What wouldya do?


 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rich G:
Dave-

I think you'd really be better off borrowing all of your friends' crockpots for this one. No sense messing with charcoal that gets your hands dirty, and having to deal with all that smoke and grit and stuff.

Just thought you needed an alternate view point. Oh, and don't forget to add liquid smoke to the gallon of sauce you smother everything in......no one will know you didn't make it on the grill.

icon_smile.gif
icon_smile.gif
icon_smile.gif
icon_smile.gif


Rich </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Rich. At least you TRIED to add some humor to this site!
icon_biggrin.gif
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Russell McNeely:
One more vote for overnight - especially with that much meat. I'm only doing one pork butt this weekend and I'll be doing overnight. I'll just set my vents to run on the low side of my target range so there's not much danger of running to high. If need be I can always crank up the heat a little bit the next day (as Canada Mike pointed out). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, that's what I do, unless fixing bbq for lunch instead of supper. In that case I'll target a little higher, 240 instead of 225, (actual grate temp. aproximation).
 
Well, I put the five butts totaling 40.25 lb. on the pit last night at 9 pm, and took the last one off this afternoon about 18 hours later. WOW, what a cook. The two on the bottom weighed 8.5 and 9 lb., and the three on the top grate (leaning on their sides against the beer can chicken rack) averaged about 7 3/4.

What did I learn?

With that much meat on the cooker, water in the pan wouldn't have cut it if weather conditions were less than ideal. I went to bed with the vents wide open, lid vent temp at about 220, and woke up with it at 250 this morning, never touching the vents all night. I cocked the lid a couple of times before going to bed two hours into the cook, but after replacing the lid, both times the temp would go back down below 225. I said the heck with it and figured it would eventually go up as the meat warmed and the water went down some. I've never left all vents fully open all night, and no surprise, at ten this morning I added a chimney and a half to finish the cook. If it had been cold or windy, water would have made it near impossible to keep over 200, for the first few hours at least.

The real issue was the consistancy of the butts on the top grate. I should've flipped and rotated them this morning when I got up, but I never do this and usually cook three or four at a time, no problem. The two on the bottom were fantastic, and super moist, too. However, the top three had the bones sticking out and loose, but weren't tender all over.

I guess the point is that flipping/rotating meat is probably a good idea with a really full cooker. I look at it like this: One end or side is fully tender and moist, but starts drying out by the time that the other end/side is tender. I know it's one piece of meat and butts are forgiving, but does that make sense?

From now on though, I think I'll stick to four butts, averaging 9 pounds or so at the most.
 
Josh, did you have trouble getting it up to temp, uneven cooking, or both, like myself?

I'd read that you could cook the butts leaning up on their side to fit three on, but maybe I put 'em on the wrong side? lol..

I usually cook 'em flat with the bone pointing toward the outside of the cooker and they seem to cook pretty evenly, even on the bottom grate "hanging cheek" past the pan...no turning or rotating. I wish I could fit four ten pounders on.
wsmsmile8gm.gif
 
My issues were getting the cooker up to temp, I like 240-250, and the amount of time they took. If I had to do it again, I would have started earlier and hotter and rotated once half way through.

Also, like you, I have always laid them flat and this time they were up against each other. The part touching didn't have a good bark, so if I had flipped them I think this would have been improved. But with 4 butts, there was an overall decent amount of bark.

As for the 10 pounders, I've always cooked 8 lbs, 9 lbs at the most. I would say 3 of mine weighed in at around 10#, and the 4th was almost 12. It was a behemoth.

I keep telling my wife that all my problems could be solved with a 22. Hopefully she will soon believe me.
 
Good luck with the 22 incher! My wife tells me I don't have to bbq for the whole neighborhood. I'm thinkin', why not? That's what neighbors are for.
icon_smile.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top