Need advice on First "Multi-Butt" smoke

[testar77]

Hello all,

I have always just done one Butt at a time in the past and have always figured 1 1/2 - 2 hrs per pound.  I am going to be smoking 3 butts in the 7-8lb each range this weekend.  What have you guys experienced as far as increased cooking time?  Thanks in advance for your advice on this.

Toby

 

[smokinhusker]

Plan the 1 1/2 - 2 hrs per lb for the heaviest weighting one. There's no guarantee that they will all get done at the same time, but you can keep the finished ones by double wrapping in heavy duty foil, then a heavy towel and place in an empty cooler with more towels to fill in the dead space and they will keep hot for a couple hours or so. 

I'm sure you will get more answers soon!

 

[chef jimmyj]

Don't need more answers...Alesia nailed it...JJ

 

[testar77]

Awesome thanks! I was pretty positive that they would all have different finishing times, I just wasn't sure if adding more increased the per lb cooking time. Sounds like I will just plan for 2hrs per pound and plan it to be done 2-3 hours before I need to pull and serve. Thanks again!

 

[dad of four]

It should go without saying, but I will say it..

Try and make sure there is a minimum of 2" of spacing on all sides of your butts.

(Top, Bottom, Sides x4)

 

[bruno994]

A full smoker is a happy smoker.  The only thing you might see is a larger dip after putting the meat on, due to the large mass of cold meat.  Otherwise as those who have spoken before me, you should not see any increase in cook time.  Good smokin' luck!

 

[rtbbq2]

The last two I did the larger butt was done before the small one. Must have been more fat to melt off. You never know, that's why it's a good rule of thumb to use a good meat thermometer....

 

[humdinger]

I routinely do two butts for parties and whatnot. Alesia is correct in that planning the cook time around the heaviest butt is wise, but I have one additional tip you may find handy. 

If you are using a probe thermometer to track the meat temp as it cooks (and I assume you only have one probe thermometer), then be sure to insert it into the smallest butt first (after the first hour or so of cooking) since that one will finish first.

Once the thermometer indicates that the small butt is done, remove the thermometer probe, and promptly reinsert it into the mid-sized butt of the three, because that one will finish next. (Remove small butt and wrap in foil, towels, place in cooler, etc... like Alesia states above.)

When the mid-sized butt hits it's target temp, remove the probe and then reinsert into the largest/last remaining butt, since this one will finish last. (Again wrap the mid sized butt in foil, towels, and drop in cooler with towel between small and mid sized butt)

Hope this helps...

 

[smokinhusker]

I routinely do two butts for parties and whatnot. Alesia is correct in that planning the cook time around the heaviest butt is wise, but I have one additional tip you may find handy. 

If you are using a probe thermometer to track the meat temp as it cooks (and I assume you only have one probe thermometer), then be sure to insert it into the smallest butt first (after the first hour or so of cooking) since that one will finish first.

Once the thermometer indicates that the small butt is done, remove the thermometer probe, and promptly reinsert it into the mid-sized butt of the three, because that one will finish next. (Remove small butt and wrap in foil, towels, place in cooler, etc... like Alesia states above.)

When the mid-sized butt hits it's target temp, remove the probe and then reinsert into the largest/last remaining butt, since this one will finish last. (Again wrap the mid sized butt in foil, towels, and drop in cooler with towel between small and mid sized butt)

Hope this helps...

Great tip...I forgot that one!

 

[venture]

As long as they are of similar size?

Assuming they are not touching?

Two will cook like one as long as proper temps are maintained.

The only difference might be that a little more fuel is consumed.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[testar77]

Thanks for all of the great help folks!  I will let you know how everything turns out.  Plan is 3 butts and some slabs of spares, so it should be fun. 

Here is another question for ya (maybe it should be in a different thread):

I am curious what the temperature difference of my smoker is from bottom to top.  I am planning on installing a second thermo in it so that I know for sure but maybe some have already done it and might have some insight.

I have 2.  One is a GOSM and was my primary until I picked up this other one.  The other is a Cabela's brand stainless smoker.  Still propane like the GOSM but taller, thicker material and much better insulated.  It holds temperature very well.  The only downside is that it is quite a bit narrower, which means using more shelves.  Hence the curiosity of what the temp difference might be the closer you work down towards the heat source.  Other than the narrowness I have absolutely LOVED the Q this thing turns out.  Much more smoke and in turn excellent bark! :)  Just curious what some of you might be running into.

