Is Smoking Time the Same no Matter How Much is in the Smoker

[jiju1943]

This year I am smoking two large turkey breasts and either 9 or 11 large turkey legs for Thanksgiving. I have only smoked a whole turkey several times. My question is, while I am smoking two large turkey breasts, and the turkey legs at the same time. Will it take longer to smoke all this at the same time, or will it take about the same amount of time as smoking just one breast.

I am smoking on an upright Smokey Mt charcoal converted to electric smoker. I have an oven rheostat that controls the temps pretty consistently. I have insulated the smoker. I don't know if this information has anything to do with anything but it may help to know what I am smoking on.

I asked the question about smoking more than one Boston butt at a time and was told I could smoke all 4 butts in about the same time as smoking one butt. I sure hope this is right because, the day before I smoke the turkey, I will be smoking 4 large Boston Butts. Last week I smoked two butts in 12 hours, I am hoping for about the same time on these butts. I smoke the butts at 225 degrees and shoot for internal temps of 190-200 degrees.

I appreciate any help I can get on this.

 

[Fgignac]

In my experience the cooking time should be the same. What affects the length of the cook is not the amount of meat in the smoker, but the thickness of the pieces. For example a 3lbs cut, 4 inches thick, will be longer to cook than 2 1.5lbs cuts that are 2inches thick each. As long as your pieces are properly spaced so that air can circulate properly and you don't "choke" your smoker the cooking time will not be affected by the number of pieces.

This being said, there are a couple of challenges to overcome when cooking several pieces at a time.

- First, temperature variance. Vertical smokers are better at this than offsets are, but they still have a variation in temperature between the top and bottom grates. This means that your pieces will not all cook at the same speed. So it's a good idea to monitor this and rotate the meat accordingly. I usually leave the middle grate in place and "rotate" by switching my top and bottom grates a couple of time throughout the cook.

- Second, the more cold meat you put in the smoker, the more heat you will need to maintain your cooking temp. If you are used to setting your rheostat at a certain spot for 225* this most likely will no longer work because you have a larger mass of cold soaking up your heat. So if you aren't used to cooking with a full smoker, don't just set it and forget it. It will take a little trial and error to get your temperature just right.

Other than that, you should be good to go. I know I said it before, but really make sure that you leave at least 1 inch of space between your pieces of meat. You really want to air to be able to circulate freely. The smoker depends on this to function properly. A choked smoker has uneven heat, stagnant smoke (causing creosote) and is just an all around unpleasant situation.


On another note, so you have any pictures of the mods you made to your smoker to make it electric? I have a vertical gas smoker that I would like to be able to use as either gas or electric because I can't get my gas burner to go low enough for making jerky. I have a couple of ideas on how I may do it. But I would be interested to see what you did.

 

[gmc2003]

Loss of time will be minimal. The initial recovery time will be delayed because of the amount of cold meat being added. Additional time will be lost with every opening of the door. Good luck and have a happy TG.

Chris

 

[JckDanls 07]

as said above... time will be almost the same... you might want to add an extra hour or two just for slow recovery from adding so much cold mass at one time...

 

[jiju1943]

as said above... time will be almost the same... you might want to add an extra hour or two just for slow recovery from adding so much cold mass at one time...

Fgignac, Chris and Keith , I can't thank you enough for putting my mind at ease, fantastic information and I really do appreciate it a lot. I usually put 5 or 6 charcoal brickets close to the heating element so they will light up and get the temps a boost to start with. I also put a 5 or 6 inch 1 1/2x 1 1/2 block of hickory on top of the brickets to smoke and burn to help boost the temps. I use hickory saw dust in the little cast iron box for smoking, I may go with two boxes of dust this time with so much meat.

My thermometer has 4 probes so I can monitor the butts closely and swap them around. I keep one digital thermometer at the top of the smoker and one mid ways. I do watch the smoker and temps very close.

Fgignac, I will be very happy to take some pictures of the mods I made on my smoker. I used the element below that is a replacement element for a Brinkmann smoker. I spliced into one of the wires that feed the element, I can't remember if it was the common or the hot wire, I will have to check that.

I went to an appliance parts store and bought an oven rheostat. I hooked one side of the wire I cut going to the element and hooked onto the infeed side of the rheostat and the other other end of the wire to the other side.

I made a box on the outside of the smoker and ran the thermocouple through the side of the smoker at the top and secured it out of the way so nothing would touch it. The rheostat was kinda pricey but it has been well worth it. I can get the temps down to 175 degrees, can't remember but maybe even to 150 degrees.

I love the fact I can set the temps and leave it alone. One more thing on the rheostat, it is very touchy, I can just barely move the knob a hair and it will change the temps 20 or so degrees. So you will need to get your temps where you want them before putting anything in the smoker.

I will get some pictures up soon. Here is the element I use, don't get one with the plugin controls on them, you want the one with the wire only, the one with the controls that plugin won't last hardly anytime.
https://www.thrillon.com/tag/brinkmann-replacement-part-electric-heating-element