How much additional time for 3x butts vs 1x? Recommended start time for noon serving?


 
B

BrianJM

New member
Hey all,

I am planning a party for ~20 over the weekend. The intent is to serve pulled pork around noon. At 1lb of pulled pork per person, I am looking at 3x 6-7lb butts.

I have only smoked a few butts on the WSM. With that experience I have gathered that at a goal smoker temp of 225 will require 1.5-2 hrs/lb + ~2 hours of wiggle room (as suggested in various places). If I am smoking a 7lb butt, I need 16 hours plus time to sit. This is what I needed in the past from smokes at outdoor temps less than 45 degrees (overnight) and a bit windy, and temps dropped to about 200 degrees overnight (oops!). 225 is fine when I have nothing but time on my hands, but this weekend I do not. :)
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I really want these all to be done at about 9-10am so they can sit for a couple hours and serve around noon. Assuming that I increase the goal smoker temp to 250, what time would you recommend starting? Outdoor temperatures will be highs in the 80s and slows in the 60s.

What is the impact of smoking time with 3x equal sized (7lb) butts vs 1x 7lb butt?

I appreciate any advice you have...
 
I'd give myself an extra hour, but I haven't noticed much of a difference in time with more butts. If you want to speed it up you can always foil too.
 
250-275 usually runs 90 to 75 mins per pound ( respectively ) on my 18.5" WSM in my backyard. So I would go with a 10.30 pm start or earlier, if done early, hold them in a cooler.
Cook times stay the same on multiple butts, the only drag is the come up to temp takes a bit longer if running naturally.
HTH, and Good Luck!
Tim
 
BrianJM said:
Thanks for the replies! Does the WSM consume move fuel since the surface area (meat) is larger?
Click to expand...

At any given chamber temp, more butts (thermal mass) will have almost no effect on cook time. I.e. @ 250 degrees chamber temp, 1 butt or 10 butts will take the same amount of time.

Your last question is spot on. When adding more thermal mass to the smoker, it will take more lit fuel to reach the target chamber temp and you will burn through more fuel overall in sustaining those chamber temps. Also, initial recovery time for the chamber temp will be longer as well. So, when adding more butts, start with more charcoal overall, more lit charcoal to begin with and preheat to a slightly higher temp than you would for one butt. All that said, don't go crazy. We aren't talking about doubling the amount of charcoal (lit or unlit) or preheating to 500 or anything like that. If you want to cook at 250ish, try to dial it in at 275 -285 to start before you add the butts.
 
DaveW said:
At any given chamber temp, more butts (thermal mass) will have almost no effect on cook time. I.e. @ 250 degrees chamber temp, 1 butt or 10 butts will take the same amount of time.

Your last question is spot on. When adding more thermal mass to the smoker, it will take more lit fuel to reach the target chamber temp and you will burn through more fuel overall in sustaining those chamber temps. Also, initial recovery time for the chamber temp will be longer as well. So, when adding more butts, start with more charcoal overall, more lit charcoal to begin with and preheat to a slightly higher temp than you would for one butt. All that said, don't go crazy. We aren't talking about doubling the amount of charcoal (lit or unlit) or preheating to 500 or anything like that. If you want to cook at 250ish, try to dial it in at 275 -285 to start before you add the butts.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great advice!

I have been using this method, which places the meat on the cooker immediately. Assuming I do this, it will simply take longer to settle at my goal temperature, correct?

Anyone have a good guesstimate relating to the time I should put the meat on the smoker?
 
I put the meat on the smoker at 8pm. I could barely fit 2x 8lb butts on the top rack of the 18.5" WSM.

This smoke kept me up all night. After 3 hours, I filled the water bowl to the top with hot water. This was a huge mistake - I had a hellova time getting the temps over 220. At 5am I removed all but a 1/2 gallon of water and I added 30 lit coals. This finally allowed me to stabilize at 245 for ~4 hours. I removed from the smoker at 9am and placed in foil in a small cooler for 3 hours.

I pulled it off, but I had doubts at 6am. It was a hit!
 
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