Brisket & Pork Shoulder at the same time?

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muzzilla

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 4, 2015
2
10
Was thinking about throwing a beef brisket and a pork shoulder into my masterbuilt at the same time tomorrow.  Does anyone have experience with this.  Will the two cook well together or will it cause issues?  What temp would you use for this combo?

Thanks,

Muzz
 
muzzilla,
I have never done both in a MES at the same time. I guess the big thing to think about is do you want pork grease dripping on your brisket or do you want beef grease dripping on your pork? You could get creative with pans under them, just don't block off the heat from rising to the top of your MES. I would cook at 225 to 250 temp. wise.
Keep Smokin!!!
Wolf
 
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What Masterbuilt size? I have the MES 30 and a brisket fills the shelf just about all the way (and that is using just the flat). I would be worried about putting anything over the brisket since there would be less heat above it. You could always pan smoke a brisket on top and have the butt under it (just make sure there is enough room around the pan for the smoke to get to the brisket).
 
Anyone ever done this in an MES 30?  I'm planning on hosting about 20 people in a couple weekends, and was planning on doing a brisket and pork shoulder at the same time.  

Curious which one would be better to put on top, and if I should plan for a much longer cooking time?
 
Ryan, I agree with previous posts, put brisket on top rack and butt underneath. If you are OCD about drippings put brisket in a small aluminum pan. I like the extra beef drippings on the PP though! Personally, I would expect a longer cook time. Also, when I put that much meat in I normally have to increase temp a bit, you'll set at 225, but the 20 pounds of meat absorb so much the brisket may be getting a lot less heat. If you have numerous thermometers spread out to ID cool spots! Give yourself plenty of time, good luck!
 
Any input on estimated smoking time?  A 6lb shoulder took me about 9 hours the other day.

I'm planning on doing a 10lb pork shoulder, and an 8lb brisket at the same time.  I'm targeting a serving time of around 4pm.
 
I do Shoulders and Briskets together all the time. As a rule they take pretty much the same time. In saying that I usually go with a 12 lb brisket and about an 8Lb Butt

Just keep an eye on them later in the cook and check the temps.  If one is ready earlier just pull it abd wrap in a couple old towels and in the cooler till the other one is ready

Piece of Cake 

Gary
 
As long as you maintain CC temp and have adequate air flow around your meat, it doesn't matter how many pieces you cook. I usually Load mine up.

Gary
 
I can tell you when I stuff my MES 30 full of butts, i usually see a DECREASE in cooking time. I never understood exactly why, but I have always surmised that it had to do with extra steam from the water cooking out of the meat. Granted that was just butts, but i think i had 6 of them stuffed in there at once...maybe it was 8. I cant remember exactly now as its been a couple years ago, but it was more than the normal 2 or 4 that i normally do. They cooked  way faster than normal...by a couple hours faster.

I am not saying thats the way it always done, because that's the one and only time i stuffed my MES 30 that full...but maybe Bear will see your post and chime in. I am sure he will know. He uses a MES 30 as well.

SM
 
I had no issues smoking the 8lb brisket, and 10lb pork shoulder at the same time this past weekend, both came out great.  I kept my MES 30 at 225, used hickory chips, and a mixture of water/beer/apple cider vinegar in the water pan.

I put the pork shoulder on at 9:30pm saturday night, foiled at 165 degrees, and it finished at 12:30 pm Sunday.  I put the brisket on at midnight, foiled at 165 degrees, and it was done at 9:30am.  I couldn't believe the brisket finished that fast, and I was actually quite worried that it finished too early to serve at 4pm.  I filled my cooler with extremely hot water for 30 minutes, dumped the water, put the brisket wrapped in foil and a couple towels in there, and it was still at 165 degrees when I sliced it at 3:45pm.

That is the fastest I've ever had a brisket finish, and was very surprised that having two large pieces of meat in the smoker actually made them finish faster.  Only thing I can think of is, I put the brisket on the top rack, and maybe the smoker was hotter at the top?
 
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