Smoked Butts on Saturday


 
J

Jon W

TVWBB Member
I am having some people over on Sat. for an end of the term/graduation BBQ.

There will be around 15 adults. I bought 2 -2-pack cryos from Sam's, bone in. The total weight as packed is about 30 pounds.

According to the calculator, I only need 6.6 pounds. For the Super Bowl I did 2, people loved it, but the amount was for only 4 people. I had plenty of left overs and hand-outs.

Would all 4 butts be WAY overkill? I was thinking about serving it, giving some away, and freezing the rest. It is not hard to unload good pork.

My second question is, 4 butt is 2 on each rack. Should I rotate half-way and swap the levels? I will be using Kingsford and a 14" clay pot.
 
I would rotate halfway through. The lower grate seems to run a bit cooler than the higher one. Although, I normally run with water - it might be different with the clay pot.

Yes, it seems like overkill to me. You should have more than enough just cooking 2. However, if you want to freeze extras, go ahead. Might as well make use of the extra cooker space.

I cooked 2 beef clods and 2 butts last week for a huge party. The pork was a much bigger hit than the beef. I think the beef turned out a little dry. I think I'll pull it at about 193 or so next time.
 
I thought about doing three, but then I would have one left over, so I was figuring may as well cook all four!

How will the additional butts affect the time? I was planning on eating around 2 or 2:30, and starting around 8pm tomorrow. That would be ~16 hours on the smoker and two holding, and I think an extra hour of cooking if I need it.

Is 2 hours per pound the calculation for the weight of an individual butt or total weight? I mean would 4 - 5 pound butts take 40 hours to smoke?
 
Originally posted by Jon W:... I mean would 4 - 5 pound butts take 40 hours to smoke?
Click to expand...

No, more like around 10 hours. Calculate based on the weight of the heaviest butt and then add "some", maybe 1/2 hour to an hour. They're done when they're done.

I would go with 4. I imagine your guest will fight for the extras to take home. I use a Foodsaver and always have several pacs in the freezer.

Hope the event goes well.

Paul
 
Hi Jon, the 1.5 - 2 hours pre pound is a rough estimate per shouler (not toatl weight on the smoker). Having said that I would give myself a little more time and start cooking them at about 5 the night before and then you can be sure that they are done. I'm guessing they're in around 8 pounds a piece from the info above.... You never know how long they will be stuck in the plateau (been burtn by this before!).

Four is way more food than you'll need but at the same time I would much rather have way to much food than not enough. I wouldn't rotate them personally. The clay saucer will react similar to water and the shoulders on the bottom rack will probably be done a little after the top rack but given the amount of food you have this shouldn't be of a big concern. I would be more concerned about the temperature fluctuations with removing the lid to rotate them and the increased cooking time because of this.

Have fun at the party!

Clark
 
5 sounds early, and a bit unrealistic. What is the max cooler time, approximately?

Maybe I could start at 6 at the earliest. The packs are ~15 pounds each, so the butts are ~7.5 lbs. each, untrimmed. Maybe 6 pounds trimmed.

Maybe I will swap levels when I open to foil, if necessary.

I guess I should rub this evening then, so they have time to sit.
 
Jon,

I dont think you have to start them that early! 8 or 9 on friday night should give you plenty of time to cook and rest! Not necessary to swap top and bottom levels! When doing an overnite cook the temps usually will be about the same half way through! What I would do is to put the larger two on the top grate to help them cook more evenly with the smaller two! Yes rub them tonight!

Good luck!
icon_cool.gif



Windy City Smokers
 
You can easily hold them in a cooler for 8 hours or so if you preheat the cooler and wrap with towels.

The reason I say start at 5 is basically in case you run into problems. Not that you would but with an overnight cook you won't be monitoring and you want to be real sure your well on your way to maintaining a constant temp before going to bed. Just my $0.02.

I personally wouldn't trim but why not trim a couple and leave a couple untrimmed and see what your preference is. I also wouldn't foil a butt if you don't need to speed up the cooking process. I personally find it really ruins the bark.

For rubbing I would only do that tonight if the rub didn't contain a lot of salt, if it does I would wait until tomorrow just before throwing the meat on the smoker.

Clark
 
I rubbed last night, using Mr. Brown, so not too much salt. My are are sore from hand-grinding all the pepper though!

I did trim, but I thought that was the method. I guess next time I can do a compare, and save 10-15 minutes per butt prepping.

Knowing that the cooler will hold for quite some time, I think I will start around 6 or 7, giving me plenty of time to get stable, and a nice cushion for tomorrow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top