How much meat can be done at one time

[Guest]

I am getting ready to cook a lagre quantity of meat for the company party. I have a 20lb brisket and 2-5lb butts. has anyone ever done this quantity in one cook? I was planning on tying the butts together and putting them on the top and trimming the brisket so it will fit on the lower rack. Using the 2hours per lb calculation this looks like about a 60 hour cook? Am I crazy or can this be done?

 

[Mike Provance]

David,

Welcome to the Forum! Dang you got a big ol brisket! 16 lber is as big as I have ever done. You could trim off some of the point and make it fit, or(easier) Roll the end of the flat under itself. After a few hrs the brisket should have shrunk sufficiently for you to straighten it out and lay it flat on the grate.

Personally, I wouldn't tie the Butts together. You don't need to.You will lose bark area, and probably flavor.

If you are able to hold your temp to 250 or a lil less, You might pop the top at 10 hrs, and check them out. Butts should be done or close to it.

You can move the brisket to the top grate then and if you are antsy, consider foiling the brisket at this point to speed it up a little.

Mike

 

[Doug D]

The hours per pound estimation applies to the single largest piece of meat, not the cumulative weight. But I still don't think you're looking at 40 hours. At the risk of not benefitting from the butts basting the brisket, I would think about putting it on the warmer top grate.

That's a very ambitious cook with company involved. You might want to consider cooking the day before to make sure the party's a happy one. BBQ meat, gently reheated, can be as good or better than the day before.

 

[Larry Wolfe]

I agree with Doug, I would do the cook a day ahead of time. Otherwise you may be running to KFC to keep the Natives from getting restless.

 

[Jeff S.]

Just got done doing 37 lbs of briskets (3 all together) and it took about 19.5 hours.
I had to pull them around 180 degrees, cause I had to be some where. Wrapped them in foil, and put in a cooler.
I had a very hard time keeping the heat up to 250, kept settling in around 210 with all the vents open.
Had to add coals several times to maintain the heat.
Darn near used a 20 lb bag of kinsford for this entire cook.
Alot of work I must say, but darn tasty I might add /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif