long cooking time?

[goat4444]

I got a 9.53 pound boston butt and 1.5 hours per pound comes to like 14 hours how am i suposed to smoke that long without waking up at 5am,where tryen to eat at 5pm,any suggestions?

 

[chisoxjim]

I pull all nighters with large pork butts like that. Id probably put that one on @ 10:00 - 11:00 p.m. with plans to pull it, foil it, and toss it in a warm cooler around 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. giving a few hours to leeway.

I stay up with the smoker, and typically make a smoked snack to be ready around 3:00 a.m.,

I dont think its smart to leave a smoker unattended, I like my family, and house to much to risk burning it down.

 

[herkysprings]

Overnight cook possible?

Some people cut their butts in 1/2 to speed up cooking.

Or you can cook days ahead, and pull the pork, and put into a vaccu sealed bag. Then re-heat in boiling water.

 

[rbranstner]

Yea thats the problem you have with butts or brisket they need a long time for cooking. Do you have a stable enough smoker where you can start it the night before and smoke it all night? If so when it is done in the afternoon you just foil them in a cooler and they will stay warm for several hours until you want to eat. If your smoker needs to be watched constantly then maybe you can set up your wireless thermometers (hopefully you have some) so they alarm you when the temp gets to high or to low Low end 200 high end 275 ish) then you just need to get out of bed and run out and take a look. Or else you just need to get up early which I have done several times in the past. Hopefully other guys will be along soon to give their idea's as well.

 

[rbranstner]

Also when I do my butts they always seem to end up being more like 2 hours per lb so that is what I figure so I give myself plenty of time. There is nothing worse that having your family sitting there waiting for the meat to get done. It gets done when it gets done. I always try to have it done an hour or two ahead of time and just foil it to keep it warm.

 

[pit 4 brains]

That's how you play the game.
If ya don't want to get up at 5, get up at 0400 and snap a beer at 5...

Here's my story of a 17 lb brisket..
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...=brains&page=2

 

[rbranstner]

I like your thinking Pit!

 

[deltadude]

Welcome to the world of smoking....

Q cooker = not willing to lose more than 2 hours sleep for great tasting Q out of his smoke pit. Generally fair weather Q smoker.

Q enthusiast = willing to lose 2+ hours of sleep but not more than 5 hours for great Q from his pit. Will smoke in some extreme weather,

Q fanatic = Neither hail nor snow or rain, all nighters with no sleep, keep this guy from working his pit to turn out great Q.

 

[timtimmay]

rbranster is giving you sound advice. Over estimate the time. If its done earlier it will maintain temperature wrapped in towels, if its done late you just get to let everyone starte at the smoker with you.

There is no way you can rush the cooking process, and still get the benefit of cooking low and slow. I don't like the idea of the all-nighter like some do. My long cook I did a few weeks ago, I prepped everything the night before so all I needed was a match in the morning. I got up at 245 am, lit the pre filled chimney, hit the snooze, got up 10 min later, poured the hot coals in, and got up to temp. I put the butt in the smoker, set a temperature alarm on my redi-check and went back to bed until the temp alarm woke me up to stir the coals.

You are gonna lose some sleep on a 15 hour cook no matter what you do.....

 

[chisoxjim]

great post. and definitions.

 

[bbq engineer]

Put me in the fanatic category...and you can add to the definition the following:

Some may build their own smokers to fuel their obsession, and also participate in online BBQ discussions much to their spouses's dismay. Often takes photos of their food and is constantly plotting their next cook. They frequently look weary, because they enjoy losing sleep to their own detriment just for the compliments they receive on their BBQ. Fun to have a beer with.

 

[olewarthog]

If you don't want to do an all-nighter, then cook it on a different day. You will still either need to plan of getting up early or staying up late unless you pull it off around 160, wrap it in foil & finish it in a 300 degree oven.

As the others have said, pulled pork can be reheated be just as good as fresh off the smoker. If its only going to be a couple of days, you can seal it in ziplock & refrigerate. Otherwise freeze. Frozen pork can be thawed & reheated in the bags in gently boiling water. Refrigerated pork can be done the same way, in a crock pot or in a covered roaster in the oven. Some people add a little apple juice (or if you foiled them & saved the drippings use that) to pork reheated in the oven.

 

[phil brown]

I wasn't going to put myself in this category, but then I thought about it... my last smoke (day before yesterday), I planned to go to bed at midnight and get up around 4 to check on things. Instead, I stayed up past 4 tending it and didn't go to bed until it was foiled and I had nothing to do for several hours.

I'm not sure what comes between hobby and obsession, but I blew right past it.

 

[wutang]

Definitely sounds like an overnighter is in order. It will be worth it, trust me.

I have had my wife ask me "Why is it that you can barely drag your @ss out of bed at 6am to go to work some mornings, but you have no problem hopping out of bed at 4am on your day off to fire up the smoker?"

 

[pit 4 brains]

I linked my big brisket and then I thought you might like to read about my 9.5 lb pork butt.. It takes time..
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ghlight=brains

 

[mballi3011]

I with Pete (Pit for Brains) on this one I would just get up early and smoke that puppie we all do it here and it is the price you pay for such good food.

Hell I might even go with the beer part too.

 

[ddave]

Just do it. Plan for it and make a day of it.

Probably won't help you much in the short run but if long cook sessions don't appeal to you, build a UDS. I do briskets on mine. I light the drum about 9 pm and get it stable and happy. Put the brisket on about 10 or 11 pm and go to sleep. If there is an issue, the ET-73 will let me know. More often than not, I'll wake up at 6 am, go check on it and it is still cruising at 240ish.

When I do butts, I do get up early in the morning. But once the drum is happy, I can nap or hang out or whatever. It runs on autopilot pretty well.

So what did you tell her? Because my wife is wondering the same thing.

Dave

 

[rbranstner]

I have yet to do Brisket or butts on my UDS since I just made it but I plan on doing it soon I hope I have the same success as you with just letting it go and go to bed. I need to put add on antenna on my wireless thermo so I can count on it being accurage. The range sucks so a lot of times it doesn't update my wireless remote. I am hopeing that after I add the antenna it will have better range.

 

[meateater]

I'm with DDAVE, My UDS cruises at 250* with a water pan and 300* without. I just did a 6 1/4# pork loin this morning in 5 hours. I pulled it from the UDS at 205* I started it minion method at 5:30 am with 4# of coals total and the temp was at 125* at 3:30 pm when I went to work.

 

[wutang]

Great advice.

I usually try and say something valiant about wanting to provide a nice meal for my family, but she is smart enough to know that I just want to play with fire and drink a few beers.