How Many Coscto Pork Butts fit on the top rack?


 

MarkG-ATL

New member
Hey y'all- I am doing my first pork butts this weekend for my wife's bday party and had two questions. We'll have 40-50 people so I'll be doing 4 pork boneless pork butts from Coscto. I also will be smoking some baked beans so my hope was to fit all the pork butts on the top rack and have the beans below them.

1) Can 4 fit on the top? Another idea would be do 2/2 until its time to put the beans on which would be very late in the smoke and then move the 2 from the bottom rack to the top rack if they shrink.

2) If I do 2/2, will one rack cook faster than another, and is there a strategy on which butts (smaller or larger) should go on what rack?

Thanks!
 
I would go 2 and 2 for the first 8 hours, then they will have shrunk enough to fit on the top rack better and put the beans on the bottom for the finish. 3 butts fit excelent, 4 can fit but it might get a bit crowded at first.
 
For which butts go on which rack it depends on your cooker setup.

You want the larger butts on the hotter rack. If you use water in the pan the top rack will be hotter, and if you use an empty pan or clay saucer, the bottom rack will be hotter.

But putting all four on the top rack halfway with the beans underneath like Chris suggests is a great idea, you'll get a bunch of good renderings caught in the bean pan at that point.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris Bjork:
I would go 2 and 2 for the first 8 hours, then they will have shrunk enough to fit on the top rack better and put the beans on the bottom for the finish. 3 butts fit excelent, 4 can fit but it might get a bit crowded at first. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I like the idea of 2 and 2. I did two Costco boneless this last weekend and if you tie them like a roast you can easily get 3 on each grate. I did two butts with no issues
 
Thanks All- I will be doing 3/2- accepted invites keep climbing so I needed to get a 5th butt
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- and then transferring one of the bottom ones to the top to make room for the beans. Should be EPIC!! Can't wait!
 
I do 2 & 2 in an 18.5" all the time, so the same thing in a 22" should be no problem at all. I've even done 3&3 one time. It was a little tight and I ended up standing the butts on end in my 18.5, but you should have no problems in the bigger WSM.

I have done them both ways, with the water pan and the clay pot. I end up using the water pan more often than not as I think it handles the temp swing better when I add lit coals about 2/3 of the way through a 18-20 hour smoke. Flip side is I get a longer burn on the clay pot base. I do use a power draft which make either way easier.
 

 

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