pulled pork for a large group


 
C

charlie kieler

New member
i was wondering if anyone has cooked 8 pork butts (4 on each level) of a WSM for a large group.
if so what was the cooking time? i will have to do this on a 70 degree night / 90 degree day
 
That's a lotta pork! My 18" WSM will only fit two on a rack, so I assume you're using a 22"er?

I know it doesn't answer your question, but having cooked large amounts like this in the past, my suggestion would be to cook them ahead of time - pulled pork reheats EXTREMELY well in a crock pot / electric roaster.

Jarrod
 
As long as the butts aren't touching the cook time really isn't much different. Just keep in mind it will be harder to get up to temp and will take a lot more fuel to keep it there. If you normally use water in your pan I would skip that and just go with a foiled pan. Add more than your normal amount of hot coals to start with. 8 butts is a huge heat sink.
 
" i will have to do this on a 70 degree night / 90 degree day "
I can't wait for those type of temps:)
Follow Bob's or Jarrods advice, and welcome to the board:wsm:

Tim
 
I've only cooked six good sized ones at a time on my 22", but assuming the butts aren't too crowded and a little smaller (7-8lbs each?), eight shouldn't be a problem if you follow Bob's advice. I cook on both grates a LOT, and he's right. As long as meat isn't touching, not much more in cooking time, just more of a cooking load, which means more fuel burnt.
 
Dave Russell said:
I've only cooked six good sized ones at a time on my 22", but assuming the butts aren't too crowded and a little smaller (7-8lbs each?), eight shouldn't be a problem if you follow Bob's advice. I cook on both grates a LOT, and he's right. As long as meat isn't touching, not much more in cooking time, just more of a cooking load, which means more fuel burnt.
Click to expand...

Dave, do you notice a difference at all in cooking times with meat on bottom grate verses top? I haven't had the need yet to use both grates but that might help in answering the cooking time question if identical cuts Of meat were cooked on the 2 grates would one cook faster than the other.
 
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I've done eight butts more times than I can remember on my 22.5 WSM. For a few years I made pulled pork for the local high school to sell at the concession stand to raise money for the soccer team. And I've done eight for graduation parties and other large get togethers. I always buy the butts by the case at Sam's, they generally run 65-70 lbs per case, with eight butts per case so they average around 8.5 lbs each.

I can't tell that it took anymore fuel or took longer than it does for a couple butts, but my smokers are in a building so they are out of the wind, rain, direct sunlight etc which helps I'm sure. When you first load four on each grate they may touch, but they do shrink up enough during the cooking that there will be space between them. Here's a couple pictures I took during an 8 butt cook, plain old Kingsford, six chunks of pecan and no foil.

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Many thanks to everyone for the great suggestions.
If all goes well, my inlaws will love me. If not, I may not be able to report my results.
 
Brad C said:
Dave, do you notice a difference at all in cooking times with meat on bottom grate verses top? I haven't had the need yet to use both grates but that might help in answering the cooking time question if identical cuts Of meat were cooked on the 2 grates would one cook faster than the other.
Click to expand...

Normally, the top grate cooks a little faster than the bottom one, but obviously, that can change if the bottom grate is so crowded that meat obstructs airflow around the pan. Folks also say that sand, clay or other dry heat sinks in the pan can make the bottom grate cook faster, but I haven't found it to necessarily be the case. Probably no more of an effect than direct sunshine/calm conditions vs. cloudy/windy weather.

Don't sweat cooking on both grates, though. I used to cook THREE grates of butterflied chickens and legs in my 18"wsm all the time. I don't assume anything as to what's gonna get done first, and I know that thickness of meat is more important than weight and as important or more than which grate it's on. Thankfully, the wsm has a door, though, and I use my grate tool to rotate the bottom grate around as needed to check butts on the bottom grate. I find I can do that pretty quickly and it's more efficient than pulling the top rack out to access meat on the bottom grate.
 
I did 4 and it sure seemed to use more fuel then the normal 2 I use and took a lot longer to get to temp. I plan on doing it again with possibly more! Nice info posted
 
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