Huge Boston Butt - 16lbs - how long or should I cut it in two?

[pollard]

Grabbed a Boston Butt from the store, thawed it and just looked at the weight. Almost 16 lbs. All the time charts say 1.5 hours per pound. That's 24 hours. Most say 225-250 F degrees. I've got 10lbs of leg quarters to do as well which tends to be smoked closer to 300 F if not more and only for an hour or three.

So, I could cook the butt at a higher temp, cut it in two for 8 lbs each or pull an all nighter. First time using this smoker but not my first time smoking. Maybe I should just do the leg quarters today and plan a little more for the butt.(like set up a tent and battery and alarm clock)

I'd have to look up info on where to possibly cut the butt. Ought to have a good sized money muscle at least. Saw a vid recently where chef Tom goes through and trims one out and explains the sections.

What would you do?

 

[phatbac]

have you opened the package and made sure you don't have two 8# butts? If you bought from Sams or Costco they often pack two butts in one package..  I would cook at 300 degrees with the chicken just to get the pork done faster. it wont hurt the outcome just help you get some sleep.

Happy Smoking,

phatbac (Aaron)

 

[floridasteve]

Yes, make sure you don't have two smaller butts in theone package. That's how I buy them from Gordon's

Then to put them on depends on then you want to serve. I usually cook my pulled pork ahead of tine because if done right, it reheats so well. I have. 40" MES electrick, to I normally start mine around 9-10 pm at 225* and cook all night. When I wake up, I wrap in foil and finish to +- 200*, let cool then shred, then into fridge. I always have a drippings pan, so I take the drippings, defeat, season, the freeze them in ice cube trays. Once solid, I vacuum seal the pork with a one or two of the dripping cubes. If I'm going to Used within a couple of dats I stare the bags in the fridge. If longer I freeze. Then I'm ready, I reheat be tossing the bags directly into boiling water until heated through. Always works great.

If you don't want to, or cans do the overnight thing, cooking the butts at 300 degrees is perfectly okay, but it still going to take 8 hours or so. Keep in mind that if it does get done a little too soon, that's okay. Judy double wrap in tin foil, then blankets and put in a cooler. It'll stay warm enough for about 4hours.

 

[pollard]

Nope, one big butt. Must have been one big pig. I'm thinking that with a hog/pig being that big, I might want to go low and slow to make sure it's nice and tender. I'm seasoning the smoker right now. No charcoal so I'm just using kindling to get started. Couple of sticks 1.5 inches in dia and she jumped right up to 200 F. So far so good. Only 10-20 degrees difference from one end to the other on the horizontal chamber. Vertical chamber isn't ready for use yet, Still need to put grates in. Here's the build. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/266444/horizontal-vertical-wh-smoker-build

After I do the leg quarters, I'll have a better idea on how well this thing works. If all goes well, I might throw that butt on this early evening, put plenty of wood on and keep it dampered down so it will last, stay up late and get up early and continue on into tomorrow aft/eve. If I trim it up like the vid I saw, it will expose more surface area so it should be done in 16ish hours or so.

 

[mneeley490]

If you're planning on pulling anyway, I would just cut it in half to shorten the smoking time. You won't use as much wood & better meat to bark ratio, too.

 

[pollard]

Actually, I went ahead and opened the package, it is two butts.

 

[pollard]

Yes, make sure you don't have two smaller butts in theone package. That's how I buy them from Gordon's

Then to put them on depends on then you want to serve. I usually cook my pulled pork ahead of tine because if done right, it reheats so well. I have. 40" MES electrick, to I normally start mine around 9-10 pm at 225* and cook all night. When I wake up, I wrap in foil and finish to +- 200*, let cool then shred, then into fridge. I always have a drippings pan, so I take the drippings, defeat, season, the freeze them in ice cube trays. Once solid, I vacuum seal the pork with a one or two of the dripping cubes. If I'm going to Used within a couple of dats I stare the bags in the fridge. If longer I freeze. Then I'm ready, I reheat be tossing the bags directly into boiling water until heated through. Always works great.

If you don't want to, or cans do the overnight thing, cooking the butts at 300 degrees is perfectly okay, but it still going to take 8 hours or so. Keep in mind that if it does get done a little too soon, that's okay. Judy double wrap in tin foil, then blankets and put in a cooler. It'll stay warm enough for about 4hours.

Thanks for the tips on storage. I'm not smoking for gatherings, I'm bulk cooking. Wife works full time and I work at home as much as I can with two kids. They're old enough to reheat things pretty soon, hopefully be cooking most things. My food sealer bit the dust. Need a new one.

 

[floridasteve]

We eat a lot of pulled pork, either as sandwiches or on chilli, stew, shepards pie, etc. when I cook a butt for us, I get the two packs and smoke them both. I vacuum seal and freeze it in 1 & 2 pounds bags and usually defrost in the fridge then dump in Tupperware.