standing vs flat boston butts


 
J

Jason H.

TVWBB Member
All,

I apologize if this is a repeat of a previous post.

The tradition as I have seen it so far is to smoker boston butts "flat" with the fat cap on top or bottom depending on who you talk to so that it melts onto the meat as it cooks or so that it acts as a barrier to the fire for heat.

To get more butts into my 18" WSM (I am thinking 3 per rack) I am wondering if it would work as well to stand them up so that the fat cap is facing into the center of the rack and the wider part of the shoulder with the bone is sitting flat on the rack.

Anyone have suggestions pro/con for this? I am wanting to try to do 6 boston butts in my 18" WSM at one time and this seems like the best way. Of course I would make sure they are not touching and try to get as much room in between the butts as possible in the center of the rack.
 
Wow, 6 ~10lb butts! How much space did you have in between the butts in the center of the rack? Do you happen to have any pics of that?

Thanks for the info. I need to do 12 butts and have a propane smoker that I can break out but if I can do it in my 2 18" WSM's it would be alot less of a headache.

BTW, for the 6 ~10lb butts, how long did you cook them and did you foil towards the end or just let them stay uncovered? My usual method is to let them smoke ~4-5hrs and then foil them until the internal temp hits around 195-200 and then let them sit in a cooler still wrapped in the foil for an hour or two (usually this is waiting for time to eat instead of a part of the recipe) and its come out very well in the past although that was sitting flat and only 4 butts (2 per rack) in my 18" WSM.

Thanks again for the advice!
 
Sorry no pics,had em on my other puter and that crashed awhile back.
That was one of a few over-niters I've done. It was crowded at the beginning, but not to bad as they do shrink as they cook.
IIRC those came in at 16hrs running 260-275 with an empty foiled pan. I rotated top to bottom once at the halfway point, but I don't think it was necessary. I did foil for the last 2-3hrs.
I did those for the BIL's anniversary 3 yrs ago. They were cryoed 2 to a pack and the part that butted the 2 together made a natural flat area to set them on the sides.

Tim
 
Put them in there any way you can. They are still nothing but globs of pork fat with some meat attached.
 
Jason - As they've said, load 'em in and let her rip.

I've done several cooks w/ 6 butts in the 9-10# range, and from my experience I preferred to use an empty water pan. I never use water anyway (always clay saucer for me), but with that much mass in the cooker I found myself using too much fuel even with the clay saucer.
 
When you have the WSM packed full with meat, it will take longer to get to your temp as it's a lot of mass to heat up. That's why I stopped using water, and have not gone back, even for 1 butt.

I try to measure the cook time from when I get to temp. I always try to use 10 lb butts, and they take about 16 hours once the cooker is to temp. I have done as many as 12x 10 lb butts. I added an extra exhaust vent and I get to temp within 30 minutes if loaded heavy, 1 hr if complete packed (120#) on a 22".

I have a third rack in the middle, and dropped my bottom rack a few inches. Because the bottom rack is closer to the heat, and no water (foiled clay saucer), I put my larger butts on the bottom rack as it will cook faster.

The cooker will use more fuel to get to temp than just cooking 2 butts. Once to temp, I think it uses the same amount.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jason H.:
so do you think it takes more fuel or less if you use a full water pan? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jason, this is a debate that has been going on since the WSM came out. IMHO, the water will maintain a more even temp for cooking for the amount of time and meat for this cook. You can also let the water get low in the pan and watch the temp rise then add water to watch it drop. If your using sand or a stone in the pan, the substrate will eventually assume the temp of the coal directly under it. Water will boil helping to regulate the temp hitting the meat over an extended period of time.

Butt's are very forgiving and all will turn out great cooked to tender either way.

Good Luck!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jason H.:
so do you think it takes more fuel or less if you use a full water pan? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Compared to an empty or foiled pan: much more since you're using the heat energy from the coals to heat the water instead of the meat. With 6 big lumps of meat in there, I wouldn't worry about keeping the temps stable. 40-60 pounds of meat will be all the heat sink you need.
 
