MES 30 in how many pork butts????

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

smokinq13

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
May 21, 2017
427
194
south central Pennsylvania
So here's my situation, we are throwing a surprise party for the better half's parents for their anniversary, there is gonna be around 50 people there. I said I would smoke some pork butts for it, so my question is how many pork butts would you say I need to do??

I feel like 4 I can get by on but I should do 5 to be safe. I got a master built 30 in smoker, so is it possibly to do that many at a time??? I am going to do them a day or two before so all I got to do is warm them up them and shred them. I also just did one last week that I halved, it cut down on cook time a little and gave it some good bark, would it be possibly to do 5 halved butts in my smoker as well? 

so I guess my main concern is  can I do 5 butts( or even more) at once in my size of a smoker and/or with them halved (​to help with time and more bark) ?? and ​if so, what all different should I do with that many, rotating them around, get a water pan to put right above the hot box to help with eliminating hot spots in the smoker???

any help/ suggests would be great!!
 
I have an MES 30" and I get the 2 pack of butts from Sam's club between 8-9lbs each and 4 is all I could get in mine.  I had to remove 2 of the racks to do them.  Depending upon how many of the 50 people are kids and women 4 would be just about right figuring at 1/3lb sandwich and 30% shrinkage.  My figures are based on 32lbs of raw meat. Hope this is of some benefit.
 
 
I have an MES 30" and I get the 2 pack of butts from Sam's club between 8-9lbs each and 4 is all I could get in mine.  I had to remove 2 of the racks to do them.  Depending upon how many of the 50 people are kids and women 4 would be just about right figuring at 1/3lb sandwich and 30% shrinkage.  My figures are based on 32lbs of raw meat. Hope this is of some benefit.
​Alright just found out that there is going to be around 80 now. I'm just going to smoke for 90 to be safe.  See if my math is right( I'm going to ask other places as well)..... so for 90 people, I came up with 5 butts worth... a 10lb butt= around 6lbs of meat( after a 40% lost)... take the 6 lbs of meat and multiple by 3 for 1/3 lb( its between 1/4 for small servings and 1/2 for big servings) servings and get around 18 servings per butt... take 90 divide by 18 and get 5 butts.... whyyyyy do I think this is too low???
 
Your math is right on trust the numbers. On a positive note my shrinkage percentage is usually closer to 30% so more delicious pulled pork to eat. Keep us posted on how it goes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: smokinq13
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Clicky