Six pork butts this weekend


 
J

JedVz

New member
I am new to the forum. I recently bought a WSM 22 and have been having a lot of fun with ribs and chickens.

Prior to the WSM I have done some whole hog in the ground as well as smoking Ribs and pork butts on the Weber Grill.

This weekend I am smoking six pork butts for a party and the nerves are starting to kick in. In my earlier trials with smaller cooks I have over reacted trying to correct temperature change. I hope I’ve learned my lesson!

Anyone have an idea of how long it might take to cook six butts (8#).The weather should be about 50°. I’m planning for maybe 20 hours, considering how much meat there will be in the smoker.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated, Particularly when and how much extra charcoal to add during the cook. Should be lit or unlit? A little bit at a time or a bunch at a time?

Thanks for the tips!!
 
It's been a while since I've used a WSM but if I needed to add coals I typically added lit coals. I'm in Florida so I don't deal with cooking in the cold much but a full basket of coals will take you a long ways. If it became necessary to add I would usually do about 3/4 chimney. The bigger issue in a really long cook is ash build up.
Like I said it's been a while so I don't remember if we had a way of clearing it or not but once you get too much ash in there it chokes off the air.

Cooking that many I'd probably wrap to push through the stall quicker. It is a pain in the neck to pull all that off and wrap but if your internal temps aren't getting there it could help. And there is no shame in oven finishing if it comes to it.

Either way I don't think I ever cooked longer than 12 or 14 hours even with a full load.
 
also, these are of berkshire-hereford variety. I'm guessing they'll cook differently... anyone have experience with heirloom varieties?
 
JedVz said:
also, these are of berkshire-hereford variety. I'm guessing they'll cook differently... anyone have experience with heirloom varieties?
Click to expand...

It's more fattier than SM commodity (IBP) pork, so lower temps are better.
I would go 250-275 with obviously no water because you have a huge heat sink with that amount of cold meat.

I've done 6 numerous times on my 18.5" WSM and only once on the 22.5" WSM and that's a different animal that takes more fuel.

Getting a good cook temp reading is hard with that amount of cold mass. ( skip the built in lid therm) I use a cheap turkey fryer therm clipped into the top grate and that reads the exhaust which is usually 15degs higher then grate temp.
Trying to get an accurate probe reading at either grate would be a pain with all that meat.

And to add to the letting meat come up to room temp debate. I've done fully frozen butts and they came out just as good if not better than fresh. ( just took a little longer to come up to temp);)

Tim
 
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