Overnight or Early AM?


 
W

W Busse

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Hello, long time lurker first time poster. I am planning on cooking 2 9lb butts and 4 spare racks on my 22 WSM this weekend. We are shooting for Sunday around 7:00 pm to eat. I estimate around 12 hrs for the butts and 6-8 hrs for the spares (please correct me if wrong). Should I do the butts overnight and foil in a cooler till ready to pull and do a separate smoke for the spares or start the butts ~5am and toss the spares on when I get down to about 6hrs left?

I have done plenty of butts before, but overall this is a bit more meat than I have done at one time in the past.

Thanks for any help, I am excited to participate in my first Smoke Day.
 
I would start the butts earlier. Those nine pounders could take 15 hours or more, especially if you get a stuborn one. In my experience giving yourself extra time takes the stress out of having a time deadline, especially if you're having people over. Good luck.
 
If this were me I would just get up a little early (4am?) and put the butts on then. I think for a 9 pound butt, 12 hours might be a tad short. I would give it about 13-14 hours plus and hour or so to rest.

Russ
 
I prefer early cooks then overnights. I never sleep well thinking about the smoker etc.
Ribs are fairly predictable 4-6 hours depending how hot your running.

If the butts are running long, you can always foil them and finish in the oven.
 
I'm doing the same thing. Get everything ready the night before. Get your coal in the chim, everything clean and ready to go. Get whatever trays, supplies, whatever you need all set. Prepare the butts that night.

Get up around 4am, fire the coal, and get your butts in. Should take about 30 minutes or so if you don't dilly dally. Then go back to bed. You'll be good for the next few hours so don't worry about it.
 
If you are cooking at ~250*, the general rule of thumb for a time estimate for butts is 1.5 to 2 hours per pound. If you want to eat at 7, you want the butts done by 4-5 so you have time to rest and pull. I think you would do well to start the butts at 11 PM. That gives you 17 hours to 4 pm for your 2 9 lbers. You just might need that amount of time. When the clock is ticking and getting close to eating time, you don't want to be wishing you started earlier. Spares should take about 5-6 hours if you don't foil, less if you foil
 
Thanks for all of the replies, I think that I will do an overnight just to be on the safe side. I'll update and let you know how it worked out.
 
I've always done overniters for my butts even with my cranky offset that demands you pay it attention every 2 hours! I've had some 9 and 10 pounders take up to 19 hours!

Can't wait to get my new WSM so I can get some sleep!! LOL
 
I'm another one for getting it smoking and then hitting the sack. I have a wsm, so I see no point in getting up before the chickens and cooking all day with the worry of maybe not getting everything BBQ-TENDER.
 
Dave has a point. I've cooked during the day and by the end of the cook I'm really tired and impatient for it all to be done. Whereas in an overnighter, you get the WSM settled in and go to bed. Wake up rested. Remember, its not just the cooking time but also you need to add in the meats' resting time plus the time, at least for me, to shred ,sauce and repack the pulled pork into bags. Oh yeah, my wife would kill me if I don't put his in,CLEAN UP
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You said it, Paul. Impatience and stress just doesn't go well with beer or my style of bbq.
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By sometime 'round mid-day, I'll have the butts and/or briskets resting in a hot cooler, so I'll just forget about 'em till almost supper. I then have the afternoon to get the wsm cleaned up, but it's still hot, so appetizers like stuffed jalapeno's can be put on as well. Honestly though, I might just chill or get a nap.
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