Toby

 

[so ms smoker]

  You need to use

 D ifferent therms for each level, Make sure they are all callibrated,  

mIKE

 

[diesel]

This will also be a great learning experience.  After you have finished you will know your smoker/smokers very well.  That is a great confidence builder when you can feel comfortable with how it cooks.

good luck.. can't wait for the Qview. 

Oh ya.. all the advice above it on point.

Aaron

 

[jarjarchef]

All great info before me. I have never done only one of anything on my smoker. I figure I have it fired up, might as well fill it up. When I buy the meat I am going to smoke I try to keep them with in a pound of each other. This way my smokes usually end at the same time. I have 2 probes so I will probe the smallest and the largest ones. I will also crank the smoker to over 300 before I load it, then after it has started to climb I will cut it back a bit to cook at 250-275. I like a little more heat. I find it will push through the stall and usually don't need to foil until I pull them off and rest in the oven at 170 for about an hour or so. I always plan on the 1.5-2 hr a pound, but usually dont need it with that temp and method. Then I pull and serve or portion out into bags for freezing.

 

[thsmormonsmokes]

While it's likely that your largest butt will finish last, don't bet the farm on it.  I did 3 butts a few weeks ago and hit the stall of all stalls on the second-largest one.  It took nearly 20 hours to come to temp.  I eventually pulled it from the smoker and put it in the oven at 375 to force it through the stall to get it to 205.  I have no idea why it did that.

I'm also starting to wonder if I shouldn't rely on the toothpick test more than temps for final results.  

When all is said and done, my Civil Procedure professor in law school put it best: Always leave time for trouble.  That's some of the best advice I've ever had in my life.

Also, put your cooler out in the sun for a while to heat it up before you put foiled butts in it.  It will absorb less heat from your butts/towels when you foil and cooler them that way.  I'm not sure this makes a huge difference, but I figure it can't hurt.

 

[bob1961]

one thing i found here was a link to the dreaded stall and how to deal or eliminate it, not sure where i found it but i saved the link....

http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/stallbbq.html

i read it while i was doing a butt/shoulder for PP sammies for my 2 son's birthday party....just as i found and read the link i was waiting to bring to temp to 160 and foil it to bring it up to 200 degrees....i read that foiling at 140 to 150 will stop the stall as the meat's temp is still rising at that temp....well i hoped off PC and went to check temp as i knew it was in the 140's 20 minutes ago at the time, it was at 149 so i foiled it....this was a 9lb butt and i timed the smoke at 3am to deal with a stall that never happened for a 9 hour smoke to eat for 2pm after cooler time of an hour or more....well that butt was done at 205 at 8AM after only 5 hours when it went into the cooler to set and it sat in the sun the whole time....well it sat in there untill 3:30pm when everyone got there and the meats temp was still at 175 when i pulled it....i don't know if it was a fluke that it got done that fast foiling it at 149 or what....i did two butt's that were the same size as this one and total time of smoke to cooler to pulling pork was 13 hours, with both butt's being done within 15 minutes of each other....one was 9.5lbs and other was 10.5 lbs when i did them together and the time it took those is what i based my time on this last one that only went 5 hours....my next one i will foil at 145 and see what comes of it and post up..........bob

....

 

[testar77]

Well I bought a couple more thermo's and a couple more probes today.  I will have a probe in each butt and I will have 3 thermometers in the smoker just to see how much variance there is temperature wise from top to bottom.  I am very interested to see what the spread is between them.  I will report back with my findings and of course with some Qview!

 

[rtbbq2]

One thing that I now do. I keep a chart each hour of each butt. It is kind of fun looking at the progress from one hour to the next. If you think you will remember you second guess yourself. You will see the stall and watch the temperature go backwards as much as 10°. Also as mentioned above, two butts don't take any more time to cook than one. Where are the ....................................Qviews?.......................................................

 

[testar77]

No Qview yet......  They have been in for an hour so it won't be til tomorrow :(  I will be putting some Spare's in the other smoker about 10 am as well :)

 

[rtbbq2]

Great idea putting the cooler in the heat before putting the butts in. Why didn't I think of that...Thanks.........