Upcoming Big Cook - Two Questions


 
T

TimW

TVWBB Member
Hello Everyone!

I have been requested to took a large amount of pulled pork for an upcoming church related function (not a paid job). I am an experienced cook on the WSM.

However, I have never cooked more than 2 butts at once. I am planing on cooking six butts in two 22" WSM.

Question 1: Does the large amount of mass effect cooking time much at all? This is my primary concern. I expect to use a lot more fuel, but I was wondering if additional time may be involved, and, if so, how much more time? I will be using Guru temp controllers on both WSM.

Secondly, I did a cook where I created four different samples from one butt, each dressed with a different sauce. I've always used a Carolina style vinegar sauce, but the choice made was for pulled pork with a commercial available BBQ sauce. I should have paid more attention to how much sauce I used on the sample.

Question 2: How much commercial BBQ sauce should I purchase?

Lastly, any additional tips, thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Tim (not quite panicking yet)
 
So, three butts a smoker? That would not be a massive increase from two (~30%).
If you were doing all six on one unit, I might be more concerned, build in a buffer of three hours or so extra, if they finish up a little sooner than expected, you can hold them foiled and towel wrapped in a cooler for two or three hours with no major concern.
I seem to recall a thread where Chris did six butts on one with no real trouble, and yes (to me at least) that would be a LOT of mass but, only one fire to control. Two fires, twice the opportunity for something unseen to go astray, I’d start way early with one unit and since you have an ATC, trust that. That’s just one man’s opinion.

As far as sauce, I can’t help you. I’ve become rather dis interested in saucing, unless the pork is dry.
I would probably get a gallon, maybe two and put it in squeeze bottles which you can simply refill as necessary.
The extra will keep well enough.
 
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I'm sorry, I should have stated better ...

12 butts total, 6 in each smoker.

Thanks for the help.
 
Okay, I see the concern.
The temp controllers should be good help.
Maybe a search of the “how many butts” thread that Chris might help, I don’t generally need to do more than two for anything I do anymore so, I guess I’m not much help.
With that much mass, I’d probably skip water (if you use it) the amount of meat will act very much like it’s own heat sink to “temper” the heat some, and save one step of variablity.
Just a thought.
Total weight of butts per WSM?
 
Years ago I did 5 on my 18.5" WSM. Avg wt about 8.5 lb. Normally that size butt took about 10 hrs. at 225° without water. On the big cook, also at 225°, the first came off at 18.5 hrs. and number 5 came off at 22 hrs. The full load did take more time than I expected and I don't know how cooking at a higher temp would change the amount of time over the rough calculation I did. I was expecting a cook of 19 hrs figuring 2 hrs per lb.. Hope that helps your calculation.

The sauce is just going to be a guess. Some use a lot, some a little, and some none. I'd guess at 1 gallon per hundred people. Just a guess.

Sorry I'm not much help.
 
I have done 6 in my 22 a few times. They have all been overnight cooks, typically getting the meat on between 10-12 at night. In all of them, I did use full water pans, as I did not have an atc at the time.

With an atc, I don’t think you should encounter significant change in cooking time. In my mind, if the pit is at 250, then does it matter if there is 1 or 6 butts in there? I wish I did a better job of keeping journals on my cooks as that may have helped with this.

For the most part, I would say that it tends to take me about 12-14 hours for that amount. I do not recall it ever taking more than 14.

If the meat finishes early, I foil it, wrap it in towels, and place it in a cooler. Never been an issue.

For sauce, I tend to make my own. There are a couple which are quick and easy to make such as #5, and Carolina red. I also get a lot of folks that want Alabama white. If you are going to buy, try to mix it up a little. Costco has some larger bottles or multi packs. Some will like hot, some sweet, and some none at all. If you make your own, there is often no shortage of those who will gladly take any leftover.

If if you think in terms of portions, about 4 ounces of meat is average per sandwich. For a 10lb shoulder, maybe 7-8 lbs after cook, You would be in the area of 336 to 384 sandwiches for your 12 shoulders. If each sandwich used 1 TB of sauce you’re looking at 5-6 quarts of sauce. Now I am not sure what the average amount of sauce is per sandwich, but a TB seemed like a reasonable number for an estimate. I could be over/under stating. I also think it depends on whether it is a thick sauce, or a thinner one like a Carolina red. I think a thinner sauce would likely go further.

Hope that helps give you some ideas or thoughts.
 
Mark Combs said:
For a 10lb shoulder, maybe 7-8 lbs after cook...
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Interesting. I had no idea that I may have had anywhere close to an 80% yield on a pork shoulder. On what few times I weighed, I had a 45%-47% loss.

Only on one occasion did I load a WSM with several shoulders (aside from that one time I've always smoked just a single shoulder), so my only comment is that weekend was the most unenjoyable smoke I've ever done. After starting at daybreak I finally made it to bed at 4 AM the next morning and had just a few hours sleep before needing to decorate and prep for a grad party. Never again, lol.
 
BFletcher said:
Interesting. I had no idea that I may have had anywhere close to an 80% yield on a pork shoulder. On what few times I weighed, I had a 45%-47% loss.
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Your numbers are likely more accurate. I have never weighed after a cook, so I may be understating.

