Pork Butt to the brim in the 18.5

[Matt H.]

I hate to ask a question that's been asked many times before, but I've looked through all the searches and the answers seem all over the place! For my twin boys first birthday party I plan on smoking 4 7-8 pound costco pork butts for pulled pork around 225 degrees. I know one butt usually takes me around 14 hours, but i've read estimates for a full loaded smoker from anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. Need to food ready to pull around 11am, but i plan on smoking some salmon right before hand so my current plan is to have it ready around 7 or 8 am and stash it in a cooler till i pull. I could always switch it to an oven if they are taking longer than expected. I would cook the butts ahead of time and reheat, but unfortunetely I don't think i'll have the time. any thoughts?

 

[David]

I would cut the butts in half so that you are cooking 4 pounders. I did this recently with a 17lb cut into 4 and it took me 10 hours running in the 235-255 range, no foiling, I left one butt on for another 45 minutes as it was not ready yet, all cooked to 195. Next time I will foil once they reach 160 or so, not sooner than 3 hours into the cook. Hope this helps..................................d

 

[Dave Russell]

Only you know your cooker and method, but as long as the weather is nice, you might try giving yourself an extra hour per additional butt, or 17 hrs if it takes 14 hrs for only one. This is not so that you'll have enough time for all the butts to get done cooking at "about 225", though. Actually, there's still plenty of circulation around four butts in the 7-8 lb range for all of them to cook about as quickly as only one would at a certain temp. It's just that with the Minion method, three additional butts will really put a damper on how your cooker heats up and ramps up to the target temp or temp zone. I've never had a cook take longer than 18 hrs, and that was with four butts on the 18.5" bigger than that, and once with five butts.

Here's a link to a cook that Chris A. did of four butts. Check out his notes and you'll see what I mean.
http://virtualweberbullet.com/pork2.html

 

[Matt H.]

Thanks guys