6pm to eat, when should I start smoking? I have two options – start them the night before and keep it low, or start them when we wake up (7-8am) and go a bit higher, all the while allowing for a 30 min rest + pulling. Thoughts? What else have I forgotten? Any tips?

Thanks in advance!
 
buying that much you may as well buy an entire case from Costco (if that's an option); the price is somewhere around 20% lower when you buy the case (probably ~45# IIRC).

I'd probably cook a few more #s than you're planning, maybe one more butt, buy a whole case & save one in your freezer at home.

It's been a while since I've cooked that much, I'd do the overnight method----my high heat cooks have all taken >10 hours, I'd plan on >16 hours, maybe 18+. You can milk the clock easier than forcing the meat to be ready, don't cook to temp, but I'd plan on taking it a bit over 195F.

It also might be a good idea to skip the water altogether, I don't think it'd help you much with so much meat as a heatsink anyway.

Also, if you can't seem to get the temp high enough a lot of people prop their door open but I normally just off-set my lid just a little bit.

Enjoy!
 
I'd do overnight myself. I generally start an 8 to 9 pounder round 2am if I plan to eat by 5pm. With 32 pounds of pig, you're looking at something like a 16 hour cook.
 
Go overnight and low-n-slow if cooking two to a grate in the 18. You want to allow time for all that meat to heat up and cook. Good luck with it.
 
Over night. I'd rather have that comfort zone of having plenty of time, rather than deal with the stress of trying to cram it in in one day.
 
I tend to like to have a time cushion rather than rushing things cause you really never know how long it will take. Yeah you can have an idea of a timeline but from my experience, I'd rather have it done and wrapped, waiting for dinner time, rather than having a bunch of hungry people waiting for the meat to cook. Also if you do end up running against the clock, you can always wrap them to speed things up.
 
I once cooked 4 butts that were 8-9 lbs for a fundraiser. I started them at 10:00 PM at 250. I got up at 6:00 AM and wrapped them in foil. WSM was still breezing along at 225. I put them all in a cooler wrapped in towels at 8:00AM and when I unwrapped and pulled them at noon they were perfect. No water in the pan. Good luck.
 
Yeah, I used to cook four butts at a time overnight on my 18 quite often before I got my 22. The biggest challenge is what to do if they get done hours ahead of time. I'd suggest cooking the butts till tender, even if done early, but let them rest unfoiled just a bit before wrapping and holding hot for very long. You want them to stay hot, but you don't want them to continue to cook and start to dry out and turn to mush.
 
Don't sweat it though. Butts are forgiving, and you can always add something like cola, AJ, or a thin sauce to the meat if any of them end up a little dry.
 
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