POLL: Mr. Brown weights and times


 
F

FJ Abraham

TVWBB Fan
I'd like everyone who has done the Mr. Brown cook to chime in with their weights and times for the cook.

It would give a good idea of consistency and planning.
 
FJ-

I would think that it would be hard to get much more consistency than the 2 hours per pound rule of thumb. Given the variables in each cook (weight of meat, shape of meat, proportions of fat and connective tissue in meat, type of fuel, temperature, water in the pan, sand in the pan, top grate, bottom grate, sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, etc, etc.), well, you get the idea.

Having said that, when I do butts (Mr. Brown or otherwise, doesn't matter), I usually have 6-7.5 lb, boneless pieces from CostCo, I target to cook at about 230 degrees, usually on the top grate, and they generally take 12-16 hours.

Hope that helps some.

R
 
I did an 8.5 pounder this sunday. Calm conditions, attempted to maintain 225 at grate (Lost temps in the early morning for a while). Used Minion method, took 19 hours.
 
i usually cook butts in the 7.5 pound range and cooks run from 16-18 hours. Butts will cook differently, even if they weigh the same. But, the 16-18 hour rule-of-thumb works for me whether I'm cooking one 7.5 lb butt, or 4. But, I'm using a BBQ Guru to keep temps consistent in my cooker.

Hope that helps.
 
I started 4 butts (a little over 7.5 lbs each) just before 7 last night and at 17.5 hours, they're only at 185º. They're finally on the rise though.. Cooking with the Guru and Silver Jacket at 225-230º.
wsmsmile8gm.gif
 
FJ, my cook went as follows:

Four TIED butts: 5#, 6#, 6 3/4#, 7# (24 3/4 lbs) from Costco
16 hours at 230–245°F (grate) to 195–198°F internal (2 hours/lb would have been 14 hours estimated, but tying the roasts might have accounted for the extra 2 hours)
57% yield: 14.19 lbs. pulled pork, well rendered

Rita
 
I did 2 boneless butts from CostCo approx 7.5.
Dome temp avg 230 - 260, to an internal temp of 195, took 17 hours.

Brinkman Pan.
Minion method.
Outside temp 48 to 55 degrees.
Slight drizzle on and off durring the night.
light wind in the last 2 hours of the cook.
 
I did a 8.5 lb butt from Wallyworld on Sunday at 240 degrees and it took 18 hours. Outside temp was confortable during the day 55-60, but it was breezy.
 
FJ,

Last cook - two 8.5-9 pounders, held 215-230 the entire cook to an internal of 192. Total cook time was 16 hours. Turned out great.

BTW I used the Dizzy Dust from dizzypigbbq.com that I recently won in the Christmas contest and it was AWESOME!!! As a matter of fact, I thawed some for dinner tonight for a sandwich and I'm still patting myself on the back!

Tom
 
2 weeks ago, 14 lbs total in two pieces bone in. In at 6:30pm, temp was 225ish when I went to bed but had dropped to 200 about 6 AM. Pushed the temp back up to get to finish temp at 9AM.

Finished weight before pulling was 9lbs - one piece just over 4 and the other was right at 5lbs.

Minion
Brinkman pan
calm - light wind, temp in the low 40s overnight.
 
This is great. Thanks for responding. Looks like I'm in for a long haul. Not too crazy about that with these Iowa temps. Oh well.
 
Did four butts in moderate wind at 37degrees F last weekend. Avg weight of butts were 7.5lbs. Put them on at 10pm and pulled them off at 12 noon...so about a 14 hour cook.
 
Hi guys:

This is a useful poll. I haven't done a butt yet, but was planning to do so within the next month and was wondering about cooking times.

It seems from the responses that a butt takes (more or less) 16 or 17 hours. As such, I get the impression that an overnight cook is the *only* feasible option if you intend to eat at a reasonable hour. Even if you put the butt on at 6am, you're still looking at a 'round midnight dinner.

That's unfortunate, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.

Sal
 
This will be my first butt also, it's even longer than doing a brisket, but that was worth it, so...

How long can you effectively hold these? I know 2 hours is acceptable, but more?
 
2 boneless butts, both from Costco, both tied. One was about 7 lbs, one was 6 lbs. Put one on the top grate and one on the bottom and started cooking at aroud 252 degrees. It was an overnight cook, so I'mnot sure how long it kept that temp. Put the meat on at 8:30 PM and pulled smaller butt at 10:15 (13.75 hours) the next morning and the second one at 11:15 (14.75 hours) . Smaller butt was at 200 deg, larger at 197 deg. I should also point out that for the last hour or so of the cook, the cooker temp was at around 270.
 
FJ,
I'm not quite sure what you're wanting here.
Are you asking specifically about "The Renowned Mr. Brown", or do you want to hear about any butt cooks?
I have never done "The Renowned Mr. Brown", so I can't comment on that cook.

My sparse logs indicate that generally it takes 1.5 - 2 hrs/lb, regardless of weight.

I have 2 7# butts on right now, and they've been going for about 11 hrs. Currently @ 170°.

BTW, I used 2 packs of Jack Daniel's smoke pellets. I'm not so sure I'm satisfied with the amount of smoke coming out of the top vent. Didn't look like quite enough, but the post-mortem will tell the tale. Will take the packs apart to see how they burned, and measure the smoke ring.

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever played Jenga with a brick chimney.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Sal DeTraglia:
It seems from the responses that a butt takes (more or less) 16 or 17 hours. As such, I get the impression that an overnight cook is the *only* feasible option if you intend to eat at a reasonable hour. Even if you put the butt on at 6am, you're still looking at a 'round midnight dinner.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Sal,
It doesn't have to be "overnight".
Put your meat on at midnight.
18 hrs later would be 6:00 PM the same day!

Just kidding, I know what you mean. I started my 2 last night at 9:00 PM, and was up till ~1:00 AM making sure everything was stable.

--
Charles

You might be a redneck if...
You’ve ever pricked your finger when you didn’t have a pen or pencil handy.
 
Thought I'd better chime in since I started the thread.

Just pulled two butts:

Initial: 6.5 lbs. each. after trimming
Yield: I have no idea! I forgot to weigh it, dang. It was a lot though!
Time: 15 hours.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by FJ Abraham:
This will be my first butt also, it's even longer than doing a brisket, but that was worth it, so...

How long can you effectively hold these? I know 2 hours is acceptable, but more? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you are asking how long you can keep them warm in a cooler, wrapped in foil and a towel, I have held 4 of them for 6 hours, (a lot of mass there) and have held 2 for 5 hours in a small cooler and they were still plenty hot and in the safe range. That's why I would rather start the smoke early to make sure it is ready, than cut it close and have 20 people walking around hungry and starting to get "the itch" lol. We may understand the motto "it's done when it's done", but the hungry mob may not.
icon_biggrin.gif
 
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