If you want a fast pork butt stand a couple on end and use a banked fire on each side in a 22" kettle. Fast and amazing crust.
 
Not that I think it really matters but if you are going to deliberately face the fat cap inward why not face it outward instead. The heat in a WSM rises up the sides around the water pan so the fat cap facing outward would protect the meat from the more direct heat exposure.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Whiting:
Not that I think it really matters but if you are going to deliberately face the fat cap inward why not face it outward instead. The heat in a WSM rises up the sides around the water pan so the fat cap facing outward would protect the meat from the more direct heat exposure. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep. That's what I'd do.

I've only stood three on end (for a total of 5 butts) in my wsm once, and it was an 18 hour cook. Leaned the three up against a beercan chicken stand. Cooking unevenness was also a bit of an issue, so it might be best to check to see if you need to turn/rotate at some point(s).
 
Dave,

What were the weights of your butts, what temp did you keep the smoker at and what kind of cooking unevenness did you have? Ie did the top cook faster than the bottom, were the outsides of the standing butts overdone as compared to the side facing inward towards the beer can holder etc?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jason H.:
Dave,

What were the weights of your butts, what temp did you keep the smoker at and what kind of cooking unevenness did you have? Ie did the top cook faster than the bottom, were the outsides of the standing butts overdone as compared to the side facing inward towards the beer can holder etc? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're in luck. Back in October of '10 I was still being pretty disciplined in keeping up my smoking journal somewhat.

The weights were 8.5 lb and 9 lb on the bottom rack, 7, 7.75, and 8.25 lb butts on the top rack. This was back when I was doing slow Minion starts, and I could get the cook done faster now by pre-heating and letting the temp come up more.

Even with the vents all left open 100% for 9 of the 18 or so hours, it was a few hours into the cook before the exhaust temp even reached 225*. The bottom two were the best and cooked very evenly, coming off at the 17 hr. mark. The other three "done" at various times the next 1.5 hr, and the answer to your last question is a "yes".

I much prefer cooking four butts around 9 lbs for better evenness of cooking, because no turning or rotating is needed if you keep the fire in check. Letting the meat lose it's chill for half an hour or so, using all boiling water, and lighting up the better part of a chimney all will help get the cook going faster. My remote temp alarm lets me know when it's time to get up and shut the vents a bit.

Hope that helps.
 
All,

Update: I did the 6 butts this weekend on the single 18" WSM. This Friday I am doing 12 (2 18" WSM's with 6 each).

So went to Sams and purchased 3 2 packs of butts. Total weights for each 2 pack were around 12.2 to about 14 lbs. Put the three largest on the top rack (top rack is hotter right?) and the three smallest on the bottom rack.

Started at 10:30pm, temp kept around 230ish. At 5am had to pull the top and middle sections off and top off the charcoal and knock the ash off. Finally took them off at 4pm the next day.

Very tender however I tried one set with rub and no injection, one set with the Chris Tilly marinade and the same rub and another with the CT marinade however pineapple juice instead of apple juice used and then the same rub again.

A) there was no noticeable taste/texture difference between any of them

B) the meat was MUCH less flavorful and drier than when I do the brine overnight and foil halfway through

C) the cook took 18 hours. I am pretty sure I can shorten that with a better product coming out without having to inject just by brining the night before and then foiling after ~4 hours of smoking.

So long story short -

- the 18" WSM did GREAT with only needing new coals once in an 18 hour cook with 6 boston butts in.

- I will NEVER make pulled pork again without brining the night before and then foiling after ~4 hours of smoking.

I have some pics and I recorded the time/temps which I will post if anyone is interested.
 
Nice job Jason, that's the fun of this obsession, another experience to learn from. I always keep the bigger butts on the bottom, closer to the coals and makes it easier to pull smaller ones from the top. When they are done.

Eric
 
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