Normally, I would do 10-12 shoulders every July 4th. This year, I only did 6, as I also did some beef. Never have had a shortage of food, sauce or beers- that may explain why the memory may be off :confused:.
 
Thank you all for your responses.

I was planning on 50% yield for 175 people. Over is preferred to under. Purchasing butts in bulk, so depending on individual weight, may scale back to 10 butts. For sauce I was going to use the SBR-Honey. I'll pick up a gallon and a few extra bottles - I think 2 gallon would be in excess.

I'm going to start higher temp for first few hours to try to overcome the heat sink that the large mass of meat will present. Additionally, I think I am going to add a couple of hours on the front end. I think I can safely hold the meat for a few hours, and being late is a much less desirable option.
 
Sounds pretty reasonable to me Tim, starting earlier is a very good plan, I think you are going to be just fine! What else is on the menu?
 
80% yield almost sounds like someone was using boneless butts. I'd go with 50-60%.


Putting 6 butts in will increase your cook time by a couple of hours and will also cause you to use a lot more fuel. The physics of it is that the 6 butts is increased cold thermal mass that has to come to temp. Say you are cooking one butt. You load up X amt of charcoal and light Y amt of coals. You get the chamber temp to 250 then throw in a 10lb butt that's <40 degrees (right from the fridge.). Your chamber temp will immediately drop and will take some time to come back up to 250. The butt will continue to absorb the heat being put off by the charcoal while it climbs in temp to the point that it is done.

With 6 butts, you have more cold thermal mass. It will drop your chamber temp even lower and you'll burn through more fuel as the temp of all 6 butts increases. One way to picture this is to put two pots or water on your stove. One pot holds a gallon or water, the other pot has 6 gallons. If you apply the same amount of heat to each, obviously, the pot with 1 gallon will come to a boil much faster. So, to get them to finish at close to the same time, you have to increase the heat on the 2nd pot, thereby using more fuel.

An ATC will get the butts done quicker as it will bring the chamber temp back up quicker, but again, you'll use more fuel to do it.


BTW, I'd definitely do the cook in advance and simply reheat the pulled pork. Doing so kind of minimizes the concern over cook time.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
Sounds pretty reasonable to me Tim
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I agree!

BTW, are you familiar with vacuum sealing leftovers? I'm thinking a fair number of us smokers do so... I certainly do. Pulled pork serves very well from its frozen state to a pot of near-boiling water over the stove in a vacuum-sealed bag. Other items do, too! Just today I vacuum sealed chili and potato soup and placed them in the freezer.

Best of luck on your church function!
 
BFletcher said:
I agree!

BTW, are you familiar with vacuum sealing leftovers? I'm thinking a fair number of us smokers do so... I certainly do. Pulled pork serves very well from its frozen state to a pot of near-boiling water over the stove in a vacuum-sealed bag. Other items do, too! Just today I vacuum sealed chili and potato soup and placed them in the freezer.

Best of luck on your church function!
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That reminds me. Which sealer did you end up with ?
 
I hate answering questions like this because it reveals some of my flaws. I ended up with both the VP215 and the PRO380 from VacMaster. If I had to pick one I would pick both. :rolleyes:
 
BFletcher said:
I hate answering questions like this because it reveals some of my flaws. I ended up with both the VP215 and the PRO380 from VacMaster. If I had to pick one I would pick both. :rolleyes:
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Hahahah. My apologies for pointing you to the chamber sealer ;)


I snagged a VP210. Man, I am LOVING it. EVERYTHING gets vac packed now, even if it's just going into the fridge for a day or two before being cooked.
 
Well, the WX forecast is not looking good in Southern New Jersey and its going to present additional challenges.

Friday into Saturday, 45 low, 56 high. Light rain changing to thunderstorms. Wind 6 mph to 18 mph. :(

I'm moving my cooking area to the Leeward side of my Garage, and hoping my canopy holds.

- - - Updated - - -

Fortunately, other entrees and sides are being handled by people other than me!
 
Wow! You guys have some serious vacuum sealer tastes!

How about a recommendation for an entry level?
 
TimW said:
Wow! You guys have some serious vacuum sealer tastes!

How about a recommendation for an entry level?
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I understand a certain need for a vacuum sealer but, WOW boys, that’s pretty serious stuff! I’m seconding Tim’s entry level request!
 
I've purchased a couple of different cheap models of Foodsaver vac suckers over the years. Probably used each one about 20-30 times before they died on me. Between the limited use, and the cost of the bags, I wanted to go another route. One disclaimer though, I've never used any of the more expensive Foodsavers, so I can't really speak to their quality/durability. Some people swear by them though.

I have heard many good things about all Weston vac suckers. Great quality, durability, performance, etc. Can't say that I've ever seen anyone talking about being unhappy with one of them.


I had always been intrigued by and interested in a chamber sealer. As luck would have it, when my latest Foodsaver died a miserable death, I stumbled upon a "new in box" Vacmaster 210 on the Bidfta auction site. I ended up winning it and my final price was $78 including taxes and fees. Yep. That's not a typo. Had to drive 5 hours round trip to pick it up, but I made a sightseeing day trip out of it so it wasn't that bad.

I've only bought one batch of bags so far. 1000 8x12 3mil bags for $54. That's 5.4 cents per bag. My biggest "sealing session" to date is 26 bags in about 30 mins.
 
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