How to fit the most meat on the WSM?


 
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William Schmitz

TVWBB Fan
I'm cooking for a large crowd on Sunday (116 and counting). Am I better off cooking high heat briskets in serial fashion (2 + 2) or can I somehow fit 6 butts on the WSM? What's the most you've done at once? Can I make a teepee of butts, 3 on each level?

On a related question: Do you get more post- cooked meat from briskets or pork butts. Or put another way if you start with the same 30 pounds of each pre-cooked weight, what has more left after cooking?

Thanks for any advice.

Bill
 
Bill, with careful placement you can get 4 butts on each rack. You'll have to stand them on their side, bone side touching the grates, and use some tooth picks or skewers or? to keep them from touching if they won't stay upright. 3 per rack is easy, no problem there. Any time to pre cook the packers Fri and or Sat cool/cold, then slice, vac seal, reheat on Sunday? Some info here for you to read on how I do it. This works really, really well.
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Bryan:

Thanks for the advice. I think that may work, but I don't have a vacuum sealer. If I simply rewrapped in foil, can I accomplish the same thing? And I was assuming (I know, never assume), that I could reheat the brisket, tightly wrapped in the foil, in an oven? If so, what temp and for how long?

Thanks,
Bill
 
Bill, Plan B. If it was I, here's how I would do it with out a vac sealer. Get the Ziploc Freezer bags that have the double seal on them. DO NOT use zipper bags because they can leak. Put your slices in there and work out as much of the air as possible and proceed from there. A flat counter and an extra set of hands, you can do a pretty good job. I myself have never ever had any luck with brisket, foil and an oven for reheating. I know others say diff, but this is the best way to reheat brisket I have found so far. It took a while to get it right, but it really does work well for reheating brisket IMO.
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William, puree all the meat you need to cook, first, then pack it in every available space. It seals the door well too, to prevent air leaks that can mess with your temps.
 
Quick update:

Thanks for the advice, Bryan (and you too, Tom, but I did go with Bryan's advice
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).

Cooked the brisket Friday. Cooled it Friday night, then sliced it Saturday. Put the sliced brisket in disposable aluminum pans double covered with foil and then brought up to temp again on Sunday with a little of the reserved and defatted drippings. Yummy.

I was surprised how easy it was to get 3 pork butts on each level of the WSM. I always felt like I had it pretty loaded with two on each level-who knew? As usual, you guys are a wealth of useful info/tips.

Anyway, we had about 150 people show up today and we fed them all. We had 26 pounds of brisket (pre-cooked weight), and 44 pounds of pork, along with 60 hot dogs. The other people brought salads, chips, and desserts. Lots of fun and makes me confident that I can handle alot more people than I originally thought.

Thanks again,
Bill
 
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